Starting Foods

I have noticed every mother seems to have a different philosophy on when, what and how they want to begin foods and in what order. I was wanting to start an open thread for anyone to post how they decided to start solids....

I started my girls at about 4.5 months - earlier than expected, they weren't taking the bottles as much. My doctor encouraged custard, yogurt and things for the extra calcium. Some people have mentioned that they talk about avoiding "milk products" yet funny thing my formula says "low fat milk powder" as the second ingredient.

I went from rice cereal to 3 days later adding pears to prevent constipation. It seemed every book suggests starting with a different veg or fruit. Some say veggies first yet I find veggies very sweet and not much less sweet than the fruit ??!! I'm a nurse and I rarely come across a patient with carrot or bean allergies.... so why the single veggie for a week ? It seems there are about 3 veggies (carrot, bean, sweet potato) and then everything else is just mixed together.

They are now 7.5 months old and I'm ready to add spices and mashed etc. I figure if they were in Mexico they'd have spicy food by now, in China something else... I don't want my kids to grow up eating bland food because I don't eat that way or my dh. So gradually I"m going to add spices and flavours. The other day they had garlic mayo off my plate. My Pedi agreed so I'm happy with my decision.

We mix many things together... rice with chicken --- sure I also eat breaded chicken too why not them. Why not sweet potatoes for breakfast ? I eat potatoes when I go out for breakfast ?

What about your ideas or philosophies. ?? Feel free to disagree.


Heather

 

I am really curious to see what people have to say because we are coming up to the time when we are going to start solid foods. I am going to wait until closer to 6months to start my babies. I have just recently been told to start with oatmeal first for a few days and to start it in the morning feeding just in case they get an upset stomach, and also they told me to start with meats first! As babies might not be getting enough iron from cereals so they want meats first. But, aren't meats harder to digest than fruits and vegtables?
On one hand they say to introduce vegtables first so the babies don't develop a sweet tooth, but then others say to intro fruit first as it is closer to the taste of bm which is sweet as well.
I am so confused myself as to when, how and what to introduce.

 

I am interested in what others have done as well. We are getting close to starting on solids and would love the advice. Thanks for starting this thread.

 

Good topic
Have been thinking about this a lot. The boys go to their 4 month appointment tomorrow and curious as to what their doc has to say. They seem not to be eating too good all of a sudden. Their bottle at 5am/6am they finish...the rest of the day it is a struggle. But they seem ok and not too hungry. Would love to start cereal. My girls had cereal at 4 months but it seems that has changed now to six months for some reason.

Funny...can tell these are my hubby's first kids. About a month and a half ago we thought we would try cereal in the bottle for sleeping at night(didn't work) so I sent him to the store for cereal, well besides cereal he came home with what had to of been a cart full of baby food figuring we would start that up too LOL

Dianna

 

I'll share what we did and what we're still doing. We got the ok from the pediatrician to start rice cereal mixed with formula (from a bowl/spoon) between 5 and 6 months. We tried this with both babies. Aidan did a great job, opened his mouth, seemed eager for the next bite, etc. Addison wouldn't open her mouth and what we were able to get in, she just spit out. We decided to hold off on solids for Addison for a few weeks because she obviously wasn't ready.

We gradually gave Aidan a little more and a little thicker rice cereal once a day over a few weeks. At 6 months, we started him on fruits/veggies. I did peas first because I didn't want him to get a sweet tooth and reject the less sweet veggies. To our surprise he loved peas, and still does today! We fed about half a container of stage 1 food once a day, and we did 2 feedings (1 container) over 2 days before moving to a new fruit or veggie. We made these early solid feedings for practice only. We tried to do them once a day, but when we were busy and didn't get one in, we didn't worry about it. At this point, Aidan mostly got a fruit or veggie a day, but sometimes we did oatmeal instead to mix it up. (At 6 months, we also switched to oatmeal since both babies get constipated easily.)

We tried oatmeal with Addison around 6 months. She still wasn't that great at eating so we didn't push her. Every few days, we'd offer her some oatmeal or pears. (We started her with pears because she has the worst constipation of the two, and she had been drinking a little pear juice for months to help soften her stool.) If I remember correctly, it was probably around 7-8 months when she got the hang of eating and actually seemed to enjoy solids.

At 8 months, we asked day care to feed them "lunch" everyday. It was rice cereal plus a stage 2 fruit or veggie. At 8 months, we began working on having "dinner" a few days a week. They usually weren't interested much in "dinner" so we didn't push it. (Dinner was either cereal, fruit or veggie.)

Around 9 months (when they started crawling), we started puffs as finger foods. Aidan enjoyed these, but Addison gagged. At 11 1/2 months, Addison finally got the hang of finger foods.

Around 10 months, we started consistently having lunch and dinner. We also moved on to the dinner-type stage 2 baby foods (chicken and noodles, etc).

A few weeks shy of 12 months, we added breakfast to the mix. (We also tried stage 3 foods and they were a flop!)

So, our meals/bottles go like this now:

6:30 bottle (4 oz)
8:30 breakfast (usually oatmeal with mixed fruit, plus they share a stage 2 fruit or a yobaby yogurt)
9:30 bottle (6-7 oz)
12:30 lunch (each have a stage 2 fruit or veggie plus some puffs or small pieces of fruit)
1:30 bottle (6-7 oz)
4:00-ish finger food snack with water in sippy cups
5:30 dinner (stage 2 dinner for each plus they share a fruit or veggie)
7:30 bottle (8 oz)

I'd like to work on getting them to more table foods rather than baby food. Addison is such a gagger that she can only tolerate puffs. Aidan is getting better, but he still gags some lumpy stuff.

 

We started with rice cereal. They didn't care much for it, so we gave a fruit or a veggie, although Annalise only wanted to eat fruit . So, after a while, I began mixing applesauce or a fruit with veggies or a dinner. Our dr. insisted that they start on meat at six months for iron. He's the only person I've heard this from! So, I would give a dinner as a second meal with applesauce. They took it well. I started the first meal mid-day (at 6 months) and gave the dinner at about 5pm (at 6.5 months). I still do this.

 

We started with solids at 4 months. We first gave them rice cereal mixed with formula. After about a week of this we switched to oatmeal, because Jake had such bad consitpation. We did oatmeal for a whole month, just letting them practice eating, getting used to the spoon and the high chairs, and just figuring out what the heck mom and dad were doing!

At 5 months we started with veggies and fruits. My pedi didn't care about order. She just said leave 3 days between offering something new. So we would do a veggie and oatmeal, then 3 days later a fruit and oatmeal. There was nothing that mine didn't eat, so it didn't seem to be a problem. We would give them each a tub of stage one foods mixed with their oatmeal.

I would say at 6 months we moved to Stage 2 foods, but I still don't think we introduced meats (trying to make my brain go back there). We also moved up to 2 meals a day, one was fruit, one was veggie.

Then at 9 months we went up to 3 meals a day, and introduced meats. We just used the baby food pureed meats that look super gross, but the kids loved 'em. There really was no baby food that they wouldn't eat.

Also at 9 months we finally started offering finger foods, starting with puffs. I think I was a bit timid in starting with "real" food ... but by 12 months we were pretty much on all table food. For me, after puffs, we did some cheerios, then crackers, and then I started to see that they were doing good with chewing and stuff like that. So that made me more open to trying other foods that we were eating. A piece of chicken, a bite of pizza, etc.

Oh, as for yogurt, we were told not to offer yogurt until 9 months. We still give them their Yo-Baby yogurt daily and they love it!

Nothing stressed me out more the end of the first year than food. Trying to figure out what to give them, what not to give them, etc. That was really hard for me.

 

I'm not sure what we are doing yet. We're just getting started. My girls are only 4 months adjusted, so I'm not convinced they are ready yet (or maybe it's mom that isn't ready), but at their NICU follow up appointment, the doctor (who is a nutrition guru) said to give cereal a try, but not to stress about it. So we started rice cereal just after they were 6 months old (4 months adjusted). They did o.k., but still seem to have a bit of the tongue thrust reflex, so I'm just trying it once or twice a week until they seem more enthusiastic about it. I think I may try oatmeal next to avoid constipation issues though. I'm going to talk to our Pedi at our appointment next week and get his thoughts on order of introduction, but I think we'll start with veggies next. It may be a while before we get to those though. I'm planning on only one meal of solids a day (if that) until they are 8 months (6 months adjusted).

 

I realized I didn't really answer the question about preferences. I know for me, I was really cautious about giving them solids because they were still so small for their actual age and they were still on high-calorie formula. I was afraid they'd fill up on solids and not get the calories they needed from the formula. I remember asking at their 6 month pedi visit if I should delay fruits/veggies until they were 6 months adjusted. He said no, but I was still a little nervous and always gave them bottles before solids until 9 or 10 months. Because of my fears about their small size and preemie status, I think I had a very cautious philosophy about solids.

Even now, at 1 year, I think they're a little behind in terms of how much they eat and what. But, I'm working on it. And I know they'll eventually eat table food. I just don't want to force it before they're ready.

 

We started this past weekend, a week before 6 months. I had NO plans to start this early, but they were reaching at the table and trying to eat OUR food, so I decided to give them their own! We've given them rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, and avocado mixed with breastmilk. They both did great with the rice cereal, and Roe did great with the avocado. Joel, not so much. We'll have a bit of avocado again tonight and since I only have the one avocado, it will probably be rice again tomorrow. We'll try apples or carrots next, then something green. I probably will start adding garlic and spices when they both start to have the mechanics down. Cinnamon + apples, cloves and nutmeg in sweet potatoes, garlic in green beans, etc. Once they seem comfortable accepting new flavors, we'll start making baby food versions of whatever we have for dinner.

 

I asked my Pedi about starting fingerfoods -- now just to remind you my girls have been eating for about 3 months now so it isn't just based on their age (7.5 months) he said "yes definately" so I asked for suggestions since I have NO idea how you start out. He said try the leg from a thigh bone of a chicken or a piece of well cooked steak.. something that has flavour they can chew on that won't bite off into chunks. My girls have teeth -- with one now having 8 teeth at 7.5 so eventhough she has teeth I worry almost more that she could get a big chunk ! Funny because my cousin was teasing me that she could start eating steak soon with teeth like that ! I just might have to take a picture and show him.....

He said gradually puree less and less and get them used to more chunk in their foods. (they have been either cereal type feel or pureed not really mashed) He suggested we get them to watch us eat... funny but they haven't seen us eat, I eat when they are in bed for naps and they sleep at 6:30 pm and then WE eat. something I hadn't thought of....

 

We started solids at 4 months old. We started with rice. Then added in carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, grean beans, more veg. Then fruits. I personally did not wait 3 days between trying new foods. I started giving them one meal at 4 months old-8 months old. 7 months old we started puffs and yougurt melts. Then at 9 months old, I started giving 3 meals/day. Now at 10 months, they are mostly on table food. They have a jar of baby food every now and then when we have something they can't eat but mostly they eat what we do. Just like tonight they had lasagna and garlic bread. My babies will eat almost anything. I think that is because I give them a huge variety of food now.

 

I hear talk about oatmeal being a good first choice to help with constipation - is there oatmeal baby food, or do you just cook oatmeal with water and feed it to the babies?

 

QUOTE(isis @ Jul 9 2008, 01:08 AM) [snapback]867115[/snapback]
I hear talk about oatmeal being a good first choice to help with constipation - is there oatmeal baby food, or do you just cook oatmeal with water and feed it to the babies?

they have it in the baby cereal/baby food isle it will say rice,oatmeal,corn ect--heinz is good my boys loved it mix with pears!

 

I was in the babyfood isle and a women and her mother were looking and they had a 4 week old.... her mother said "you should start to give him food how about custard..." yes a 4 week old !! But I looked at the daughter and thought she "appeared" to turn out ok ... who am I to say.... hehe