Seeking Advice on the Introduction of Solids

Being that he's 6 months, try mixing a bit of apple sauce into the cereal. The baby cereal tastes pretty bad, so perhaps he wants something different. Perhaps try other types of baby cereals, rice, oatmeal, mixed grain. My son like the oatmeal the best. There are multiple kinds of apple sauce on the market, mango applesauce and strawberry applesauce. My boys loves those.

Maybe try some veggies mixed into the cereal as well such as carrots, yams, etc.

Hi T.! I would just keep trying. It's all new to him, so it will take him a little getting used to. Once he figures out what it's all about, I'm sure he will be more than willing to get it into his mouth! There are times that my daughter, who is now 8-1/2 months, will give me the face with pursed lips, but once I sort of force it to her lips and tongue, she is more than willing to eat. Don't give up trying! I would even try at least once a day until he gets the hang of it. Like they say... consistency is the key! Good luck!

It is my understanding he isn't old enough to properly digest and benefit from solid foods. The only benefit of introducing solid foods at such a young age is, he will feel satisfied longer giving Mom a rest from nursing. Ask your pediatrition, about this. I may be wrong (mine are now 15 & 17 years old) but breastmilk is the only thing he will need for the firs 9 months. It does seem like you are nursing for ever though. Good luck and know you are doing the best thing possible for the health of your child. K.

I started at 6 months and it took a long time before my daughter caught on! He is getting all that he really needs from breastfeeding so be patient. I would try on some days and not bother on others when I did not have as much patience. It is new to them, so it takes a while and can be quite messy! It probably was a good month to month and a half before my daughter enjoyed it. Have fun with it and don't force it. Keep introducing it and he will eventually catch on. If you aren't laughing, then give it a few days/week before trying again!

Good luck and be patient!

Introducing solids is one thing that I think should be totally dependent on the child. I did let ds try solids before he was 6 mos old, but he was very interested, and it was entirely at his own pace. I never intended him to get any real nutrition from those solids- it was just "fun" for him.
I'd say, let your ds explore solids, but don't expect him to eat a full meal. Breastmilk is what he really needs, nutritionally.

Hi T.,
We started our son on solids recently. He was really interested in the idea, but like your son, the texture and flavor wasn't his cup of tea. My first piece of advice is to be patient and keep trying. It can take about 3-4 weeks for them to take off with solid foods. Second, I tried when he was "kind of" hungry in between feedings but he'd just get mad and refuse. It seemed to work better for him if I give him solids 5-10 minutes after he takes his milk. I don't know if you are breastfeeding, but some people suggested that it will be harder for him to take food from the mom if that is the case. Third, I don't know if this is a bad idea or not, but we gave him his own spoon while we fed him with a different spoon. He can use his spooon to eat or he can just chew on it. We did it for two reasons. First, when he opens his mouth to chew on his spoon, we'd sneak in a spoonful of cereal or what-have-you. I'm not suggesting that we forcefeed our children, but sometimes I think they need help getting over the initial texture/taste stuff. This week (after about a month of trying) he is taking the spoon out of our hands and putting it in his mouth. He's sucking the avacado or cereal or whatever off of the spoon when it is in his mouth.
I still watch for cues that he is done eating and we always try to end on a positive note. I don't push "one more spoonful."

Good luck!

It might be better to wait. Here's an article about delaying solids:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

Hi! Here's the criteria for starting solids at the best time:
1) Has doubled his/her birth weight
2) Shows interest in what you eat, watches you eat, reaches for your food when seated on your lap
3) Can sit up in a high chair
4) 6-months old

If your son doesn't meet these, I'd put it off until he does. Remember, the AAP, WHO, and UNICEF all recommend breastfeeding exclusively until 6 months, so it's not like you are waiting too long.
Good Luck:)

OH! And you don't have to do cereal. It's high in carbs and iron for formula-feds, it's actually not meant for breastfeds at all, so skip it and go with fruits and veggies, even meat is fine if you have waited. Cereal is bland and has a weird texture, you'll probably have more luck with the other stuff anyhow:)

T.- Ihave 4 kids and none of my kids liked cereal. infact, my kids ate babyfood for about 3 weeks each and then went right to table food. They hated the taste so I bought a home babyfood maker one with a twist handleand i ground up my dinner table food for them. If he doesn't want the cereal, try the baby food that actually has flavor and go from there. rememebr your breast milk has taste adn flavor reflecting what you ahve had to eat for the last 24 hours and then to be given BLAH BLAH cereal how unapetitizing. You could also try to add apple sauce into the cereal for some pizzaz.

Hi T.,
I waited until my son was six months old to start solids. He didn't really like the cereal much at first. I gave him rice cereal for the first 10 days: 1 Tbsp dry mixed with 1 1/2 ounces of formula. After about 10 days, I decided to try giving him some veggies along with the cereal. I tried the Gerber First Foods. I guess you could try any of them. I did them in this order, sweet potatoes, green peas, carrots, green beans. I gave him 1/3 of a jar along with the cereal. I didn't mix it together, but would sneak in the cereal in between veggie bites. He prefered the veggies over the cereal. He actually started to open his mouth when he saw the spoon coming. I spent six days on each veggie before introducing a new one. Then I moved onto the fruits in the Gerber First Foods. I did them in this order, pears, peaches, applesauce and bananas. Again it is just a matter of your preference. I just decided to try to do the least sweetest to the sweetest in the fruits. One month passed before he was enjoying the taste of the cereal, but he prefered the veggies and fruits. Once I finished the rice cereal box, I moved onto oatmeal. My son still doesn't really like the rice cereal as much as the oatmeal, barley, or mixed cereals. Just be patient and like it says on the box, sometimes it just takes trying again and again and again... I also didn't let my son try to feed himself at first. (I actually found out recently that this idea is in the Babywise books: the second book in the series.) He was too distracted by playing with the spoon to open his mouth and try eating. Once I took over with feeding him, he tried to eat a little better. I hope that the other mothers can give you some good suggestions.

Happy eating,
D.

I have known babies who haven't had solids until they were upwards of 7-8-9 months. Mostly because they didn't like them, or were prone to allergies. Breast milk will continue to be the baby's main source of nutrition, so don't worry that he's not getting "enough" solids right now. Also, I personally didn't give fruits as a first food because I didn't want to have the sweet stuff first. Following cereal, I gave carrots, sweet potato and peas (all homemade-try it, it's very easy) diluted with a little baby cereal and breastmilk. I have also heard that baby cereal is not a necessary food. Something to do with the iron in it counteracting the iron in breastmilk.

You baby will have PLENTY of time to develop his solid food abilities, enjoy the ease of breastfeeding (no mess, no preparation, no cleanup) as long as you can!

Cheers,
Laura

T.,

I know how excited dads can be to feed their children, since we have a bond through breast feeding. But if William is so opposed, I think it better to wait. Hopefully it is just a phase and he will be ready to eat in a couple of weeks. Probably wasn't much help, sorry.

Because you are nursing it isn't as easy! We used to add a little cereal to the bottles and introduced vegetables as the first "foods". Fruits are very sweet and they normally take to the fruits very easily and then reject the veggies etc.
Finger foods are easiest as well. But he is very young for those. The transition from sucking to eating off a spoon is really different for them.
Good luck.

Hello T.- I am a mother of 4 children (8,7,5 & 6 mos.). What I recommend is to use the breastmilk to make the cereal. Make it real thin almost milky. Upgrade the consistency each day.I would also make it lukewarm. What he has to get use to is the spoon in the mouth. In addition, remember our breastmilk comes out naturally warm due to our body temperature. He going to try and grab for it which is ok. Let him do as much as he wants with the spoon and then go ahead and breastfeed. If you give him milk first, he will not want to eat. One more thing, you may want to mix in alittle applesause that will give a sweet taste. I pray all goes well.

I would wait the 2-3 weeks and then let your husband try feeding him every evening, for example.
Some babies do better if it is not mommy who is trying other food with them.
It is because they associate mommy with the breast and that is a good thing when you want to continue nursing.
I am glad that your breastfeeding experience has been so good.

Hi T.,

I had the same trouble with my breastfed baby boy. He just was not interested in eating solids. I started him on cereal at 4 1/2 months and he hated it. So, I stopped and waited until 5 1/2 months. Still no interest. So again I waited. Once he was 6 1/2 months it was like a light turned on inside and he wanted to eat. Now he eats 3 regular meals a day. He is 7 1/2 months and still nurses 4 times a day as well. I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep trying and soon enough he will be hungary for more and want to eat. Good luck.

K.

Baby cereal doesn't taste the best so what I would do is mix in a little bit of fruit with the cereal. When you do this it will give the cereal a fruit flavor which he should enjoy much better than plain cereal. It takes a while for some babies to get into eating cereal because they are so used to just having formula or breastmilk. Try that and see what happens. My kids wouldn't eat baby cereal at all unless I mixed in some fruit with it. Good luck.
D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

Don't be pushy or overbearing, but keep trying even if you do wait it out til 6 months. Remember, this is the first time your baby is having to swallow something other than breastmilk - "hey, what's the lumpy stuff? It tastes different than mommy's milk! It's squishy! Wonder what it feels like if I swish it around? Or maybe even put my fingers in it!" This is a brand new thing for him so be patient.

Expect it to take a long time at first. Expect there to be messes and possibly spoon flinging. Expect it to get all over his face. Expect him to open up nice and wide for you, only to clamp his mouth shut right before you insert the spoon resulting in smeared cereal on his face. Remember he is just starting to learn so be patient and take it slowly. Having a calm and patient attitude, along with a pleasant demeanor will help him learn that mealtimes are enjoyable and not stressful. Before you know it, he'll be picking up small bits of finger foods and going to town on those (and boy, do I remember the days when literally it would take our son 15 minutes to eat 7 Gerber puffs!).

Just wondered if maybe your little one is an early bloomer. Perhaps he wants to be more active in his own feedings. Have you tried letting him help with the spoon or perhaps giving him some dry cereal to feed himself? Could make all the difference. Sounds to me like he's looking for a little independence. Give it a try. Let us know what happens. Good luck to you, Shannon G.
PS. It could be that your little man is teething and is hesitant to put any foods that might irritate his gums into his mouth. See if he will take an all fruit popscicle. My son loved those. That is something that daddy can help with so he won't get discouraged and can be a part of little mans diet needs. You're lucky to have a man that wants to be so involved. Many don't. To your hubby: YOU ROCK DADDY!

We waited for solids until both of our daughters were 6 months old and it went very well. Our pediatrician said that it was entirely up to us whether we started at 4 months or 6 months and I'm glad we waited.

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