Help with starting solids

Danicia - posted on 06/11/2012

i've heard recommendations saying it's common for babies not to start solids until after a year old (really popular in other countries). my daughter started solids at four months ( it helped her keep down the formula, boob food didn't last long enough). you know best for your baby girl and if you feel like she's getting all the nutrients from the milk as is, don't worry about the solid food. if you feel she needs to start trying new things to get used to the concept of solid feeding, have at it! you're the expert in your baby so do what you feel is right for your child :) good luck!

Stifler's - posted on 06/11/2012

With the first I just gave it to him because people kept pressuring me and he'd just spit it out and I'd persist. With the next kid I just waited until she was interested in our food and grabbed it and ate it. She was about 7-8 months before she ate anything more than rusks or arrowroot biscuits with her own hands.

Holly - posted on 06/10/2012

Go ahead and start her like the others have said. If she loves it continue. I have 4 kids and each has been a little bit different with food. 1 followed the book, @ 5 months pablum, veggies, fruit, . . ., one refused to eat anything (clamp his jaw shut) until about 7 or 8 months and then my doctor told me to get a baby food grinder and just grind up the food on the table and feed him that. He took one taste and never looked back. My 3rd hated pablum but loved fruit and veggies and my last didn't eat a lot of normal food until she was 12 months. She like rice cereal at about 10 months but anything else I tried she would eat maybe a baby spoon full . . . 2 if I was lucky. But I kept offerng and then one day she starting eating. All of my kids were fed breastmilk and all are healthy kids now.

Dove - posted on 06/10/2012

If she's grabbing for your food it sounds like a good time to give it a try. She may or may not be ready. Solids at this age are just for fun and the experience with tastes and textures. You could look up baby led weaning (I think that's the one) for some good suggestions.

Brittany - posted on 06/10/2012

I started, but it was maybe a TB a day. My son went nuts for it and now asks (in his own baby way) for it.

I actually started both of mine with banana. It was what I had on hand that I could mash up easily. I then went and got organic sugar free apple sauce (it has apples and water in it). I then introduced squash. As of right now, my son has had bananas, apples, squash, carrots, pears, and green beans, and I'm going to introduce baby oatmeal here in a few days.

I started before 6 months, but it was sporadic until about 2 weeks ago (he turns 6 months in a week). But that's me.

I know I'm doing it "backwards" but it doesn't make sense to me to go from sweet yummy breastmilk to bland (kind of gross) rice cereal. Blended veggies (especially green ones) tend to be a bit more bitter.

Erica - posted on 06/10/2012

Starting out on solids should be about teaching them to eat, not filling them up so they sleep longer. At 6 months if she is showing interest in your food she is ready. Start with a rice/barley/oatmeal/whole wheat cereal mixed with water or breast milk. You want to start with veggies from blandest to sweetest then move on to fruits. Again on fruits you want blandest to sweetest. My daughter I started with greenbeans and peas and ended with pumpkin on veggies and started with avacodo and ended on bananas with fruits. Until they hit 8 -10 months feeding them isn't about replacing breast milk/formula it's more about teaching them to eat. Learning to eat from a spoon helps with their speech and many other things. Good luck! If you are looking to make your own there is a wonderful website called www.wholesomebabyfoods.com