Starting Solids - Washington,NJ

I would start. I started fruits and veggies earlier this time with my 2nd daughter. She was about 41/2 - 5 mths when I started giving her food. I only did the rice by itself for 2 weeks. She's sounds ready!

As you know, each child is different. With my daughter, we started her on rice cereal at 5 months. She was very slow to catch on with it. But ultimately, we gave her a little rice cereal and then moved maybe a week to a different type of cereal (oat?? I can't remember the other type). Then a week later, we moved to the orange veggies, like carrots and sweet potatoes (waiting at least 3 days in between). Then did peas and then I believe we started with the fruits after that. We did her first jar of "dinner" type food - something with turkey in it when she was 7 months old (I remember b/c it was Thanksgiving that day!)

My twins had good appetites earlier on and also had teeth at 4 months (as opposed to my daughter who got her teeth at 11 months). The twins started also with rice cereal, but they got the hang of it quickly so we moved within a day or two off cereal completely and went right into veggies. maybe we mixed some rice cereal in with the veggies to make it thicker...

They were on finger foods by about 6 or 7 months because they had several teeth by then and were good at eating. My daughter couldn't really do finger foods until about 11 or 12 months....

I should have started earlier than almost 6 months with my now 7 month old. He skipped the ceral since he did not like he would drink the breast milk and go around the brown rice. It is 3 days to start a new food. I started 3 meals off the bat. So far, he has no food allergies.

You always wait 3 days before introducing a new food to make sure there are no allergic reactions, and so that if there are any you know exactly which food it's from. As far as when to go from one to two meals- I remember being really confused about that too, but I ended up just following my daughter's lead. When she became really into the cereal and really enjoyed it and finished it all up I started giving it to her in the morning and again at night. I know that doesn't help you much in having a real timeline, but I hope it helps a little! Good luck.

No hard and fast rules here. And 5 months old is fine for solids, if she's showing that kind of interest! You can start fruits, veggies, or other cereals whenever you're ready- as long as you wait a few days in between (like you said). I'd wait on wheat cereal until later, but oatmeal is fine! I started giving my son two meals a day when he started getting mad at me for eating in front of him! :) I think it was actually pretty early, around 6 months. And 3 meals came naturally after that, based on his interest.

And we actually started with avacadoes, bananas, and sweet potatoes before cereal! (One at a time, of course.) My guy hated cereal unless it was mixed with another flavor, anyways.

Just follow your baby's cues, like you're doing. No need to stress, as long as you're careful about possible allergens!

get the book Super baby food and try looking at the http://www.kellymom.com for advice. I think my son moved up to 2 meals a day around 7 months and 3 meals a day at 8 months. I took it slowly and did not force anything. If he didn't like something, I reintroduced in in about 2 weeks and he usually liked it the second time around. You can do the fruits and veggies at the same time as the cereal and even mix them together once you know she likes them, but don't do too much banana with the cereal because it's constipating.

I have 7 children and I have always started them on plain Rice cereal when I saw them seem interested. The main source of nutrition is breast milk or formula until the age of one but you may supplement with baby food.

You have rc'd good info. I also agree on following your baby and her cues. Here is a good guideline from Dr Sears

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032000.asp

I took the feeding very slowly for both my boys a few bites here and there in the beginning, then after they were used to a bug variety, they ate and ate! We never went through the cereals separately, I ended up making pancakes with cereal we did not use or just adding it here and there. I do women that have started at 4 mos, some babies are just way more eager and ready to feed, Dr Sears talks some about that too in this article.

Best of Luck and congrats on 4 girls!! Just curious, do you homeschool them?

There is a great book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron that I am using as my guideline. She breaks down month by month the next foods that should be introduced and how many times a baby should be eating solids and also how much milk they should still be drinking.

HI N.,

I Know exactly where you are coming from as I have 5 month old twins ( babies # 3 and 4 for me) and I had to ask questions too to remember. I skipped the rice all together because we have no family history of allergies and it can make the baby constiated. we started with rice cereal at dinner time ( you could start morning too) but dinner time was easier for my family. start with 3 to 5 tablespoons. you can introduce a new food ( fruit or veggie) every 3 days. we have taken it kind of slow.... I started about 3 weeks ago and we are still on one meal a day and I have only introduced apples, carrots and sweet potatoes. I do 3 tbsp of cereal and then one small jar of the food.

I hope this helps.

W.