My 22 week old daughter has been eating baby cereal & stage 1 baby food for about 1 month now. My question is, when do I move her up to the next stage of baby food? I know the step 3 has chunks in it, but if I'm not mistaken, step 2 is just thicker rather than being runny? I've been thru this with my son, but I seem to have forgotten some things! She is definitely interested in eating more than she is nursing lately. According to my doctor, it is ok to give her 3 meals a day, and nursing only about 3 times now too. But with stage 1 being so thin, she is usually eating 2 jars of baby food at a time, which is another reason I think she may be ready for the next level of food. Any suggestions would be great!!
Well, I decided to go ahead and let Makenzie try the Stage 2 foods. And, just as I kind of expected, she is eating a whole jar in each sitting (2-3 times a day). As everyone said, there's really no difference, just bigger jars, and some of the foods are slightly thicker, but not much. Thank you for everyone's replies...whithout them, I probably would have been too worried to try it out!!
Hi, I mixed cereal in food 1. He loved it and actually at dinner I still do. He does not get hungry so quickly. Runny food make you more hungry like liquate diet. if she is interested why keep her away? The food is not that chunky.
Hi J.,
I started our 8 month on stage 1 at 4.5 months. She was always a good eater. Once we introduced solids, she slept through the night better as well. As for when to move to stage 2, I waited about a month or so. Like the suggestion below, I made her oatmeal cereal thicker and thicker as time went on. She gagged once (of course I was a wreck)...not seriously...but this is the way they learn to eat. There is not much difference in 1 & 2. It is a little thicker. Now when it's time for #3, take your time. There are different kinds that have more texture than other. Chicken noodle...a little chunky. The green beans with rice a O.K., but also have tiny tiny chunks. I still give her #2 fruits. They have more variety. But now she can also have little pieces of banana, cantaloupe, etc. Also the little Gerber Gradutes diced fruits are good too. The pears are a little too chunky though. When you are ready also try the Gerber puffs. They melt in their mouth abd give them paractice on grabbing foods to feed themselves.
Godo luck.
J.,
Check out this Wholesome Baby Food website. It has a timetable for when to introduce certain foods. The web address is www.wholesomebabyfood.com.
Good luck.
A.
Check out this link at the Gerber web site - it was incredibly helpful for me with my little girl!
You can start stage 2 because it's not much different than stage 1,consistency wise, but I would wait on stage 3 until she is almost pushing up on her hands and knees and can pick up things with a pincher grasp. After 6.5 months or so, slowly thicken her cereal until it's pretty lumpy. Then you can start to tell how she'll handle the lumps in stage 3 so she's doesn't choke. Oh, almos make sure you are ALWAYS mixing her cereal with breasmilk or formula and offer her a sippy cup pf BM or Formula along with her meal so she's getting enough. She really doesn't need 3 meals now, you couls stick at 2 and then do bottles or BF the other times.
I'm pretty sure stage 2 is just in bigger containers, nothing new. You should still be offering the breast before every meal though because that's a surefire way for her to wean by filling up on solids. Breastmilk is still REALLY important for her at that young of an age.
Keep up the nursing, as that is her primary source of nutrition at 5 months old. I'd be nursing first and then food, since the nursing is more important at this age nutritionally. Can do the jar food just after nursing, so 3 meals a day and then the nursing before bed if bedtime isn't just after dinner. We did the meals at 7am, noon, 5pm and then last nursing before bed at 9pm, something like that.With her wanting that much jar food, stage 2 is perfectly fine. With some foods they make in both stage 1 and 2 I couldn't tell a difference beyond size of the jar, like sweet potatoes. There's surely more variety made in stage 2. .
Stage 1 and 2 really aren't much different other than stage 2 has more variety of stuff in it and comes in bigger jars. Should be fine. She should be nursing first, however, as BM should be her primary source of nutrition up until a year. Any food they get before that should just really be for learning how to eat as opposed to nutrition. Nurse first, and then offer the food.
Seems pretty early at 5 months to be starting stage 2. I guess every baby is different . As I didn't even start cereal with my daughter until 6months ( per Dr orders) Stage 1 at 7 months & stage 2 about 8.5-9months. My dauhgter was very petite though, & thrieved primary on breastmilk. I guess if you have a good eater on your hands, stage 2 is just a bigger size, no real difference in texture. ( You do do more variety in flavors though to choose from) Good Luck & I'd give it a try..
