When to Start Feeding Baby Food???

Hi, I started my daughter on regular when she was about 5 mounths my sister had started at the same age. I hope that helps

A., I am not sure if there is a right time. I have been through 2 doctors in munster, 1 in st. john and 1 in merriville. I am finally happy with my child care but all of these doctors have different advice. I would probably ask my doctor or nurse what they prefer. With my daughter, I had her on rice cereal at 4months and oatmeal at 5months and then I started with veggies. The same veggie for 5 days(3-5 days to test for allergies) Then introduce the next veggie. Orange veggies first then green then fruits then dinners or meats. I did the 5 days with my daughter and she didn't start the fruits and veggies until 6 months. She is almost 3 now and she is a good eater but loves fruits hates most veggies. My son is almost 18 months and he started earlier, around 5 months. I wasn't as paranoid and he was always hungry. He ate cereal and fruit for breakfast, dinner,veggie and fruit for lunch and for dinner only one of them was a bigger size. My point is to not rush yourself or your baby. Baby food is sooo $$$$$$. My daughter wasn't too bad but my son ate about 7 jars a day which cost us close to $35 per week. Check with your doctor. In case you need a good one-try healthy kids in munster In. Dr Anger and Dr Dershewitz. They are wonderful!!! GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT BECAUSE IT GOES BY SOOOO FAST!!!

Especially if you're breastfeeding, you want to not add so much "real" food that she cuts down on her breastmilk consumption. This is also the case with formula - you don't want to be replacing formula or milk right now. You should wait until she starts decreasing the amount of time between bottle/breast feedings before you add any amount of food. Ie if she had been eating every 3-4 hours and suddenly she drops to every 2 hours, you know she's not getting enough from the breast/bottle anymore, so it's time to start adding calories with solids.

As for first foods, we started my son around 5 months on bananas (fresh, mashed smooth with a fork), then sweet potatoes, rice cereal, avocado (mashed again). That was probably all he really ate for the first month or so (remember, you only want to introduce one food every 4-7 days so that you can spot any food allergies). I found the "Super Baby Food" book helpful in deciding what to give my son - especially if you're considering making your own baby food instead of buying those expensive jars. The book has a good list of what sorts of foods are good to introduce first, and at each month thereafter.

ps - as for veggies before fruits or vice versa - no matter what order you do things in your baby will like the sweet things, so I don't think it much matters. if she spits something out, just try it again in a week or two.

We started our little one on oatmeal at about 4 months. Then we started him on baby food at 4.5 months. We were told to feed him one food at a time and do it for 4-5 days. If no reaction then you are good. If your daughter has a little reaction then let your Dr know. Most of the time if it is minor then they tell you to wait about a month and try that food again.
If you have allergies to certain foods talk with her Dr. She might want you to wait a while before giving them to her.
I fed my son the baby food at lunch so if he did have a reaction I could always get in touch directly with his Dr.
We started my son on carrots. He loved them. Not much he doesn't like. The veggie before fruit is totally up to you. We alternated. We also fed him barley and multi grain cereal.
Good luck!

Introduce one new food a day maximum and rotate them, giving her them once every four days to help identify any sensitivities. Start with simple foods and work up to the more complex ones like meats. If you give her pureed vegetables first, she will take to them much better and it may last a lifetime as it did my firstborn. This is the order that my biochemist/nutrtionist gave me. Vegetables, fruits, grains, meats. Then dairy if she is not sensitive to it. You can begin to mix them when you are sure she is not sensitive both ingredients. If she has noticible syptoms like skin rashes, upset stomache, diarreah, then illiminate the food in question no less than a week before trying it again and be prepared to document her reactions. Note: it's perfectly okay to give her a simple grain or two like rice or oats before six months if you see that she is hungry enough to take them and is having no reactions. Four to six months is fine for veg and fruit unless she has a problem with thrush or any kind of yeast infection. Then hold off on fruit and keep dairy to a minimum until the problem is cleared up. Try to hold off to nine or ten months for meats and mixtures, even dairy if you can.

Hi A.,

I am a 33yr old SAHM of 3 children (4yr, 2 1/2yr & 6mo). I personally started introducing vegetables to my now 6mo old at about 5mo old. I started with one kind, like peas, and stuck with that for the week to make sure it didn't effect her in anyway. Then the next wk introduced something new. They say to start with the non sweet veggies first like peas, beans, etc. I have already begun feeding her fruit as well. I started out with mashing a banana & mixing it with the cereal and formula. That is how I feed her the veggies as well (mixing it).

Best thing to do is listen to your babe...she'll let you know when she's ready to move on.

Hope this helps ya out!
C.

I would ask your pediatrician. Typically baby food is started 4-6 months so rice cereal at 3 months was earlier than normal. I would recommend rice cereal... and then start on Stage 1 foods introducing only one new food every 4-5 days and mixing it in first with some rice creal. But really, ask your pediatrician for the best route. Good luck.

A.:

The academy of Pediatrics recommends not starting "solids" till 6 months of life.

At that point you can use most the the foods that you eat.. it is typical to start with fruits and vegtables... cook or steam longer than you owuld for yourself. Some babies like to be fed and some will not eat unless they can do it themselves.

Most cereals are low in nutrients so there is not much point to giving them.

Beginging food are more about taste and texture than nutrition.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

Proper way to start solids is around 6 months. Formula fed babies can be started a little earlier.

The least allergenic food you can give is rice cereal mixed with breastmilk or formula, so that is what alot of doctors reccomend.

Then you can start giving additional foods once your child had had that first food for about a week. Just do one at a time like others have said so that you can see if she allergic to anything. Don't make home made carrots as baby food as a PP mentioned as they can contain nitrates, and baby food companies monitor and remove nitrates, which you cannot do at home. But any other thing you can make at home. It is best to steam them as they keep the most nutrients that way. Alot of docs say to start veggies first, but really if they have been drinking breastmilk it is way sweeter than any fruit so you aren't going to ruin them by feeding fruit first. With my next child I am going to wait until they are at least 6 months and see if I can't start with very soft small chunks of banana of avocado. It was very hard for me to get my son off pureed foods and on to solid food and if I had started a bit older there would have been no need for that.

You know the baby is ready for things other than BM or formula when they are 6 months, sitting on their own, show interest in food, and have little to no tongue thrust reflex left (this is when they automatically push things out of their mouth with their tongue when they feel something in their mouths). If she is still pushing out just about everything you put in, she is not ready yet.

My doctor suggested rice then oatmeal then barley each for for days. Then i started bananas. Then as follows each for for days. Carrots, Squash, Sweet potates, Applesauce, pears, greenbeans, then into the meats. You should talk to your pediatrician.

I started my son on solids at around 5 months..even though doctors say dont until around 6 months....i recommend trying veggies first, as there is a danger that if he starts on fruits he may not take to the unsweetened taste of the vegetables. But every baby is different, so you never know with yours. I starting doing one solid a day, and i skipped the cereal because my son hated it, but then at 6 months i started doing solids twice a day. Your doctor will probably recommend what they think your baby should be getting as far as solids, but starting before 6 months didnt seem to hurt.

I am the mother of 4,grandmother of 4.
I breast fed and started to feed baby food around 6 months. One of the grandchildren that I baby sat wanted food at 5 months, so I fed him. Starting at once a day for about 2 weeks and slowly increased until I was feeding him 4
small meals/day. As long as she doesn't show signs of constipation or diarrheA. JUST MAKE SURE YOU INTRODUCE FOODS SLOWLY, start with one food at a time, ie mashed potatoes for 2 days, if she tolerates it introduce another food sweet peas, etc.

RS

I wasn't able to breastfeed my son for very long, so my pediatrician had me start him on rice cereal and slowly progress up from that at around 4 months. With my daughter, however, we are still breastfeeding at nearly a year and the pediatrician didn't have us start on solids until 6 months. I'd say talking to your pediatrician is a good idea, to see if he/she feels your daughter is ready to start testing out the next foods or not. I have always moved slowly and cautiously, since this is the point where we start testing for food allergies with each new food we introduce.

Hi A.,
We are in the same boat. I have a 5 month old and he started cereal a few weeks ago. Our pediatrician told us that he could start anywhere from 4-6 months.

As for adding fruits and veggies, you can start that anytime since she likes the cereal so much. The cereal is simply to get her used to food, its not a necessity at all. The professionals say to start veggies first (if you start fruits first and they are nice and sweet, then it might be harder to introduce veggies), but I say do whatever you want! :-)

If you are feeling ambitious, try making your own baby food - buy a bag of carrots, peel a few, boil them and throw them in the blender until they are thin and soupy like baby food and VOILA! You have made your own baby food.

Let her decide how much to give - you'll know, she'll "tell" you!

Good luck! And feel free to email me if you have any other questions!
B.