Transitioning to Solid Foods from Nursing

Hi S.,

I have a seven year old and a three year old. When we were going through the food transition (isn't there always some kind of transition to go through?) I read a few things that suggested making the food the staple of each meal, and topping off with formula when the baby doesn't take any more food. It worked beautifully for us. So I'd continue nursing as you have been, feed food first at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then give him formula (breast milk?) to finish off the meal. He'll naturally take as much of each (food and milk) as he needs. Good luck!

Nurse first until you are empty and then offer foods and feed until full (don't feed fillers, such as cereal). Your baby will let you know when nursing is not enough. Breast milk is more nutritious then baby food that is why the World Health organization says nurse at least two years. You should always nurse first so you know for sure your baby really needs all the food you are giving and you don't decrease your milk supply when your baby still needs the milk. Some babies naturally eat solid food later to protect themselves from allergies. Good luck.

Hi S.,
One site that has helped me a lot is www.wholesomebabyfoods.com (or org?). It has information on making homemade baby food but even if you don't they have a LOT of great information about what foods to introduce at what ages, food ideas, sample menus, etc. I have referred to it a lot with my kiddos.

Your son is doing great and will just transition himself. He'll just stop taking so much from the bottle and focus on the baby food more and more. You probably won't need to do anything but follow his lead.

I think you have some good advice here. I just wanted to mention this: We totally skipped Stage 3 foods and went straight to soft table foods. I didn't find it worth the expense of continuing to buy baby food when we could basically give our daughter a slightly modified version of what the rest of us were eating. Hope that helps.

You could start by simply upping the amount of baby food you give him at breakfast and dinner and start giving it too him for lunch. Around this age my son was eating cereal with 1/2 jar fruit &2oz bottle, lunch was 1/2 jar fruit and 1/2 jar veggie, dinner was 1/2 fruit and 1/2 veggie or dinner all stage 2. And 4 to 6oz bottles in between. Think of it as mini meals and as your son's appetite grows, you increase the amount of baby food up to two full jars at lunch and dinner. And you can feed him what ever you'd like in baby food as well. When 2 jars of baby food a meal don't seem to keep him full, you can start to go up to stage 3 1/4 to 1/2 jars at a time. Most of the fruits and veggies are only a tad bit thicker and your really chunky stuff is in the dinners. When he can eat those dinners pretty good, you can start mixing in some table food that is soft. Not going to happen till around 10 -11 months old though. And around 11 months you can start mixing his formula with whole milk to get that switched over. I started at 1/4 milk to 3/4 formula for every other bottle for 2 days, then to every day for 2-3 days. Then up to 1/2 and 1/2 for a few days every few days and then every day for a few more, etc till it is straight whole milk. I started 2 weeks before both of my kids 1st B-days cause they never had any allergies and transitioned to new foods without a problem.

Just follow your son's lead!! Good luck!
~S.