Schedule for Introducing Baby Food

Alternating is fine, but you can also add breast milk to cereal. I have also add a little cereal to yogert, and some of the baby food with fruit (applesause). You can also start giving cherios and other thing that get mushy easily when she wants to use her hands. Also, a little taste of mash potatoes, pumkin pie at Thanksgiving is good. Try squash and other veggies in the blender or food processor. There are lots of things to try.

Hi D.! I have a 13 month old son. I'd recommend visiting www.wholesomebabyfood.com. It was invaluable to me when I started my son on solids at 6 months and if you're interested in making your daughter's food, it's a great resource for that as well. I think you're on the right track. With my son I spaced out bottles and solids around every two hours. Woke up: had a bottle. 2 hrs later, rice cereal. 2 hrs later, a bottle, and so on. Their tummies are so little that I wouldn't suggest giving her solids and milk at one sitting unless she's not eating much of the solids yet. Hope that helps!

The schedule I did that worked great was this (and I made all my own baby food).
Wakes at 5:30am-milk
Breakfast at 7:30 (oatmeal and a fruit) with milk
Nap 8:30-9:30
Snack 10:00 milk
Lunch 12 noon (rice or mixed grains with 1 or 2 fruits or veggies)with milk
Nap 1-2:30
Snack 3pm milk
Dinner 5:00 (same as lunch) with milk
Bed 7pm with milk

Basically-put the meals in where you would normally eat. If the baby is on one meal then put milk every 3 hours or so. Milk only lasted for my daughter about 2 hours and food 3-4 hours.
If you give to much food, she will refuse milk and vice versus. Babies form a preference very quickly. Rule of thumb, give 2-3 ounces of milk before solids so she gets her fluids, then give food. Then give breakthru bottles between meals. This worked great for us and my daughter has been on solids since 10 months and regular whole milk since 11 months.

At first it is usually better to do one food meal and then build up...a great book is Super Baby Food...it has a great food schedule and recipes. I love it!

I have a 2 yr old and a baby girl who was born 2 days before yours! Like you, I've been married 5 yrs and still love my wonderful husband. I read the book On Becoming Babywise about eating and sleeping schedules and it recommends nursing them and then feed them their baby food or rice cereal all in the same sitting. I nurse first so my baby isn't too full and will eat an adequate amount of breastmilk, which I think is more important for her nutritionally at this point than the babyfood.

Here's my schedule that works great for me. It has 3 naps and 5 nursings with 3 solid feedings that line up with normal mealtimes. Eventually, as she gets older and gives me signs that she's ready, I will get rid of the last nap (so I'm not stuck home all day with a sleeping baby!) and merge the last 2 nursings into one. But be careful about not going below 4 nursings a day if you want to keep your milk supply up, plus she needs the liquid:

7 or 7:30 Baby wakes and nurses, then eats rice cereal
9:30 Baby naps until 11
11:00 Baby wakes & nurses & immediately has babyfood for lunch
12:00 Baby naps (I did it this way so her nap overlaps a little with my toddler's nap so I get a little break. I put her down right before me and the toddler eat lunch because it's less stress to have her down while I prepare and eat lunch.)
3:00-ish Baby wakes and nurses (no babyfood this time. Maybe some baby cracker puffs as a snack--the kind that dissolve)
5:00 Baby naps (this is the nap I'm trying to get rid of)
6:00 Baby wakes and nurses, then eats babyfood or rice cereal
8:00 Baby goes to bed with cuddling and story and song
9:00 I wake baby up for one last nursing without food, and then put her right back down to bed unless she's so smiley I can't resist playing a little with her. I'll eventually merge this and the 6:00 nursing and just nurse her once at 7:00-ish before bedtime and then not have to wake her up again after that. It sounds like you are already doing that.

So I tried to line up the solid foods with normal mealtimes to make that transition easier when she gets older and so she can sit at the table now with the rest of us when we eat. And when she's ready to go down to 2 naps at about 1 to 1 1/2 yrs old, I'll keep her morning nap the same and transition her noon nap to 1:00 when I currently put my toddler down. Hopefully he'll still be napping and we'll all eat lunch together at noon and then I'll put them both down! Good luck. I like a schedule because I plan outings around it and have a pretty good idea when my kids will be well-rested and fed, so they won't be grumpy.

This link really helped me as a feeding guide

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

i am caring for my grandson who was born prematurely and weighed only 3 lbs at birth. after a month in thehospital he wighed 4 lbs and came home. even though he is tiny, he is well advanced in his milestones. on his doctors recommendation we started cereal in a feeder bottle at 2.5 months. he is on 22 calorie formula. at 3months we started spoonfeeding cereal because he was already starting to sit up. dr told us that when hsi spine is straighter then is the time to starte feeding thicker fods. he is now 4 months old and he is eating vegetables and fruits. our schedule is this...
i pick him up at 8 am. dad says he has a bottle at 6 4 oz. i get home at 8:30 and he has cereal with fruit mixed in it and diluted with formula. he has about one full container with 1 oz of rice cereal and i dont reallymeasure the formula. we take the dog to the park and return at 9. he thenhas a 6 oz bottle of formula and takes a nap. at 11 i feed him a container of vegetables and 4 oz apple or pear juice. we play for an hour and then he has another nap. at 1:30 he has another 6 oz bottle of formula and is up for two hours, then he has a bottle of juice , usually about 4 oz and takes a nap. at 3:30 or 4 his grandpa comes home and wakes him up and he has another 6 oz of formula and stays up. at 5 he has half a container of fruti and half of vegetables and some juice. at 8 he has another 6 oz fo furmula and his mom picks him up at 8:30 or ( and he has been asleep for a little while by then. she ffeds him cereal and 6 oz of formula at 9:30 and he is out for the night. he wakes up at 5 am and has some formula. i know it sounds like a lot but it is the schedule that he pretty much sets. he knws what he wants and if you try to give him anything else instead like milk instead ofjuice he wont drink it and is fussy until he gets his juice. i dont know if this is just because he is a preemie or if this is the schedule for all babies. i dont remember what i did with my kids because the last one is 17 and the oldest is 28, we just go by hat the pediatrician says. he now weighs 12 lbs but is not fat. he is starting to get a few creases on his wrists and ankles but nothing obese. he is very active, is already sitting on his own , creeping on his belly and has 1 tooth. i do know that all is a bit advanced becsue my kids didnt sit until after 6 months. he also plays in his walker and bouncer

Hi D.,

How fun to be experimenting with solids with your baby! It's a time for learning and watching her enjoy being able to taste different flavors and touch different textures.

Here's a great page from La Leche League Int'l's wesbite on First Foods for Babies. It answers the breastmilk or food first question. http://www.llli.org/FAQ/firstfoods.html

Best wishes!

K. L.,
Midwife, CLC, CCCE