When Is Baby Ready to Switch from 1St Foods to 2Nd ???

I started my baby on solids at 6 months directly at 2'nd foods. I think you should be able to switch without any trouble.

It has been a long time for me, but I remember the first foods we used were all of the cereals, then we introduced the veggies, then the meats, then the fruits. By the third child I didn't bother buying baby food very often at all, I used the blender and whatever we were having I blended down and put in small containers and froze some of it for a later date and used one or two jars at the time.
I tried each new food I introduced for a week before moving on to make sure there weren't any reactions even though they might only get the new food once a day mixed in with the other foods we had all ready tried. Have you managed to use all of the 1st foods for that long each?
Good luck.

2nds are the same as 1st, just bigger containers so it's cheaper to buy! No thicker, no more nutrients, the ONLY difference is that they combine a couple foods in some of them so you can get blueberry applesauce instead of just applesauce...yippy! lol They are both just watered-down and over-pureed for babies who don't know how to eat food yet. They don't need them if you wait until 6 months to start solids! You can go straight to 3rd if you want at this point, or just start mashing things from your plate and letting him try to use his developing "pincer grasp" to feed himself.
Things to feed him instead of purees:
avacado
bananas (much better fresh instead of jarred - have you tasted them? ick:( )
mashed sweet potatoes
halved blue berries
steamed fresh or frozen peas (or just give him the frozen ones to gum - they are great for teething!!)

Don't worry too much about when you feed what foods as long as it's small pieces. We're about the only country that buys watered-down, pureed baby food and there's no reason to. Have fun with feeding him and get him used to the way your family eats with all the different spices and flavors you cook with!

Hi, I haven't read all your responses so I'm sorry if I'm just repeating. Our pediatrician said that when our son turned 6 months he could be started on baby food...she reccomended to skip the first stage because it's really runny...she said it might even be harder for him to get used to since rice and oatmeal are even thicker than the first stage baby food. Hope this helps!!!!!

You could have had baby on 2nd foods a while ago. I had my second son on table foods at 6 months. He would gum anything.

Might want to get yourself a copy of FEED ME I'M YOURS by Lansky. Will give you tons of ideas, too.

Need variety, just mash up foods you are eating. Broccoli, peas, cauliflower, squash. Babies love vegetables and baby foods are way over-rated. They are expensive and no better than the food you cook. My daughter has 2 boys, 3 and 1 and has never fed them baby food except to have a jar for travel/visiting when it is not convenient to cook. Her 1 yr old has only 2 bottom teeth and he does well with finger foods- cheese, cereal, cooked carrots, etc.

If you're really trying to do all organics, you should consider making your own foods. Munchkin makes a really great hand baby food grinder. We used it for my daughter. Just throw in whatever you're eating, add a little liquid (we used breastmilk, formula or even water) and crank the handle..TADA! Baby food! http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Baby-Food-Grinder-Colors/d...

I never made mine ahead of time, I just did it as we went. I think at about 9 months my daughter was eating regular table food. I just took whatever we were eating and cut it up really small so she wouldn't choke. If you want to make a stash ahead of time, just use the blender. It's really easy to do. It takes a little more time, but at least you know exactly what your baby is eating. There is so much salt and perservatives in baby food, even the organic stuff.

If you want to give her the chunkier foods, just do it. It may take her a few to get used to it. If she absolutely won't eat it, you can always toss it in the blender to grind up the chunks.

At 8 months old, both of my kids were switchng from baby food over to tiny bits of table food and mashed up table food. You could switch to 2nd foods, but really I think you get more variety and instill better eating habits, when babies eat what everyone else in the family eats. I am not sure if it is luck or not, but my kids eat almost anything!

I would bet that she's ready now to switch! With all 3 of our children, we delayed solids until 8 or 9 months because I ebf; and when we introduce solids we give them table food right away--no jarred baby foods. Even if your daughter doesn't have any teeth, she's capable of gumming soft cubed foods. Some examples of what we fed our little ones at this age are, avacado, squash, melon, blueberries, pineapple, pears, peaches, graham crackers, cheerios, cheese, pasta... GL!

I believe 2nd foods are usually 6 months and up, or 9 months. I used Gerber organics and Earth's Best. EB has the ages on their jars for guidance. Have you thought about making your own purees at home to try and get some more varieties? I know buying organic fruits and veggies would be super expensive, I did regular veggies and fruits in the blender and would store them in ice cube trays. You just defrost in microwave before serving. Babies R US actually has a good selection of Earth's Best organics that you can buy in bulk packs. They usually have sales on them too.

Now is the time to get a baby food grinder and use it at mealtime to hand grind whatever you have cooked....plus you can take it with you whenever you eat out.
It works for almost any cooked foods.
If you put meat in it be sure to add a little juice or gravy for moister consistency.

If you think she's getting close, then buy them one week at a time, or maybe even just 3 days at a time. You'll be able to tell because she'll eat it very quickly and still be wanting more, maybe opening her mouth for another bite, moving her arms and legs around from excitement and anticipation of wanting more. Until then, I would keep her on 1's. OOOOHh, just reread and realized I misread the age there. 8 months is awfully old to be eating 1's still. She's only a few months away from eating table food, so she'll need to get used to the consistency of the 2's and 3's of baby jar food. What you could do, is start buying the 2's and you can refrigerate it for the next day if she doesn't finish it.

There is no right answer when it comes to feeding your child. You know your child best. Some kids are ready for finger-feeding 'real' foods like pasta and peas at 6-7 months and some aren't ready until 10-11 months. My kids were all self-feeding almost 100% of the time (with fingers, spoons came later) 'real' table food (whatever the rest of the family was eating) by 8-9 months old. None of them had a tooth until soon after their 1st birthday, either. Babies can gum pretty much anything. Just cut everything into pea size bits.

Just try the 2nd foods. Or, better yet, just fork-smash whatever the rest of the family is eating that meal and see how she handles it.