When will my son be able to start baby food?

Maria - posted on 01/08/2010

my son was born 2 months early and i started him on stage 1 fruits and baby cereal at 5 months old and he did great with it my pediatrrician told me to wait but i listened to my gut on this one (and my mother) and started him earlier i would try if i were you even at least trying once a day for a couple of days and then increasing as the week goes on .good luck

Darla - posted on 01/08/2010

well since he was born early you should wait till 6 months if he is swallowing then it should be fine but if he just keeps things in his mouth hes probably not quite ready

Mary Lynn - posted on 01/08/2010

I would talk to you doctor. We started our son on cereal at 4 months as a recommendation by our doc... he also has reflux, so that is why we did this.

Kellyann - posted on 01/07/2010

I would start on rice cereal mix with his formula but ask your doc first!

Erin - posted on 01/07/2010

My son was born at 35 wks. He was ready for cereal at about 5 months old. My doctor said that was fine as long as he could handle it well. His main souce of food is still breast milk, but I supplement with the baby food since he really seems to enjoy itand without it he would want to eat every 2 hours which was exhausting! He instantly took to the food. I started him on vegetables. Doctors give there best advice, but they are all different on what they say. My doctor is more "relaxed" about things which I really like. It is truly your call in the end because you can tell when your son is ready. You can always try a little bit of cereal and see how he takes it. Your call:) Good luck!

Toni - posted on 01/07/2010

My son was born @ 31 weeks & he is now 10 months old. The WIC office told me I could had started @ 7 months old. But I was hesitate because I wanted to make sure my son was ready. So I followed my son's action's if he tried to grab for the bottle to put it in his mouth. (Which was around 8 months old.) I knew he was ready to try & self feed so I started him on baby cereal then to purred food's. He has the lil' baby snacks in between meals & loves to self feed him self & we feed him yo baby yogurt which he loves!! lol

Charmaine - posted on 01/07/2010

Both my babies were premature and the neonatologists recommended starting with rice cereal at 3 months. They even started micro prems at 3 months on rice cereal. But I agree with the other comments, go with your doctors recommendation.

Rebecca - posted on 01/07/2010

I think as a momma you know when they are ready. Watch for signs of interest from him. Things like him watching you eat your food and smacking his lips or fussing and babbling at you like he really wants it. He will show you when he is ready for it. I started giving my twins a bit of solids around 3 and a half months and my singleton started on solids around 4 months. At first the solids you give him are not a source of nutrition but more to practice eating and having a taste. Most of this food will end up being worn by him or yourself. My advice would be to go with your instinct as you know your child better than anyone and the directions given by others are generalizations only. Every little person is different.

ANDREA - posted on 01/06/2010

yeah thats true. being that he is premature its gonna take him longer to get used to eating from a spoon. thanks for the comment

Iysha - posted on 01/06/2010

I would just go with what your doctor advises. I was wondering the same thing about my daughter. Her doctor usually advises around 4 months to start introducing cereals but recommended that my daughter start cereals at 5 months instead and to give about 2-3 fruits and veggies by her 6 month well baby check up. My daughter just had her 6 month check up and he said that she can start having stuff like beans, rice and meat if I wanted to give her those things.



The way I see it, there isn't a rush. I figured that my daughter will get to it when the doctor says she's ready...no point in doing it sooner than is recommended. It will be easier and less of a struggle if they start learning to eat from a spoon when they are both physically and mentally ready.