Solids: how often, how much, and what (rice cereal, oatmeal, fruit, etc) when??

Britt - posted on 07/24/2009

I started my son on rice cereal at 3 weeks because he was eating every half hour then at 3 1/2 month we started him on veggies but you are sapost to start with sweet patatos and carrets than go to green items a few weeks later. i gave him one kind of food every day for a week so you can have time to tell if the have any problems with that food. than a month later start them on fruits. it does not matter when you start them as much because our Dr. told us one thing but my sister who is a RN told me to do it this way since he was so hungery so adapt it to your childs eating habits

Kelly - posted on 07/24/2009

Hi there. We started Hannah on solids at 4 months. We mainly did this to help her get back into her sleeping through the night schedule that she had grown out of a couple of weeks before we started the solids. We commenced with giving her one meal of rice cereal at dinner time to fill her tummy for sleeping and it worked! She slept through the night till 8am! Miracle! hehehe She loved it so much we continued to give it to her twice a day and then three times over the next couple of weeks. She is now eating two meals of rice cereal and one of potatoes and carrots at night, along with 4 bottles of 210ml milk throughout the day. Just try and make sure that whenever you introduce a new food to her, that you only introduce one every few days (we do it one new one a week, we find it easier to keep track that way) just in case she is allergic to anything. This way you will know that it is the newly introduced item she is allergic to. I would also like to comment on the post by Leza, I am of the understanding that you can introduce meat to the babies diet from 7 months, not a year.

Ashley - posted on 07/23/2009

i think u should take cues from ur baby because no 2 are alike and just do what u r comfortable with..my son has has cereal since he was 1mth old and that wasnt satisfying him so no he is 5mths and 1 week old and he gets bottles every 3 to 4 hrs and he gets baby food at 8 , 11 , and between 7 and 8. hes not fussy and he sleeps all night because of this when he was waking up every 2 hrs for a bottle..but u could always try and if ur baby rejects it then wait

Adisalem - posted on 07/23/2009

my daughter (born Feb. 18) started rice cereal at 4 months. I give her 1 tbsp. of rice cereal mixed with 2 tbsp. of breastmilk twice a day (morning and evening). At 5 months, I introduced veggies. In the early afternoon, she is eating a couple tbsp. of a Stage 1 veggie. I have stuck with one veggie for about 4 to 5 days before intro. a new one. She has had carrots and peas so far. My pediatrician told me to hold off on any fruits until after 6 months. I am nursing and don't go back to work until August. So, she has been nursing on demand. I will be pumping when I return to work.

Sydnee - posted on 07/22/2009

for my son.. (feb 3rd) we skipped rice and went straight to baby food. he got rice in his bottle due to reflux and weight problems so we just kept that in his bottle and hes now on stage 2 baby food. he eats 2 packs 2 times a day and 3 packs for dinner (one pack is a pudding desert) and he is doing just fine. not gaining a whole lot of weight but hes doing great.

Rachael - posted on 07/22/2009

I am a nurse and I have read a lot of research regarding introducing foods to babies (I just had my 3rd February 11th). The later you introduce foods to a baby the better. 6 months is actually the minimum of introduction due to allergies. The sooner you introduce the more likely the child will develop allergies to foods. Also when you do choose to introduce you may begin with a vegetable. You should keep a baby on one new food for a least a few days to be certain there are no reactions to it. When you do use cereal, may sure it is oatmeal or rice, not any gluten, wheat based cereal. good luck to you and your little one.

Casey - posted on 07/21/2009

Here is what my son Nolan (Feb. 19) Dr. told me to do. It sounds wierd, but it makes sence. In the morning give him 2tbls of rice ceral and a bottle, then for lunch a 1/2 a jar of meat..yes I did say meat. It looks and sounds gross. then a bottle. Then for dinner just the cereal and a bottle. He sometimes needs to eat a little snack between feedings. Here is why his Dr. said to do that: If we start him out on the sweet stuff (fruits and veggies) he will not want to eat meat. It make sence to do it that way. So far the only meat that has upset his tummy was the beef. It is very very strong. So I have been feeding him this for almost a month now, and I have started to add fruits in with the ceral and then I also do a 1/2 a jare for lunch or dinner. You need to feed your baby the same thing for 3 days to see if he/she is allergic to anything. So far my son is not. Now I am looking forward to feeding him the veggies! Hope this helped a bit! :) If all else fails ask the doctor what to do.

Stephaie - posted on 07/20/2009

Well... My son was born on feb 5th. At his 4 month well visit, his doctor told me to start giving him baby food. She said to feed him twice a day, morning and night and to start with rice cereal and just mixing it with his formula. After a week she said start adding in fruits and veggies to the cereal mixture, and to do ONE food for 3 days straight to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction and to see how it affects his digestion. Now that he is almost 6 months, he has gone through pretty much all the differnent kinds of baby food there is, so i have been mixing it up and giving him fruit in the morning and a veggie at night. He still drinks his bottles, but not as much. He has 6 oz. when he wakes up around 7, then he falls back asleep and wakes up again around 10 and I give him his fruit breakfast and 4 oz. Then around 2 he has another 6 oz. Then around 6 he has his veggie dinner and 4 more oz. And around 9pm he has his last 6 oz bottle before bed.

Jeana - posted on 07/19/2009

Hi Betsy, My son was born on Feb. 12th. I started giving him a 6 oz cereal bottle a day when he was about 3/12 mo.s . About two weeks ago I started giving him solid foods. The single grain foods. Gerber has a brand called Supported Sitters. That is what they can eat at this age. It is right before they are actually sitting on their own. Or if the jar does not have the supported sitter label it will have a 1 on the label. I give him half a jar a day. He loves applesauce, bannanas, pears, and surprisingly sweet potatoes. I have not given him oatmeal , and the cereal I give him is the single grain rice cereal. The doctors will tell you to wait on feeding them, but you know your baby and will know the right time. Go to starthealthystayhealthy.com and you can read all about it and they give you alot of helpful tips. Good Luck. Jeana... "Will's Mom"

Cori - posted on 07/19/2009

This was a big source of confusion for me because there isn't much literature out on it! What I did with my baby, Noah, was that I started giving rice cereal before bed - helps him sleep a little longer, but not through the night - and then, after about a week of that, I added oatmeal to mid-morning feeding (About 10) to keep him from being constipated, because the rice can stop a baby up a little. After that, I added a new food every 5-7 seven days or so, sticking with the twice a day solid food feeding (morning and bedtime). I just buy the Gerber 1s. But I'd like to make my own...Oh and I always breastfeed him after each solid meal just to quench his thirst and to "top him off" a little.

Dawn - posted on 07/19/2009

my daughter was born 10th feb and for the last 5wks ive been giving her friut and veg she had 1 meal a day. she now has 7oz bottle at 7am, 7oz bottle and baby breakfast 10am. dinner and pudding at 1 with juice. and 7oz bottle at 5&7pm. jessica has hipp organic baby food and she loves them. hope it usefull for you
dawn x

Heather - posted on 07/19/2009

Hi!! My son Kylar is 5 1/2 months, (Feb 3) He started rice & oatmeal at 4 months and I started the baby food a little over a week ago. He is breastfed, but my dr told us not to start 2 meals aday until 6 months because of the childhood obesity factor, and you dont want them replacing any of the milk with baby food yet, they need all the milk they normally got for a long time still. The baby food is just a little extra. I feed my baby at 8am, 11, 2, 5 and 7 pm baby food, and 8 breastmilk again. The baby food i give him is 3tsp oatmeal and 3 tsps veggies. We started with the oranges, the 1st stage foods. Sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, then the green beans and peas are next, your supposed to the the veggies first before fruit bc if you do the sweet stuff first they wont ever want to eat the yucky veggies. also, i recommend doing your meal closer to bedtime, it will keep their belly fuller to get them through the night better. Hopefully this is helpful!!

Jenna - posted on 07/18/2009

My son will be 5 months on the 19. I have been giving him baby food and oatmeal for about a month now. I give him his oatmeal in the morning for breakfast followed by a bottle of baby juice. If he still acts hungry I will give him his formula. Then for lunch and dinner he eats a jar of baby food. I usually give him fruits for lunch and veggies for dinner. He dont eat as much formula as before. He gets formula between meals. Sometimes he eats more than one jar. He has been eating rice in his bottle since he was 3 1/2 months. Hope this helps.

Lisa - posted on 07/17/2009

Go through all of the cereals, 4 days each to make sure she isn't allergic to anything. It should go rice, oatmeal, barley and then multigrain if you want. After that ,green veggies (peas, string beans, etc), then orange/yellow veggies (carrots, sweet pots, etc), then fruit. Again, all items should be tried for 4 days before switching to somthing else. My kids only got one feeding a day at first, then gradually it increased to 2. My daughter's main source of calories still comes from her bottle feedings though. When she eats her veggies she also eats cereal to make sure she is getting iron and other nutrients that she needs. Once you are sure your baby isn't allergic and as the baby gets older, you can start combining things, like oatmeal cereal with peas and carrots and pear for dessert.



It's suggested that green veggies go 1st and then orange/yellow and then fruits so they don't reject the greens after tasting the sweet stuff. Don't worry about it too much and ask your pediatrician what he/she recommends.

Betsy - posted on 07/16/2009

Thanks everyone! :-)

Erin - posted on 07/16/2009

My daughter's just over 5 months and has 2 feeds of solids and 5 x 200ml bottles per day.
Babies rely on breastmilk/formula for their primary source of nutrition until near the end of their first year. Until then solids are meant as an addition, and to teach them to eat off a spoon and swallow etc. I had planned on waiting til 6 months to start solids but my daughter is BIG (nearly 20lbs) and was gaining TOO MUCH weight on just formula (she was having 7x 200ml bottles a day before I introduced solids) as milk is higher in calories than food.
We started on just one serve of rice cereal for a week, then 2 serves for another week. It's important to go slowly, especially if baby is under 6 months. I leave 3 days between the introduction of each new food, and try and alternate between fruit and veggies (mainly so she doesn't take a liking to the sweet tastes). So far my daughter's had avocado, banana, sweet potato, pumpkin, potato, carrot, pear and apple. I mix the fruit with her cereal in the morning (after her first nap which is usually around 9.30), and she has her veggies for dinner at around 5.30. She then sleeps 6-6.
I'm not intending on adding a lunch-time meal for another month or so.
The thing to remember is that you don't HAVE to do anything. Your daughter probably only needs one serve of cereal/oatmeal, but if she like it you can keep giving it to her but mix it with her fruit and veg. Rice cereal doesn't have a lot of nutritional value though and is meant more as a teaching aid as babies first learn to take food off a spoon. As I said I only give it to my daughter once a day, and then it's mixed with fruit.
Feel free to ask any more questions. Hope this helps :)

Leza - posted on 07/16/2009

this is what i do. For breakfast I make 8oz of formula and use what I need to make cereal. (i just eyeball the amount of cereal, if he eats it all good if not that's o.k.) With the cereal I give him a jar of fruit. (sometimes I mix the fruit in the cereal) Then after he finishes eating I give him the rest of the bottle. (if he drinks it great if not o.k.) Between breakfast and lunch I give him a bottle. For lunch I do the same as breakfast except I give him a jar of veggies instead of fruit. I give a bottle between lunch and dinner. For dinner I do the same as breakfast and lunch and I'll give him either fruit or veggie or sometimes a little of both. Then before bedtime he gets another bottle. Don't worry, my baby is 14 pounds at 5 months so he's not being over fed. This is the routine we used at the military preschool (Child development center). Remember though that babies cannot have meat (even baby food meat) , eggs, honey, peanut butter, or milk until they are 1 year. ( and some other stuff too but these were off the top of my head). Use this routine till baby is at least 1 year then they can start eating everything we eat at the dinner table. Hope this helped. Good luck! =)

Samantha - posted on 07/16/2009

HI!!! I had the same feelings when we started solids. I started him on rice cereal at 4 months once a day in the morning. Than 1 week after that i added another feeding of rice in the afternoon. so he was getting rice once in the morning with a4oz bottle and then later in the evening with a 4oz bottle again.Then a week after that i started giving him sweet potatos, then we tried squash. And now his schedual is ..

6-630am 4 oz,

9-930 Breakfast- 4oz bottle and 2 tbs rice (we just tried bananas mixed with it today),

12-1230 Lunch- 4oz bottle with 2-3tbs veggies/fruit

3-330 4oz bottle(snack)

6-630 Dinner- 4oz bottle 2tbs rice & 2tbs veggies

Then 6 oz bottle at 9 before bed

I'll give him oatmeal sometimes instead of the rice cereal but he doesnt seem to like it as much as the rice.

Hope I've helped a little