solid feeding - beginning solids...

[matilda]

hi,

my dd is 5.5 mos and we are planning to begin solids in 2 weeks. lately she ultra fussy when i feed her (she is bottle fed). squirming, whimperimg, etc.

does this mean that she is ready for solids NOW?! how do you know?

when you start, for those who make their own, dr. said to start with rice cereal, then yellows, then greens, then fruits. can someone give examples? how long before going from one to another? and how much and how often do you give the solids??

thanks!

 

[Lissa]

my dd is 5.5 mos and we are planning to begin solids in 2 weeks. lately she ultra fussy when i feed her (she is bottle fed). squirming, whimperimg, etc.

Does she sound uncomfortable? Maybe she just needs a burp? Or maybe an ear infection? Babies don't usually get fussy when they are fed unless something is bothering them. That doesn't necessarily mean she is ready for solids.

how do you know?

Start out with rice cereal and see how she does with that. If she refuses the spoon, she isn't ready. That was my cue at least.

when you start, for those who make their own, dr. said to start with rice cereal, then yellows, then greens, then fruits. can someone give examples? how long before going from one to another? and how much and how often do you give the solids??

I started with rice, then bananas and sweet potatoes. Baby foods are marked by stages. Use the first stage.

As a side note, I had a really hard time with my son eating. He absolutely refused to be spoon fed. He wanted the bottle and so I gave it to him then later on I offered him finger foods. So we sort of skipped the whole baby food thing.

 

[HappyMomma]

It's hard to explain but my daughter just seemed hungry after the milk and I felt she was ready for more substantial foods. I used a food processor and mixed a little bit of breastmilk with whatever I was mashing up.

It's been too long to really remember what exact foods I started her out with, but I do remember that I had a list of fruits and veggies and if they were binding or loosening.

After we got throught the experimental stage, I would basically food process whatever I cooked for dinner (with less spice.)

 

[yulia]

I've read multiple times that it's not a very good idea to introduce solids before 8 months of age.

My son wasn't interested in solids till 8 months of age, but right after that, unfortunately, I had to encourage it since I got pregnant and my milk supply went way down.
My daughter was not interested in solids AT ALL until after a year of age. She is 16 m.o. now and is a fairly good eater (along with being a good nurser LOL).

 

[matilda]

thanks for the replies. maybe it's teething she won't suck, but sort of chew or play with nipple while screeching. ugh - can you say headache?!

:arghh:

i hadn't heard 8 mos, but at least i can feel ok and not like i am starving the baby by NOT starting her on solids for now. we are travelling soon and i thought solids would be even more of a hassle than the bottles (we had a really difficult time with nursing and i unfortunately ... actually fortunately ... finally let go of that). but that's a whole other thread!

 

[Lissa]

You aren't going to starve her by not giving her solids. I would say try it and see how it goes.

 

[Kim]

I've read multiple times that it's not a very good idea to introduce solids before 8 months of age.

My son wasn't interested in solids till 8 months of age, but right after that, unfortunately, I had to encourage it since I got pregnant and my milk supply went way down.
My daughter was not interested in solids AT ALL until after a year of age. She is 16 m.o. now and is a fairly good eater (along with being a good nurser LOL).[/quote]

Waiting too long can cause them to have aversions to the texture, and can impact their food habits in the long run.

 

[Kim]

Waiting too long can cause them to have aversions to the texture, and can impact their food habits in the long run.

That being said, they don't nutrionally need solid food until they stop nursing or drinking formula - all the vitamins are there.

Also, after rice cereal, you should start with vegetables.

Fruits taste better, so if you introduce fruit first, they may not want to eat the vegetables later.

 

[Kaytee]

yu;lia is right that they don't "need" food for vitamins and such, but as hannahs mommy said, food aversion is a big thing. It is a learning time. Children need to be started on solids when they are ready! Simple as that. If they are ready at 4 months, do it, if its 8 month sdo it!!
You know they are ready when they are eyeing your food, not satisfied after eating bottle or nursing, and when they take that first bite... they take it and swallow it!!

We started my dd on solids at 5 1/2 months. Her first food was advocado. She ate the very first bite like she had been eating it for months. She was ready.

I never fed her cereal and this is why. Rice cereal has 0 benefit for a child. There is nothing in it, its just food, smelly nasty tasting food at that yuck lol.
They say to start on that because parents tend to start solids too soon and it is a fairly hypoallergenic food. Most children will not be allergic to it.
Now when we started we went slow. We followed her cues and it worked perfectly. She had one meal a day till around 7 months, then 2 till about 9 or 10 months, then 3 meals a day by 11 months. at 12 months we added in a snack at night before bed. She continued nursing til 22 months old.

Her first foods were advocado, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, apples (she didn't liek them though) peaches, bananas.
I made all her food and added breastmilk to it.

 

[musicmom]

My story is totally different and it's only with one of my twin girls. I had to give my first born twin solids at two weeks old. She had rice cereal. She had acid reflux. She still drank the same with breast milk but I had to make it thicker for her to hold down. I eventually put fruit in it to make it sweeter. I just went off of how she acted. I could tell what she liked. I watched for constipation or upset tummy.
Baby food really had NO nutritional value so stick with milk until you get to solids. Introduce baby foods to get their taste buds used to new things but only one food per week just incase they have an allergice reaction
Mine still digested the cereal and milk as usual it didn't make her sleep longer or anything. But it didn't harm her. Best of luck

 

[matilda]

thanks - this is really helpful. i'm definitely going to wait ... probably at least until she can sit up! which she can't yet. after reading these posts i was noticing that she is not ALWAYS fussy with her bottle. so -- there you go!

i also started to tool around on wholesomebabyfood.com

when i do start i do hope to just make my own food. i heard about skipping rice cereal all together ... my dr. said not to skip, but i'm not sure why. doesn't really make sense to me.

 

[HappyMomma]

One thing to remember about rice is that it is a binding food ;-)

 

[fallon]

I made all of Logan's baby food and it saved me a ton of $$ and I had total control of what was in it. I loved that

 

[HappyMomma]

I really enjoyed it too! It was a lot of fun and gave her a lot of diversity as far as different foods and flavors. I did use store baby food on occasion, but it was only if we were traveling or just too tired to cook for whatever reason. I was kinda shocked one day when I looked at a jar of guava baby food and found out how much sugar was added.. WHY?

 

[fallon]

I was kinda shocked one day when I looked at a jar of guava baby food and found out how much sugar was added.. WHY?

I know right...why add sugar to such a sweet fruit? And why add any sugar to baby food?

 

[Kaytee]

they add lots of stuff to them... fillers and such as well. THey don't even have to label everything.

When mine was itty bitty and eating, I would use ice cube trays to freeze her food. Then take out a cube and let it melt, or nuke if for a few seconds to warm it.
By the time she was 9 or 10 months old she ate what we ate. i would just put it in the food proccessor

 

[HappyMomma]

My thoughts exactly!!!

I will admit that I started solid early, If I remember correctly it was around 5 or 6 months. I had read the very strict warnings about when to start, but once again. Kids aren't made with cookies cutters and my girl was HUNGRY! She's an eater!

 

[HappyMomma]

When mine was itty bitty and eating, I would use ice cube trays to freeze her food. Then take out a cube and let it melt, or nuke if for a few seconds to warm it.
By the time she was 9 or 10 months old she ate what we ate. i would just put it in the food proccessor

That reminds me of my popsicle remedy. 100% fruit juice homemade popsicles. Gids rid of all that extra sugar they add to the store bought ones.

 

[fallon]

My thoughts exactly!!!

I will admit that I started solid early, If I remember correctly it was around 5 or 6 months. I had read the very strict warnings about when to start, but once again. Kids aren't made with cookies cutters and my girl was HUNGRY! She's an eater!

my babies were both born around 10 lbs and were both ready for soilds around 5 months, so I totally understand.

 

[HappyMomma]

my babies were both born around 10 lbs and were both ready for soilds around 5 months, so I totally understand.

And go figure... we didn't even get any of those crazy food allergies that they warned about. :wink: