Introducing new foods

Misty - posted on 01/08/2009

my son is now 11 months old, and we started to feed him cereal, and baby food at around 3-4 months. He still nursed as much because the food intake was not that much. But just test the waters and see how your baby

Beth - posted on 01/08/2009

I started my daughter at 4 months with rice cereal. She ran into problems with a lot of spitting up at first but then adjusted. Then had problems when we started her on baby foods too. It's just a wait and see game. If they have problems hold off and try again in a few days.

Cheryl - posted on 01/08/2009

I love all the coments here. us moms totally have to trust our own instincts! My son was the same way hungry all the time, He also had really bad THRUSH, and he was not able to get a tummy full so I was nursing every hour on the hour around the clock. With the odd night with a 3 to 4 hour sleep.

When I was at the pediatricians and we were talking about diet for my son his response was if I feel better by being able to get even 5 hours of sleep, I would be able to help my son recover faster. NOT sleeping for more that an hour at a time really takes a tole. I started my son roughly at 4 months and the first day I fed it to him in the morning on the ped advice and he slept exactly 5.5 hours that night. I did that for a week every morning around 10. I didn't see any side affects, so i just kept slowly increasing, (thicker and more). I did't add veggies to the mix for quiet some time and He let me know when he was ready for that step! they will do great with sleep and everything, and one day everything with get worse and It feels like you almost have a new born again. That is what I was told and It was the case with my son!

Elizabeth - posted on 01/07/2009

I just had my son'd 4 month checkup, and I asked about foods as well. I'm going to be starting him on rice cereal this weekend (I want my husband to be there with a camera to catch the cute faces he will make :) lol) and my doctor said that babies have been given rice cereal as young as 2 months. Just make sure to only give him the cereal for about a week to make sure he isn't allergic, then you can start mixing in other foods, again one at a time and for about a week each to be sure that if he has a reaction you know what it was.

January - posted on 01/07/2009

Quoting Holly:

Blessed Thistle! I swear by it! It's a supplement that can be found at any health food store (that you take) It makes the breast milk thicker. Recommended by my BF Support group after second child. I feel it was the difference between lasting 3 months and 13 months (1st v 2nd)

Also, I read starting food too soon can put them at higher risk for diabetes later in life.

Thistle? Hmm. Someone told me fenugreek which I tried and did really help with my supply, I would say it didn't double but almost. But it was still too watery and I had to go to supplementing with formula as there wasn't enough fat content.  Does this Thistle help with that?

Holly - posted on 01/07/2009

Blessed Thistle! I swear by it! It's a supplement that can be found at any health food store (that you take) It makes the breast milk thicker. Recommended by my BF Support group after second child. I feel it was the difference between lasting 3 months and 13 months (1st v 2nd)



Also, I read starting food too soon can put them at higher risk for diabetes later in life.

Tara - posted on 01/07/2009

Hi! My son was the same way but we were told by out pediatrician the earliest you could start rice cereal was 4 months because babies have a very difficult time digesting it any earlier. Because he was hungry all the time they had us start 1 week before he turned 4 months and he did great! Also we were told to never put it in a bottle! Start with a spoon and stick with it! Putting the cereal in his bottle will make him become more dependant on his bottle and it will be difficult later on to break him of it. You start with 1tsp of rice cereal mixed with formula or breast milk and make it very soupy, he will spit most of it out the first couple times! Its very cute! After a day or two go up to 2tsp and slowly work your way up. My son is 5months old and has 2tbsp of oatmeal cereal twice a day. He had rice cereal for 3 weeks then we moved to oatmeal. Good Luck!

Paulette - posted on 01/07/2009

Hi Wendy,

I would think you know your child. But right now I would consider if his body is mature enough to digest foods other than formula or breastmilk. But I would think rice cereal thinned down is ok. But I would try it for a few days to weed out any reaction/allergy to it. I would not move to more solid foods till later. You mentioned he is waning to eat alot more often. What is he currently doing? Is he comfortable with what he is getting (breastfed or formula)? As they get bigger you can move from 4 to 8 oz bottles if formula fed or expressed. Does he spit up? If so, how often and how much?

Jill - posted on 01/07/2009

Quoting Wendy:

Introducing new foods

My son is just over 3months 1week now and he seems to be wanting to eat alot more often. I am aware that the textbook age for introducing other foods is 6months. But every baby is different. I am just curious as to whether it would be safe now to slowly start introducing rice cereal? We have introduced some flavors, just a taste of something on the end of a soother and such, and he seems to enjoy it. He loves sitting on my lap whenever I am eating and he has lost that push-out reflex babies have when something new is stuck in their mouth. How young is/was your baby when you started introducing new foods? Thoughts? Opinions?

Ok, so I am not a mom that goes/went by the books!  Don't get me wrong, it is nice to have something to read and refer to.  However, you know your child best...not a book, doctor, grandma, friend, etc.  I would go for letting your baby try the cereal...just a bit at a time.  Give it a few days and if there isn't an allergic reaction, give the baby more.  Is your baby breast or formula fed...and if formula did the baby have any problems.  My daughter had problems with formula.  I still had her on cereal by the time she was four months.  She in not yet 8 months, but she eats a lot of different kinds of baby food and even some table food!  You know best!