how old was your baby when you started beginner baby food??

Joanna - posted on 12/17/2009

Always discuss things like this with your doctor.. just when she goes in for her regular check-up. And when you post things like this, remember that you know your baby better than anyone else. :)



In response to people saying 12 ounces is too much... I would have to ask how much she gets throughout the rest of the day? Because I know that the night feeding is typically the largest feeding. She should get a certain amount of ounces for the whole day based on her weight. They say you multiply 2.5 by their weight to get a rough estimate of how much the baby should be consuming in one day. So if she's 14 pounds, she roughly should be drinking 35 ounces in one day.



I started my baby out with rice cereal when he was 3 1/2 months old because he weighed so much, therefore, he ate a ton! And since I was nursing, he was eating me dry... not as in I was running out of milk but I was physically drained of the nutrients I needed. Anyway, it's recommended that infants not start solid food until 4 months - see the link below for more information. Since he started with cereal early... he started with veggies when he was 5 months and fruit when he was 6 months. When you do get to that point, always remember that solid food is new to babies and they may not like it the first few times you give it to them, so even if they spit it out the first few times, they'll get used to it and begin eating it as if they always liked it. We did this with my son and he will eat anything we give him.



http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-g...

Maggie - posted on 12/17/2009

Every pediatrician will tell you NOT to put cereal in a bottle. Check with your doctor before you decide to do this if you think it's a good option.
As for feeding fruit/veggies - you don't have to wait between new foods like they previously thought. Check out the article in last months issue of Parents magazine.
For a two month old, though, feed as much milk as he wants. It's all his little tummy can digest!! Check with your pediatrician!!!!!

Terri - posted on 12/17/2009

I am no expert, but 12 ounces of formula is too much. I would think that you should add rice cereal to the formula bottle, but I really think you should cut back on the formula. I have a 1 year old grand daughter and she only takes 6 ounces at one time. 2 mo. is really young to begin spoon feeding. But the weight is much bigger than an average 2 month old as well. If you do feed the baby, try the rice cereal first and then if you add fruit mix it with the cereal. When you start with the fruit, only feed one kind, applesauce for 4 days, then another for 4 days to make certain they do not have a allergic reaction. Add vegetables the same way. 1 at a X. Good Luck

Jillyssa - posted on 12/17/2009

I started Bella on baby food at 4 months..she's now 11 months and won't each baby food anymore at all. ha..hates it

Samantha - posted on 12/17/2009

Quoting ashley :

Quoting Samantha:

12 oz is too much fluid for a little one, i started my son with cereal in his bottle when he got home, i got took one of his slow nipple bottles and stretched it out a little bit and first I only put in a teaspoon of cereal at a time for 8 oz then as he was growing, i put more in until he stared sitting up, then i started him on baby food. he is now 8 months and now I am at the wall of do I feed him more jar food if he finishes one and starts to cry and how many times a day do I feed him jar food, i only feed him twice once in the morning when he wakes up and one before he goes to bed

hey im not sure if you were aking a question when  you said how many jars do i feed, but what i did for my son was fruit an cereal in the monring an then a bottle with it an then for lunch i did veggies an then a bottle  an then dinner was the same a jar of food a bottle  if you do one jar of baby food an then formula there still  still getting everything they need an some finger food like the gerber puffs an then before bed a then some type snack baby food so all together i did 4 jars a day an it might seem like much but i look at it lik ethis most people eat 3 meal an a snack a day so thats what i did an if you went asking a question then disreguard all of this

thanks!! that was exactly what was asking because people were telling me to just let him cry because he is only 8 months and he should be full just by a jar so i only fed him a jar in the morning a bottle for lunch and jar for dinner, but now he is asking for more food via ASL (American Sign Language) so i was scared to feed him more than just a jar in the morning, i don't know about the puffs yet, we will get there soon :)  oh i love the fact your name is Ashley, that's my middle name, but I spell it Asheley, thats why my nick name is Sammi Ashe :)  you helped me alot *hugs laptop*

Maggie - posted on 12/17/2009

You shouldn't start solids (not even cereal) until the baby can hold her head up by herself and can sit for a bit at a time. You should never ever put cereal in a bottle. Just keep giving her milk, as much as she wants. At this point in her life that's the best thing for her sensitive digestive system. She won't be able to swallow or digest solids very welll.

Heidi - posted on 12/17/2009

I started giving solid food (mushed vegetables and fruits, is that babyfood??) when my son was 3,5 months, the recommendation in here is to start at the age 4-6 months. meat I started giving when my son was 5months (recommendation 5-6months) BUT I started giving gruel when he was only 2 months old 'cause he ate too much milk and that helped... I only gave him potato-carrotgruel and corngruel 'cause babys stomach can't handdle grains prperly before age of 5months atleast that's what our doctor told me. and sorry if made mistakes with spelling... english ain't my first language...

Helen - posted on 12/17/2009

like ashley says everyone says something different, my own advice as mum of two (soon to be three) is if she's interseted in food try it, both my boys started solids around two months and they're fine. the only thing is to introduce new things slowly and only one new thing at a time enjoy you baby : )

Samantha - posted on 12/17/2009

Quoting ashley :

Quoting Samantha:

12 oz is too much fluid for a little one, i started my son with cereal in his bottle when he got home, i got took one of his slow nipple bottles and stretched it out a little bit and first I only put in a teaspoon of cereal at a time for 8 oz then as he was growing, i put more in until he stared sitting up, then i started him on baby food. he is now 8 months and now I am at the wall of do I feed him more jar food if he finishes one and starts to cry and how many times a day do I feed him jar food, i only feed him twice once in the morning when he wakes up and one before he goes to bed

hey im not sure if you were aking a question when  you said how many jars do i feed, but what i did for my son was fruit an cereal in the monring an then a bottle with it an then for lunch i did veggies an then a bottle  an then dinner was the same a jar of food a bottle  if you do one jar of baby food an then formula there still  still getting everything they need an some finger food like the gerber puffs an then before bed a then some type snack baby food so all together i did 4 jars a day an it might seem like much but i look at it lik ethis most people eat 3 meal an a snack a day so thats what i did an if you went asking a question then disreguard all of this

thanks!! that was exactly what was asking because people were telling me to just let him cry because he is only 8 months and he should be full just by a jar so i only fed him a jar in the morning a bottle for lunch and jar for dinner, but now he is asking for more food via ASL (American Sign Language) so i was scared to feed him more than just a jar in the morning, i don't know about the puffs yet, we will get there soon :)  oh i love the fact your name is Ashley, that's my middle name, but I spell it Asheley, thats why my nick name is Sammi Ashe :)  you helped me alot *hugs laptop*

Emma - posted on 12/17/2009

I tried my son on some rice cereal at 4mo, for us a big mistake. He's now almost 6 mo and he will be starting some oat/rice cereal instead. Once I know he is not going to react to that, he will be starting veggies next and then fruits by the time he is 7 mo. My son tends to have a sensitive stomach, I also suffer from IBS and a mild lactose intolerance because of the IBS. He had severe reactions on the occasions I had to give him formula, but luckily for us I've been able to BF instead.



Try it out, if it looks like your baby is uncomfortable then stop. If your baby is doing good then keep going.

Samantha - posted on 12/17/2009

Quoting ashley :

Quoting Samantha:

12 oz is too much fluid for a little one, i started my son with cereal in his bottle when he got home, i got took one of his slow nipple bottles and stretched it out a little bit and first I only put in a teaspoon of cereal at a time for 8 oz then as he was growing, i put more in until he stared sitting up, then i started him on baby food. he is now 8 months and now I am at the wall of do I feed him more jar food if he finishes one and starts to cry and how many times a day do I feed him jar food, i only feed him twice once in the morning when he wakes up and one before he goes to bed

hey im not sure if you were aking a question when  you said how many jars do i feed, but what i did for my son was fruit an cereal in the monring an then a bottle with it an then for lunch i did veggies an then a bottle  an then dinner was the same a jar of food a bottle  if you do one jar of baby food an then formula there still  still getting everything they need an some finger food like the gerber puffs an then before bed a then some type snack baby food so all together i did 4 jars a day an it might seem like much but i look at it lik ethis most people eat 3 meal an a snack a day so thats what i did an if you went asking a question then disreguard all of this

thanks!! that was exactly what was asking because people were telling me to just let him cry because he is only 8 months and he should be full just by a jar so i only fed him a jar in the morning a bottle for lunch and jar for dinner, but now he is asking for more food via ASL (American Sign Language) so i was scared to feed him more than just a jar in the morning, i don't know about the puffs yet, we will get there soon :)  oh i love the fact your name is Ashley, that's my middle name, but I spell it Asheley, thats why my nick name is Sammi Ashe :)  you helped me alot *hugs laptop*

Danielle - posted on 12/17/2009

All three of my kids were fed cereal in their bedtime bottle and morning bottle at an early age.. I would shake it to a consistency that worked for them and I would just poke a whole with a pin after I heated the tip to make the nipple hole bigger so that they could drink the cereal through their bottle. I started my kids on fruits and veggies no later than 3 months old... If u ask ur pediatrician most will say 6 months is the soonest, but i believe each child is different and never followed the "books" I also experienced most of the pediatricians I would ask never had kids of their own, so what do they know besides the "books" :) I would just give my kids 1 thing at a time for a week to see if they reacted to the food... I also bought canned fruit and veggies and made my own baby food. I froze the blended food in ice cube trays and heated up when needed. good luck

Chrystal - posted on 12/17/2009

We started with rice cereal at 3 months. Did not ask a pedi but he is doing great!

Hanna - posted on 12/17/2009

yeah, we had the same problem as you, Brandi. Maxi was born 9lb 4 oz and was eating for two since the moment he came out of me. he was breastfed (well, sort of, i had to pump and give since my milk didn't fully come in till day 5 and by then he was used to eating from a bottle since he'd eat 9 enfamil bottles a day since he was still in the hospital. i tried to keep up with him until he was 4.5 months (went through hell trying to get my milk supply up) but he was 19 lbs at 4 mth check-up and 35-40 oz of milk a day wasn't enough.

to answer your question: i started letting him taste my fruits when he was about 3.5 months old (gave him banana to suck on and a slice of cold apple as a teether) at 4.5 months i started adding cereal to his bottle (i tried with a spoon but he hated it with passion, not that i blame him, that stuff tastes absolutely revolting, so diluting it with milk makes it bearable to eat), and maybe a week later started giving him yellow veggies from a spoon, that he did like. i made his food myself (steamed it, pureed it with a hand blender or in a food processor and passed it through a strainer to remove some of the fibers) so i started with squashes, sweet potato then moved on to apples, bananas, carrots, then zucchini, peas, leeks, corn, broccoli (that gave him gas so we held off on it until he was 7 months, i kept trying to add it in, and he'd love the tasted but then would get really gassy afterwards). i introduced a new food every 2-3 days in the morning to see his reaction. by 5.5 months he had most fruits & berries (they say to hold off on strawberries, but they were in season in august so i gave him some and he was fine), by 6.5 months he was eating pasta, potatoes and grains like buckwheat, oats & millet & we started on meat (pureed into his food) and plain whole milk yogurt that i mixed in with his fruit. and by 8 months he started eating chunky food so he'd get a bit of what we're having for dinner in pieces. he's now 9 months, but we still have only 2 teeth, but he eats chunky food with no problems. the only thing that i really have to cut up for him is meat so that there's no long strings that he can't break up in his mouth. he loves pork, steaks, quail. not to fond of chicken though. at this point, i went back to work so he's getting about 12 oz of breastmilk a day and the rest is solids. we do feed him foods rich in iron and calcium. he eats a good amount of yogurt & cheese. i know they say you're supposed to supplement with formula, but i did it the same way me & my siblings were raised (moving to eating adult food by the time he's 1 and we do cook at home and eat a wide variety of cuisines & ingredients) and so far he seems to be growing & developing just fine.

at 2 months it's a bit too early to start on solids, but i would talk to your doctor. maybe he'll advise to start with cereal. except keep in mind that rice cereal sometimes makes them constipated so keep some prune juice on hand & you might even need to switch it out to an oatmeal or a multi-grain cereal. that's what we had to do. hope this helps. good luck!

Nancy - posted on 12/17/2009

My baby was a premie...but he started with a bit of rice cereal in his bottle when he was 4 months old. I did ask his doctor since I didn't want to cause him pain. He had colic and reflux...so I wanted to do it right and in the right amount. He did great and I just started raising the amount slowly every week til he was able to start eating it as a solid food (around his 5 month).

Kyla - posted on 12/17/2009

well my daughter is now 2 months old and i had started putting the pabblem in her bottles and she was only 1 1/2 months and then a week later i started her on apple sauce by spoon and pears and bananas they are all beginner baby food in the jars. but she has been tasting lots of different stuff way before she was a month.

Lacie - posted on 12/17/2009

I gave my son Cereal at 4 months.Then slowly moved threw all the different kinds till he was ready for baby food which was about at 6 months.

Crystn - posted on 12/17/2009

I gave my son his first foods at 3 months old. I asked the doctor if it was fine. Which you should do as well. They normally don't recommend it until they are 6 months old.

Stephanie - posted on 12/17/2009

the first time i fed myson baby food from a spoon it was bananas and he was 2 months. the doctor always told me if the baby is hungry let him eat. they wont eat more than they want or not enough is what i was told. u can even put rice ceral in her bottle or spoon feed her if she willtake it, that will fill her up too.

Ashley - posted on 12/17/2009

Quoting Samantha:

12 oz is too much fluid for a little one, i started my son with cereal in his bottle when he got home, i got took one of his slow nipple bottles and stretched it out a little bit and first I only put in a teaspoon of cereal at a time for 8 oz then as he was growing, i put more in until he stared sitting up, then i started him on baby food. he is now 8 months and now I am at the wall of do I feed him more jar food if he finishes one and starts to cry and how many times a day do I feed him jar food, i only feed him twice once in the morning when he wakes up and one before he goes to bed

hey im not sure if you were aking a question when  you said how many jars do i feed, but what i did for my son was fruit an cereal in the monring an then a bottle with it an then for lunch i did veggies an then a bottle  an then dinner was the same a jar of food a bottle  if you do one jar of baby food an then formula there still  still getting everything they need an some finger food like the gerber puffs an then before bed a then some type snack baby food so all together i did 4 jars a day an it might seem like much but i look at it lik ethis most people eat 3 meal an a snack a day so thats what i did an if you went asking a question then disreguard all of this

Samantha - posted on 12/17/2009

my son loves fruits and veggies, but not meat, and i personally love meat :) so its kinda weird to have a non meat eater in the house

Crystie - posted on 12/17/2009

I started my son on baby cereal at 5 months and then added some fruit cereal at 6-7 months...he loved it. i started baby food at 7 months as well. Its always good to start off with veggies first because once they have fruits they prefer the sweets over the veggies! You wanna wait to start them on the foods because their immune system and digestive tracks arent fully developed. Its always good to ask your pedi because everyone says something different...but its always up to u in the end. Also make sure when you do try foods that you give baby the same food for about 2-3 days to make sure there isnt an allergic reaction and if there is you will always know what the reaction was from and then can avoid feeding those foods....

Keshia - posted on 12/17/2009

my doctor told me to start baby fruits when she was four months just leave a few days between each new thing to make sure they dont have a reaction

Melissa - posted on 12/17/2009

I started Tiana on rice cereal at 5 months 1 week. Shortly after, I started giving her vegetable and fruit puree. From what I've read, anytime around 6 months, it's safe to give your baby rice, then oat cereal, then recommended to start with vegetable then fruit puree (at around 6 months), also you can give her mixed cereal, and then meat, such as chicken, and the yellow of the egg at seven months.



I thought giving her solids would help her sleep better (it did, but only for two nights) but it really did not change anything in the long run...except that in the day, she seems full longer and drinks less formula...

Samantha - posted on 12/17/2009

12 oz is too much fluid for a little one, i started my son with cereal in his bottle when he got home, i got took one of his slow nipple bottles and stretched it out a little bit and first I only put in a teaspoon of cereal at a time for 8 oz then as he was growing, i put more in until he stared sitting up, then i started him on baby food. he is now 8 months and now I am at the wall of do I feed him more jar food if he finishes one and starts to cry and how many times a day do I feed him jar food, i only feed him twice once in the morning when he wakes up and one before he goes to bed

Amy - posted on 12/17/2009

I started my daughter on cereal in her formula at a month old. She was just as greedy. Eating 12 ounces is a bit much so add cereal to her bottles so it will keep her full. I started my daughter on baby food when she was four months old

Camesha - posted on 12/17/2009

I started my son @ 31/2 months. I started hi on veges bc

i did not want him getting used to the sweet fruits then refusung to eat the veges.

Tonya - posted on 12/17/2009

I would feed her infant ceral and as for baby fruit you do not want to do that til after you get through all the veggies and stuff first.

Paula - posted on 12/17/2009

i started mine at 1 month....lil bit of cereal

they did fine...i didn't ask a pediatrician

Rebecca - posted on 12/17/2009

i started my twin girls on cereal at 4 1/2 months and fruits a little bit later... i would ask ur pediatrician.

Kaitlyn - posted on 12/17/2009

i would talk to your pediatrician about feeding her baby food so soon, but my daughter was 4 months when we started her with applesauce. She refused to eat the baby cereal even when we mixed some applesauce or bananas in it. My daughter had problems with her formula making her fussy and she was spitting up a lot and as soon as we started feeding her baby food and giving her only 2-3 bottles a day that totally stopped :o)

Ashley - posted on 12/17/2009

every mom an doctor will tell you something different my son ped told me i could start him on baby food at 8 weeks old so at 8 weeks an 2 day he ate a whole jar of veggies ive heard that it can bother the immune system my son was an alot of other babies i know were fine if you wanna try it then try it if she acts like something is hurting her then i would stop or call an ask her doctor but if you do the baby food you start with veggies first an you do the same one for 3 days good luck