when to give baby something other than formula

Tasha - posted on 01/30/2010

First off let me say every baby is diffrent u can't judge one baby by another, i have a set of triplets 8 months old but u have to subtract 2 months cause they were born 2 months early so thier 6 months my doctor had my to bigger ones austin and lexi start cereal in thier bottle just a scoop at 3 months old cause they were used to getting neosure for preiemes cause they were only 3 pounds each so they wanted more andmore and they were drinking to much formula a day they would go through 2 8 oz bottles in a 2 hour period seriously they were big eaters so it all depends so if u give it to them young give them little bits not a big amount caus they can also start vomiting from the cereal if thier not ready i mean spit ups ok but if they start vomiting stop the cereal and as far as juice my kids could not have juice or pedialite until 6 monts of age...

Jessica - posted on 01/30/2010

my son is 8 months old and his doctor said he could start on rice cereal around 3 months old. so we did that but only gave it to him when he woke up and when he went to bed. around 5-6 months old we started pears, squash, peas, etc. now he has 4 teeth and i'll give him like mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs (even though my MIL freaked, he loves them), just making sure its really small portions. i usually just dip my finger in it. and we have just in the past couple of weeks started juice. but before he was 3 months if he acted like his tummy really hurt, we would do water with A drop of dark karo syrup and give him that. the doctor says he is a very healthy child.

Nikki - posted on 01/30/2010

No juice or water til at least 6 months

solids we started a 4, each baby is different, if at 4 months your baby is sitting up and showing willingness to eat

DO NOT put cereal in the bottle it is a choking hazard

A baby at and a half months cannot digest solids, there body is not ready, all they need is formula or breastmilk

You may notice some days they overeat these are groeth spurts and not a sign that they need solids yet

Mary-Ann - posted on 01/30/2010

the Doc is right. Babies don't need anything other than breast milk or formula before 6 months of age. Then you can start introducing rice cereals and teething biscuits or mum mums. Babies can just get tummy aches and unnecessary gas from foods earlier than 6 months. Definitely give a variety of foods starting at 6 months, but do only introduce one at a time, especially if they are known to be common allergens. Just so that if she has a reaction you will know what caused it. I did one new food a week in general. Give a new food 2 or 3 times before you try the next. You do not need to make foods taste bland, just make sure they aren't overly spicy. Cook as you normally would and puree/blend a little for baby. By 9 months baby should be able to eat a large variety of foods. I found my daughter ate way more if foods had lots of flavor.

Before 6 months the digestive system just isn't mature enough to handle anything other than formula or breast milk. The proteins and nutrients in those two items are already broken down so babies system can handle them without troubles.

Natalie - posted on 01/30/2010

Quite honestly every culture does it differently. Here in the states the doctor says different things than the ones in Europe for example. I'm from germany and we have baby tees there that you can start giving them at 1 month. Obviously not a lot, like a small bottle during the whole day, 4 oz maybe,,,

If you live in a hot climate i think it's totally natural that babies too get thirsty and should we really feed them formula every 30 minutes or 1 hour b/c they are thirsty? I think a little bit of water or tee is perfectly fine for in between when the baby really shouldn't be showing signs of hunger.

Sometime my son would feed every hour, my MIL would tell me to just give him formula when he wants it... yet he then gained wait so fast b/c he was drinking, drinking, drinking.

Crystal - posted on 01/30/2010

I would stick with just formula. Water, and juice are too thin, she may choke by drinking too fast. As for the cereal, I would wait too... she may not be able to digest it yet. But.. I will say that when she does get to the eating solids stage, don't "go by the book." Allow them to try different things, as long as its not something they have to chew, since at this age they usually don't have many teeth. :) My sister made her own foods when her son started solids and I did the gerber foods with my kids. My kids are VERY VERY picky eaters to this day, and they are 4 and 2. My nephew, on the other hand, eats just about everything. So when you get to that stage, make sure you give your child different consistencies of food ... you'll be better off in the long run not doing the store bought foods. Plus I'm sure it's cheaper.



Good luck!