starting cereal and stage 1 solids soon

I'm just not sure how and when to do it. I know it sounds easy theoretically, but we hardly even have a routine together. My sister recommended that I start them on cereal after their morning nap so that it becomes routine. Any other thoughts? They will be 6 months at the end of hte month and that's when I'm going to start them...and I'm overwhelmed thinking about how it's going to change things.....not sure why, I just am.

 

I am on the same page. My twins also will be six months at the end of this month and I am planning to start them on solids. I was recomended great website, which I checked out and started printing great info to create folder on solids(what ,how much , when etc.).The website is www.wholesomebabyfood.com
Good luck to us.

 

wholesomebabyfood.com is a great recommendation. When we started solids, we started with rice cereal and would only start with a couple of tbsp. We started at their happiest time of the day, which for us right when they woke up first thing in the AM. Our pediatrician advised to do rice cereal for a week before we started vegetables. When we added veggies, we did cereal at the breakfast feeding and then the vegetable at the next feeding. Good luck!

 

We just started....one feeding of rice cereal for now. I give it to them 30-45 minutes after their first bottle. I tried doing it after their 2nd feeding, but then I couldn't get anything done. My ped. told us to do 1 feeding of rice cereal for a week, and then move to two. At 6 months he said we should start veggies and other cereals. I am going to do only one feeding for a while longer though - don't think they need that 2nd one yet. When we do the 2nd feeding, i think it will be after their 4th bottle (they get 5). The morning feeding seems like it actually helped make things more routine for us...
7am - wake
7:15 - bottle
8 - solids
8:30 - play time
9-ish - nap
10-10:30 bottle

Thats what our morning looks like right now...GL!

ps - I started to make and freeze fruit and veggie purees, and got lots of ideas from wholesomebabyfood.com

 

I do about 1.5 tlbspoon of rice cereal after their first nap [around 1130-1200] and then I do a little more than 2 tblspoons about an hr before bedtime. Be aware that rice cereal can make then constipated though. When this happens I give them 1 oz prune juice and .5 oz water then about 4-10 hrs later - we have poop! :lol:

We've been doing cereal for almost a month now and I will be going to oatmeal in about a week or so [I heard that doesn't constipate them as much].

Good luck! It's really not as bad as you think ^_^ It just sucks sometimes when they're not interested in eating..

 

we started giving solids at 6:00 right before their last bottle of the day. we did rice cereal for several weeks, then moved to barley and oatmeal cereals. we moved slowly and waited until they were 6 months corrected to start with other foods, then we did sweet potatoe, banana, and so on....

to help me organize everything I made a list of the foods I wanted to give divided by age
ex:
6 month - cereals, sweet potatoes, bananas, acorn squash, applesauce
6-8 months - avacado, butternut squash, pears, green peas, peaches etc...

then I just went through crossed them off as I gave the LO's three days of that food and wrote if there were any reactions to the food. I used the internet to help decide when to give what food.

 

QUOTE
My sister recommended that I start them on cereal after their morning nap so that it becomes routine. Any other thoughts? They will be 6 months at the end of hte month and that's when I'm going to start them...and I'm overwhelmed thinking about how it's going to change things.....not sure why, I just am.


Sure it's overwhelming! It's a big transition. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, there's ANOTHER thing to learn!

Don't worry about routine. The most important thing about starting solids is to make sure it doesn't cut into their breastmilk/formula intake. For that, all you have to do is offer solids no more than 30-60 min. after nursing/bottle. (And immediately after is ok too.) And it's fine to just do it once a day, or even every few days. It's just for fun and for practice - there is absolutely nothing they need nutritionally from solids at this point. Breastmilk/formula is still 100% of their nutrition (and should remain their primary source of nutrition for at least a few more months).

As to how to fit it into your day - some people do it in the morning, when the babies are happiest. Our first "meal" was in the late afternoon, when the babies were hungriest, and most in need of a diversion. Like everything else with parenting, it's all trial and error - just jump in and see what works!

Just try to follow your babies' cues. If they're not interested, that's fine. If they go nuts for solids, then let them eat as much/as often as they want, as long as they're still getting enough breastmilk/formula. If they're moderately interested, it's fine to do just one "meal" even for a few more months. Have fun!