1sttimemom

I am thinking about starting my 5 1/2 month old on solids...He is exclusively formula fed
there is so much conflicting information out there....
Any ideas where to start? Is this when we start on juices as well?

mamab

We were told to start with the oatmeal cereal. You can mix it with water or juice. I think the juice tastes better, since baby food is so bland to begin with. We were also told to not introduce more than one food per week. Try it for a week and see if the baby has an allergic reaction to it. If it doesn't have a reaction, you may add a new food.

Stephanie2377

Definitely start with cereal. I started with Gerber baby oatmeal instead of rice. So many babies hate the rice! I would recommend mixing up the oatmeal with either breastmilk or formula. I, personally, would avoid the juice due to the sugar content. In fact, I think juice is just empty calories and my son still doesn't drink it (he is 2yo) He drinks water and milk.
After that, you can start with the solid foods other than cereal. We chose to start with veggies so he wouldn't love the sweet stuff and then hate veggies. I think we started with sweet potatoes. The main stage 1s are: squash, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears and apples. Always leave at least 5-7 days between introductions of new foods so you can look for any reaction. Have fun!

SageMother

Cereal is usually the first solid, but it doesn't start out as a spoonful of what you usually think of.

Begin with just a tiny bit in the usual formula or expressed mother's milk and slowly add a little more every few days or weeks, depending on how quickly the baby takes to it. When it can be tolerated in a fiarly creamy consistency, introduce the dreaded spoon.

Many babies find this an evil device. It isn't soft and warm, they aren't held while it is used, and they have to change the way they use their tongue to move spoon fed materials to the back of the throat for swallowing. Alot of food ends up on the chin but in time most of use get the hang of it.

fldasha

When my baby turned 4 moths old, I started to give her gerber cereals. I mixed it with her milk formula. Good thing my baby loved it. Every week I would introduce new food to her. Just make sure that the foods are easy to digest. Mashed potato, carrots and vegetable is an excellent choice aside from cereals.

Kaytee

well I'm a bit late on this one, but we didn't start with cereal. there is no nutritional anything in baby cereals. We started at about 5 1/2 months and started with advocado. You have to judge your baby for yourself if you think they are ready. The only point of eating solids before a year old is solely to learn to eat, so you might as well give them something yummy and good for them, not just empty calories. I don't know much about formula but, I do know that the more solids an infant takes in the less nutrients they are able to obsorb .

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