5 Month Old Sarting on Solids

Hi,
You probably have gotten tons of advice already but, my two cents are what this website is all about.......haha
Start them with one thing at a time. Some will start with rice ceral in with the formula in bottle.You will need a larger hole nipple in bottle. Or try some rice ceral alone.
Once you start other vegies & fruits stick with one type for a couple days.....such as sweet potatoes,feed the baby this for a couple days before trying another flavor. This is to make sure they don't have any allergies, to any foods.
Several other mom's have told me that you should not start them with anything sweet,bacause that's all they will want. I did not have this problem with my kids or grandkids but some do.....I do see the point & it's not a bad one...that said...
My kids & grandson ALL started with a smashed banana......
Since I almost always had one in the house & it was so easy to just smash it up with a fork, no blender,food processor, nothing else needed....no addidtives,all natural,high in potassim (may cause diareha, in some little ones).....
The other thing I noticed was that after first starting solids the kids were a little constipated. I would always keep some pedi-lite on hand which i would give them in a sippy with their food, or water. It seemed to help the constipation if I DID NOT give them formula just after or with solid foods, just water or pedialite (No juice)....
Good Luck, it is a fun time in a babies life....our grandson is almost 8months & starting to try & walk....he was running over our toes in the kitchen last nite, with his walker.....it's so nice to have him close to us!

I started with rice cereal 1 time a day, and kept the milk the same. They usually only eat a little bit in the beginning because they are learning how to accept the food rather then actually filling up on it. After the first week I noticed that 1 meal would replace 1 bottle, so each time I increased to another meal then I would lose 1 bottle. Remember, the rice cereal is made with breast milk/formula, so your baby is still getting some with that meal. Also, I always made my baby food with a food processor, so breast milk or formula was added to the food processor for the right consistency. Some moms offer a sippee cup during the

I would actually recommend waiting on the veggies another month or so, but if you've already begun with them, keep it to just the one thing for a while before adding anything new. You mention sweet potatoes and that sounds like a good one for a starter veggie. Are you also serving him some cereal? Usually a doctor will recommend rice cereal as a first solid food. You can give him the food at three meals. He won't need much at each time for a while, but will gradually increase.
One more thought... since you mentioned sweet potatoes... it's so easy to prepare food from scratch for the child. It's much less expensive and you don't have to worry about any additives. The sweet potatoes are really easy. Simply wash and bake one in a microwave or oven until soft, or if you prefer, peel and boil it. Then mash it and put into ice trays. Cover the trays with a double wrap of plastic wrap and freeze. When they are frozen you can pop them out of the trays and store in a zip lock bag. When ready to serve simply thaw one or two cubes of potatoes, and serve. You can also mix a little bit of formula, juice or water and some rice cereal with the potato.
The only food I know of that you shouldn't make from scratch is carrots. There's something about something thats harmful (to babies) that carrots pull out of the soil, and the baby food companies have them raised in soil where that doesn't happen.

My daughter just started on solids a couple of weeks too. I started her eating solids once a day, just to get her used to being on the high chair and feeding her since a whole new experience for her. After about 2 weeks, I slowly move her to 2 meals a day. I read from the Internet that by 8 months, they need to have 3 meals a day. Hope this helps.

According to "Baby 411 - Clear Answers & Smart Advice for Your Baby's First Year" by Ari Brown MD and Denise Fields (both Moms) a baby your age should be getting about 32-40 oz of liquid nutrition (breast or formula) over the course of 5-6 meals and 'maybe baby cereal' or 'maybe fruit/veggie' 1-2 feedings a day about 1-2 Tablespoons. My pediatrician had us wait until our kiddos were 6 months before introducing very thin rice cereal. Anyway, hope that helps. You can find the above mentioned book at Amazon, local bookstores and maybe even you library - it's a great resource.

My son started having solids at 4 mos old. But I only gave him cereal in the morning until he was about 5 mos old. Then I move to cereal in the morning and fruits in the afternoon. By 6 mos old. I gave it to him 3 x a day. Formula in between feeding before his naps and night time.

Make sure you introduce each food slowly. Try each food at least for 3 days before you move on to another food. Just to make sure of any allergy he might have from that particular food.

Good luck!!

If I remember right I gave mine solids at the three main meals. Remember only try one new thing at a time and wait 4 days before trying something else, so you can watch for allergies. It might also be a good idea after you have worked your way through the different types of cereals to start with veggies first. We all know they will love fruits and if you start with fruits first they may not love veggies as much. This may help you raise a kid who is willing to eat their veggies a little more readily.