When to Feed Baby Cereal and Food.....

Hi Rachel,

here's a link to a site i frequent when starting solids. I used this as a guide for my son who is now 15 months and it seemed to work out for us at about this pace, though, i never pushed it on him if he didn't seem to want it. I think at about 6 months your baby should be able to turn away if he's truly not interested. This site speaks in terms of 'cubes' for food, because it's a site for making homemade baby foods that you freeze in ice cube trays. If i remember correctly, 1 'cube' equals about a half jar of stage 1 foods.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babymenu.htm

of course, there are disclaimers that you should not necessarily follow their guide as a hard/fast rule, more so as just a guideline, and to listen to your baby's cue's for his individual appetite. I always cut back a bit on the solids if it seemed to be taking away from his formula intake (I always kept a log of all feedings, with time, ounces and a running total for the day so i knew if his intake went down, and also to note new foods and any reactions)

have a great day - hope the site helps you :)

~J.~

Rachel,

Congrats on the beautiful baby! If you offered him fresh fruit and veggies, he would probably be more inclined to eat. Have you tasted baby food from a jar? Not my favorite;) It is SO simple, to steam and mash veggies, add a pat of real butter, and you can offer your child delicious and nutritious foods. He will be more apt to eat them, and you are setting the stage for healthy eating habits for later in life. My kids LOVE all types of veggies! We never went through a picky toddler stage, because they were already accustomed to eating many different types of foods.

Good Luck!

Hi Rachel, I know how confusing it can be to start anything new with your baby. I'm starting baby number three on solids now. Relax he will let you know how much he needs and how often. To start I would give him his cereal before milk otherwise he will continue to fill up on milk instead of solids. I try to add the stage one foods slowly with rice or his favorite cereal. One new food a week is good in case he has allergies or doesn't digest something well. Always take the food out the jar or container and if you use half refrigerate the rest. When giving the stage two foods a couple teaspoons of each veggies, meats, and fruits is plenty for one feeding. good luck and thank you for posting this question.

At six months I would mix thecereal with the fruit for morning time. I would always give the bottle after the solid food, but it would be 4-6oz. since after the solids they wouldn't be as hungry for a bigger bottle. With a 6-8oz. bottle of milk in between meals as snacks. Then for lunch I'd give him veggies and fruit and then for dinner I'd give them veggies and meat. Then an 8oz. bottle before bed. You have to go with the baby's rythmn. His may be a bottle first then an hour later fruit with cereal. I would play around with it and see what seems to keep him happy and well fed. Each kid is different. I have four and with each one it was a learning process, learning who is this little person and what does HE like. Good luck.