When did you start baby food...

We had our 4mo Dr. appt yesterday, and he said we could start baby food - fruits, veggies and cereal. He said to wait 5 days inbetween new foods... and no more than 2 meals a day followed up with a bottle.

Just wondering - when did you start your kids. I've read that food allergies are more common if you start before 6 mo, and then another book says it's completely fine to start at 4 months. I did try some yesterday and both babies took to it pretty well. They shared one of the gerber rectangle containers of peaches. Only afterwards, I thought - "gosh, they are not 4 mo. according to their adjusted age" So, I'm in a quandry. I'm leaning towards since they tolerated eating it ok, to just stick with it.

 

I was in no hurry to start. It was just something else to do with them. We started at 6 months for everyone. They got everything they needed with their milk. At 4 months, a lot of babies are not ready for solids yet even though it is 'ok.' Believe me, it is very frustrating for the excited feeding parent when the baby is not ready yet.

The bottle (formula or breastmilk) should come first though. They NEED milk/formula. The solids are just practice at this point.. getting them used to different textures in their mouths.

 

There are so many differing opinions even among experts that it's unclear what is the "right" answer. So, use your best judgement and go with what feels right for your kids.

I waited until 6.5 months because my boys are skinnies and I didn't want them filling up on low-cal foods (milk is a whole lot more calorie dense than fruits, veggies, or cereal). Our pediatrician thought this was fine and her nurse actually encouraged me to wait saying most BF mommies do. When we did start, we went slowly and their weight gain still took a tumble. Anyway, I was glad I waited from a calorie standpoint but also because they had no tongue thrust reflex left at all so it wasn't nearly as messy as I was expecting. There is something to be said for less mess when you have two little ones! They were refusing the spoon and feeding themselves finger foods by 10 months so our mush phase was blissfully short.

 

we started at 4 months, but some of the fruits and veggies hurt their tummies as their bodies weren't ready and couldn't properly digest the. we started with 4 tbls, which is the recommended amount. they didn't start eating /sharing a jar of stage one until closer to six months. now, they share one jar of stage 2. i wouldn't rush it either, really it's all for practice and as pp said milk is the most important part of their diet. if you are eager to start solids with them i would start with cereal.

 

I started at 4 months with rice cereal - went quickly to oatmeal because the rice gave them a lot of gas. Then went on to veggies and fruits about 2-3 weeks later adding new ones in every 2-3 days. They started getting quite gassy so I cut it out for a week or two and just did formula then started reintroducing around 5 months and that went better.

 

I too was in no hurry to start and frankly my twinfants we not ready...we started cereal 1x day (am) at 6 months 1 week old and veg 1x day (afternoon) at 7.5 months. We have been doing fruits for a few weeks now 2x day (1x with cereal in the am & 1x in the afternoon with veg) It took a good month for them to get the hang of eating from a spoon. Don't worry, once you start, it is so new to them. They will get the hang of it, I promise. At first I wanted to give up because more was on their bibs then in their mouths :wub:

 

I started rice cereal at 5 months, but the girls HATED it. So we waited until 6 months and started baby food. I kept trying the cereal every 2 or 3 weeks and they never did like it. I also made the mistake of not giving them very many veggies. They only liked carrots, but loved all the fruits.

 

With my first 3 kids, we started at 5 months which is what was recommended at the time. With the twins, I started at 6 months since that's what my doctor now recommends.

 

Started cereal at 5.5 months and solids at 6 months. DS was definitely ready. We probably could have waited a bit longer with DD.

 

We started with our son at 4 months because he was taking 8 oz bottles every 3 hours. The pediatrician said to start him with rice cereal, and then add oatmeal and then veggies. He is now taking rice cereal or oatmeal in am and veggies in pm. Once he gets through 4 days of all veggies we will start fruit. He loves it, and is a much happier baby now! Our daughter on the other hand, we just started rice cereal in evenings this week because of her weight.

I think you should do what is right for you and your babies. Every baby is sooo different, including my twins

 

We've decided to wait until our boys are 6 months adjusted (7-1/2 months unadjusted). I'm looking forward to it, but we really just got breastfeeding figured out and I'm enjoying a break from washing so many bottles before we get to toddler dishes. Besides, right now our boys are going through such rapid changes in terms of motor skills, teeth, communication, etc, that I wouldn't want to add another thing to their already 'i'm overwhelmed' fussiness right now. I think it depends on your kids, but I doubt that they actually need solids now.

 

My oldest ds I started at 6-7 months in an effort to combat his horrible reflux. It didn't help.

My oldest dd I started at 3 months because she was a big girl and eating more than the recommended amt of formula a day.

The twins I started shortly after they turned 4 months old, with rice cereal. They hated it (all my kids did), so I moved onto mushy cookies. Arrowroot cookies soaked with formula. All my kids loved it as their "first" food!

Now they get 1 veggies and 1 fruit for lunch, and a bowl of cookies for before bed. They still take 4 8oz bottles of formula a day, although my ds eats less and doesn't finish some of those bottles.

You really have to read the cues of your baby to know if they are ready or not, since there is such a large variation. I mostly started the twins early because they were both fighting their noon bottle. Only drinking 1-2 oz, but then ending up hungry in 90 mins or so. So I substituted food there, and pushed that bottle back a bit, and now they drink 4-5 oz. They just recently dropped the 5th bottle a day themselves so I added the cookies in at night to hold their last bottle off another 1/2 or so until before bed!

 

At 5 1/2 months I did rice cereal only and only once a day, once they were 6 months, I started other things. I followed Annabel Karmmel's plan. http://www.annabelkarmel.com/age-range/babies-6-9-months

 

We just started rice cereal this week, my boys are 5.5 months old. I'm also weaning them from BFing and don't want to make too many dietary changes, so I'm going to stick with 1tbs each of cereal for a few weeks. Once they hit 6 months I'm going to try oatmeal and then introduce veggies.

 

We started at 4.5 months but they really werent consistent in eating it until about 5.5 months. They were getting rice cereal in their bottles for reflux so they were already exposed to cereal.

 

our girls were born at 34 weeks and 1 and we started betwen 5 and 6 months. the tongue thrust was just too strong before then

 

I started all 5 of my kids at 4 months.

 

We started one week before 6 months (corrected). I gave them cereals, then veggies, then fruits, then meats. We did breakfast, then added lunch, then dinner over about three or four weeks. Now they are nearly 8 months and take three good solid meals a day plus four bottles in between. They are very happy.

 

My babies went to the Dr yesterday for their 4 month check-ups. Their ped says that we can start cereal now and then we can start stage 1 baby food next month. He recommended the cereal to come from a bowl but if the babies can't handle the spoon, then put it in their bottle. And if the cereal constipated them, then we can give them a little bit of diluted juice or applesauce/cereal mix..As for the baby food, he says start with veggies first then introduce fruits a week later...

BUT......You are the only one that really knows your LO's, if you feel that they're ready to try baby food then go for it! I'm not one to go strictly by the Dr's orders, he's not the one that has to deal with non-satisfied, sqwalling babies...LOL

Just to share: My babies were born at 30 wks 5 days, weighing only 3 lbs. Well, yesterday they were weighed and are now at 12lbs 6.5oz and 11lbs 10oz...They're GROWING!! Ped says that usually with term babies that within 6 months they double their size, my premature twins have TRIPLED their size in only 4 months!!