We have started our breast-fed 4 1/2 mnth old on food and need some ideas. We are using fresh fruits & veggies, pureed with breastmilk. We started with bananas, avacados, and carrots. Here are my questions:
-- how much milk should we still feed?
-- how much food should a 5 month-old be eating?
-- what other fruits/veggies are age appropriate and easy to do at home?
Thanks for all the great advice. We had a 5 month check up yesterday and the doc said the food pattern we are doing is fine but strongly recommended to make the fruit portions small for the next few months and concentrate on veggies (but cutting out the carrots until older). She normally takes 25-30oz of milk per day plus 2 tblsp of rice cereal, 4 cubes of food, and 4oz water (as needed/wanted).
Looks like I have several books to pick up. I love the muffin pan idea -- we are using ice trays but she is eating several cubes now so a bigger size will help. The doc says she can eat as much as she wants as long as she is still taking in 25-30 ounces of milk per day until our next visit at 7 months.
Note: The food we are preparing is 1 part veggie, 1 part milk, 1-2 part water (to help prevent constipation and/or stomach irritation).
Brown rice...I would blend it in a blender until it is about 4th the size then cook with lots of water until soft amd mushy. I bought the silicone ice trays or mini muffin trays and freeze it and popped it out and ziploc it until needed. I did this with everything(peas, squash, sweet potato). Intant meals. I blended everything first(a little) then used a rice cooker and blended again.
Dont cut back on the milk.Baby still need 26-32oz of milk.Feed the food and then a bottle somewhere after.My son takes it right after.If you are making your own baby food my I sugest the Super Baby Food book.I just started making my sons food and it is awesome.It will even tell you hoe to make your own cereal.Making the baby food is easy.If you would like some help getting started let me know.You can email me at ____@____.com I bought the book at amazon.com for $16.It is over 500 pages.There are recipies for baby food now and toddler snacks later and how to make fun snack and cakes for kids.Home madae play dough pesticides.Just about anything you can imagine.Love it!
Hi Shanna,
I also have a 4 1/2 month old who is breastfed and has just started on solids. I found an excellent book called Super Baby Food that has helped me a lot with my questions. You can find it on Amazon.com. It's a little to much into the health food side of things for me - but I took what I needed from it and left the rest. We have started our baby girl on infant rice cereal. We also plan to make our on baby food but the book I read said that until they are 6 months old, their little digestive systems are not ready for the homemade cereals because they are not refined enough. Plus the storebought brand is fortified with iron which can be a concern at this age with breastfed babies not getting enough iron. They suggested Earth's Best infant cereal because it is organic and made from whole grains. They also said that boiled and pureed sweet potatoe is an excellent first food for babies this age. They actually suggested waiting on carrots until they were 7 months old. We also used avocados and bananas pureed with breast milk. And from what I've read they do not take more than about 2 tablespoons of food and just once a day to start out with - although when they seem to be hungrier you can move them to twice a day solids. But the important thing is that they are still breast fed first with the solids only coming as an extra to the breast milk because breast milk is the beast nutrition they can have and because you don't want your milk supply to decrease to much yet. And having said all that, I've just decided to back up a bit on the solids and wait until my baby is a bit older - because she is having trouble with digesting them. I think I'm going to try again in about a months time. Best of luck to you and your little one.
D.
just a p.s.-- non organic spinach, carrots and turnip greens have nitrates that are okay for older babies ,but not 6-10 month-olds. if you make these at home only use organic produce.
i found sweet potatoes to be the easiest to prepare at home and the most well-received.
Babies don't need solids foods at such a young age. You might start with some rice cereal for practice eating, but really they are still mostly dependent on formula until they are at least 9 months old. I wouldn't jump in too fast, they have many years to enjoy food when their little bodies are ready for it. Breastmilk or formula is what they need right now. At 6 months I would start introducing more foods.
If you can send me an e-mail I can send you a chart. G. W
____@____.com
Shanna, you have had some great advice on books that will help you. I will share that the American Academy of Pediatrics says most babies (particularly nursing infants where mom has an adequate nutritional intake and protein is at about 50-65 gms daily) don't need anything else until about 5 1/2 to 6 months. When you do start supplementing with food always nurse first and them only give food on a spoon as desired. In this way you don't deplete your milk supply by lack of demand from a baby taking table foods. Make sure to keep up your iron and B12 intake since many babies this age become anemic and your baby will do fine with your milk.
K. @ The Nestingplace
Having read the other responses, I just want to say that you should let your baby take the lead. My daughter, now almost a year, LOVES food, and has from the beginning. We started her on rice, then purees, on our pedi's advice, at about 4 1/2 mo. Always breastfeed first, then offer food--your baby will let you know when he/she has had enough, so let her be the gauge. I feel strongly that we should teach kids from a young age to listen to their own bodies regarding eating for hunger, not for emotional reasons or because forced. That being said, by about 5 1/2 months my DD needed solids as well as breastmilk--I could no longer produce enough to satisfy her. She weaned herself at 10 1/2 months--I was having to force her (hold her down!) to nurse, because she only wanted "real" food and water from a sippy. But other kids don't want or need food until after 6 months, and happily nurse for over a year. Listen to your baby, which will teach her to listen to herself. I also recommend the book "Feed Me!" which has helpful and unusual suggestions (fennel bulb puree!) for young ones to eat.
Looks like you've got a lot of responses. I just wanted to say I don't believe your supposed to do carrots until older. At least that's what I read when my son was little and I was making his food.
Honestly, at this age nothing is going to be better than breastmilk. Anything else you give the baby will just come out the other end.
"Super Baby Food" You can get it at Barnes&Noble. It will literally walk you through EVERY month and give you detailed schedules of what to feed your baby when and how much. It has lots of recipes! It is your baby-feeding bible!!
I breast-fed my daughter for 15 months and I started her on solids at 5 months. I just added the food in and kept our breast feeding schedule the same. The way I looked at it was when she doesn't need as much milk she will let me know by shortening her nursing time or refusing it all together. I just fed her solids 1st and then nursed her when she was finished eating. That way she would not be too full to eat the solids but if she was still hungry she would nurse as long as she needed to. Hope that helps some.
Most nutrition should still be through milk until at least 9- 12 months. At 5 months my daughter was taking about 30 oz formula a day, but eating 2 solids a day.At6 months shestartedfinger foods and solids 3 times, then at 9 months she began eating mostly what we were eating (in a form she could eat it) and taking 15-24 oz of formula a day. Favorites for my baby at your baby's age: green beans, peas, carrots, spinach, zuchinni, peach (steamed and diced), applesauce. Oddly she hated some of those at 4 months and loved them by 6 months.
And in response to the person who says to wait until 6 mo- Yes some foods (particulary wheat) should be held off till then, but if you don't start solids at 4-6 months youre missing the window of opportunity when your baby is open to trying new foods amd most interested in this eating experiment. Avoid wheat to help prevent Celiac disease- and of course avoid eggs whites, cows milk, nuts, and honey.
Pears and apples are awesome to start on. Especially pears. I am not sure how easy peaches would be but thats another tasty fruit. \
Good luck.
Solids are just for play for the first few months. Take cues from your baby as to how much food they will eat. Always offer milk before feeding solids. Never force your baby to eat solids.
As for milk, your baby will not decrease the amount needed for some time. At 4.5 months, you should be trying cereal first. Start with rice cereal mixed with milk to a thin consistency. Try introducing a new cereal each week as your baby will eat them.
You need to watch closely for allergies when introducing any foods.
1. rice cereal
2. oat cereal
3. barley
4. mixed
then move on to veggies, boiled soft and pureed...
- steamed squash
- sweet potatoes
- carrots
then fruits...
- apple sauce
- peaches
- bananas
- avacados
I gave Elizabeth Baby Yo yogurt at 5 months also.
GL!
My advice would be to breast feed your baby untill she is at least 9months to 1year old and then start her on solids.
There digestive system needs more developing.....
Check out the book -- Super Baby Foods. It has a good index of what foods, how to prepare, and when. Also, the La Leche League and Dr Sears websites have good food info too. Some people will say don't start with fruit because they'll develop a sweet tooth. It's not true so don't worry about things like that.
Food the first year is an experiment. If they like it, great. If not, don't worry. They should be getting the bulk of their nutrition from you. Breast milk is more nutritious than solids and has what they need at this point for proper development. So nurse first and then offer solids.
I would wait until as close to 6 months as possible. And we ALWAYS tell our patients to start with veggies 1st, then fruits. Hope this helps!
Honestly, I would not start a baby that young on solid foods. Beginning solid foods too early has been associated with other problems later in life, such as obesity, respiratory problems like bronchial asthma, and food allergies. I would really try to wait at least one more month before you start giving solids.
Did you discuss this with her dr? I would be very careful about what you feed a child this young as food allergies can come about quickly. Do not stop breastfeeding as your child still needs the nutrients from this. Continue breastfeeding schedule.
