Starting on Solids - Blacksburg,VA

Please don't listen to the advice you received that eating vegetables will make a baby not want formula, or that baby food has no nutrients. I'm sorry, but it's pureed fruits and veggies, plain, with no additives. If only the REST of us ate pure food like that...

I personally also do not recommend starting with rice cereal. While it may be easier for some to digest, it can be constipating for a lot of babies and cause problems. I like Beech Nut Cereal, and barley is a mild start. Don't start with wheat or mixed grain.

You can start with whatever veggies you like...squash, sweet potato, green beans, peas, carrots...all very healthy. Don't expect your child to eat much...maybe a teaspoon at a sitting at first. It is, at first, a learning experience rather than a way to get nutrients, of course...we all know that...but this sets the stage for when they begin table foods. The more you allow them to try and the more you encourage variety, the better eater you are LIKELY to have (no promises!)

I also really like Earth's Best products. They make some awesome "seasonal" varieties of baby food, like spinach with something (can't remember, but my youngest loved it) and a turkey cranberry...of course, I wouldn't start that until maybe 10 months, but it's a good one.

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I used Beech-Nut cereal, I can't remember if we started with Barley or Oatmeal.

I think our first veggie was either carrot or sweet potato...

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If you are going to do cereal (I never did, the Dr. said it's not necessary,) choose something besides rice cereal. There is no real nutritional value in white rice cereal. Try something like oatmeal. The food doesn't matter much, to be honest. Of course, you want to stay away from allergenic foods. We fed my son everything under the rainbow. Give your little one lots of different fruits and veggies. Only stay away from the ones that harm her. We started with avocados, because they were so easy. Then we moved to whatever fruit and veggie we were eating, at the time. We did wait a few days with each food, to make sure he didn't have a reaction. Here is a wonderful resource for baby food, and when and what to feed your baby.
www.wholesomebabyfood.com

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Start with the orange colors first (carrots, squash, & sweet potatos). Only do one kind for about a week in case of allergic reactions. If you are doing more than one kind you will not know which one is causing the allergic reaction. As for cereal, I used Gerber Rice first which was fine.

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Earth's Best and Happy Baby products (look in the organic, frozen foods section) are both great brands!!!

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Start with yellow veggies-carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, etc-start small-you can thicken the veggies with a tiny amount of rice cereal-that is the easiest to digest. You probably should consult the pediatrician who has known your baby throughout their entire development. Use organic whenever possible.

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The first solid foods my daughter had (before baby food, but maybe not cereal - she never was really into the cereal) were tiny pieces of roasted sweet potato and tiny pieces of avocado at a family gathering.

I'm a huge fan of starting them on the food they'll be eating as they grow. Give them REAL food, not pureed or liquid.

Check out "Baby Led Weaning" for information on safety, etc.

1) Just because an infant reaches 6 months, it doesn't make it magically appropriate or necessary to start solids.

2) Solids until over age 1 is simply PRACTICE and should never be more than 10% of the overall diet of breastmilk (or formula)

3) Start with veggies, then move on to fruits, then onto the carb fingerfoods. Giving cereal will usually cause constipation, GI irritation/inflammation and gas.

EX: My son just turned 6 months as well and for the last month - he's been watching me intently whenever I eat or drink - no matter what it is. To see if he may be ready, I gave him less than a fingertip full of homemade mashed potatoes, organic yogurt and applesauce. He was ECSTATIC - then it came time to swallow and it all came back out. He wasn't ready for solids, but he was preparing himself for when he is. My son is a large boy - 27 inches long and 18 lbs - he's still 100% breastfed and doing fabulous, in case you couldn't tell! ;o)

I started my son on rice cereal when he was 7 mo's old (after exclusively breastfeeding) - he LOVED it and did well with it regarding digestion. I believe it's one of the better grains to start them off with unless they have an allergy.

With regards to veggies - I jumped in with carrots, peas & green beans (not at the same time, but one by one!) - I waited at least 3 days to check for any reactions, but he was good. This way, he was able to be introduced to the different taste of vegetables very early on - which, in my opinion, is very important, so they can start out with well-rounded diets.

Also, you didn't ask, but with regard to introducing fruits, bananas were a 1st love and I pumped it up with mashing avocado into it! Applesauce (I made my own in the food processor) was his 2nd love.

Hope this helps and happy eating to you and the baby!

I highly recommend reading Baby Led Weaning. It explains how to start your infant straight to finger foods totally bypassing purees. (which is how it was done before all the pureed baby foods were sold). You basically give them whatever you are eating other than honey and peanut butter. You can ask you pediatrician what they think about it. I wish I knew about for my 1st two kids. I'm doing it with the 3rd and she is eating so well and loving trying all different flavored and textured foods. And it's so much easier too :)

PS-like some other moms mentioned, at this point it's more for practice and fun versus getting bulk calories and nutrition.

Starting on solids is okay at this age but they must be started very slowly. Even though the baby may seem ready it is a very good idea to start with rice first. It is the easiest to digest and if the baby's tummy does well with that the the baby is ready to try some other things.

My first doc had no concept of what was good or bad as far as when to start solids or juice. We got WIC for my grandson and at 6 months they start giving rice cereal. This doc told me I was nuts to start the baby on solids at 6 months, he should be closer to 9 months. I told him that the government disagreed with him. He asked his nurse what age baby's started solids and she told him at about 6 months. He said he guessed he was wrong.

We quickly changed providers. Just cause the doc says it okay doesn't mean it is carved in stone. Oatmeal has more complex carbohydrates in it, mixed cereal is...well, if the baby had a reaction to it how would you decide what it might be? It is best to only start with one thing, and I would only start with the rice cereal mixed runny with some formula or breast milk. After that for a week or so I would add maybe a different kind of cereal.

I would never start the veggies or fruits until about 7-8 months because once you do that the baby is not going to want their formula anymore, then they will be lacking vitamins, nutrients, etc...

Babies get 100% of their nutrition from formula/breastmilk. The baby food has very minimal stuff in it. It is NOT HEALTHY!!! It is basically a teaching tool to teach the baby to chew and swallow, not FEED the baby nutrients.

The baby food company expects moms to nurse the baby then feed them some tiny bits of baby food. They expect moms to research and understand what is important.

I had some baby food given to me and when I went to use it I realized it had expired, only by about a month. I called the 1-800 number and the person I talked to told me to throw it away. It had zero nutrients in it by this date. That they only had a few nutrients in it to begin with and that the lighting, the air, the whole process of making it, etc...each moment it was sitting there it was loosing the tiny bit of nutrition it had in it to begin with.

Giving the baby their formula or breastmilk first then offering some very runny cereal is fine at this age. As the baby gets used to this adding other similar items is okay too. But go slowly, they have the rest of their lives to eat but only 12 months to get those much needed nutrients in their formula or breastmilk.

Hi. Start with sweet potatoes. That's what my doctor had us do. Also, earth's best make a great rice cereal. This feeding schedule really helped me. http://www.happyhealthymom.com/pages/sample-feeding-schedule