Feeding Solids - Mount Pleasant,MI

Hi A.,

I started giving my daughter rice cereal at 6 months. Our pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months and all the research I found also indicated no solids of any kind until 6 months. There are some early studies that suggest introducing solids too early can lead to adult problems, such as irritable bowel syndrom etc... because their digestive systems are not fully developed before 6 months and just can't handle the solid foods.

In addition, beyond the rice cereal and homemade applesauce, I never gave traditional 'baby foods'. At 6 months I started our daughter on soft cooked veggies like broccolli. Their gums are really quite hard and there is just as much risk of choking on baby purees as with very soft cooked veggies. (they tend to suck the puree off the spoon and it can hit the in the back of the throat and they can gag or choke) I just slowly introduced new foods as she became more interested. I paid close attention to high allergen foods etc...

Now, my daughter is 17 months old and will literally eat anything I put in front of her. Even if she decides she doesn't like it... she ALWAYS tries it several times before deciding she doesn't like it. She is not a picky eater at all.

Also, my daughter does not drink juice. Water is her only beverage. It is a better hydrater then juice and does not contain the added sugar. Even 100% juice (not from concentrate) has fructose in it, which is a naturally occurring sugar in fruit. When you drink sugar it immediately gets absorbed into the blood stream and causes those high peaks. Whereas if you EAT a piece of fruit your body has to digest the fiber along with the sugar. Consequently the sugar is more slowly absorbed into your system.

I would strongly suggest holding off on juice for as long as possible. That being said, a little apple juice can really help with constipation. That's the only time we give juice to our daughter, and it is diluted. She LOVES to drink water which I think is great. Keeping your body hydrated and flushing your system with water is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

6 months old is when we started with all 3 of our kids. Then we started on rice cereal and alternated with pureed avocados. I homemade all my baby food. For one it is way cheaper. I can get about 10 jars of baby food for the cost of one at the store. Also I can buy organic and it is still cheaper. I have a book called super baby foods by Ruth Yaron. She tells you all the ways to make your own and all the nutrients in each thing. Avocado's are sooooo healthy and gentle on a beginners immature digestive system. Avocado's have healthy fats that help to coat the myelin in their brains (which makes for a smarter baby). Also food allergies can be higher if you start to early. Alot of pediatric nutritionists will tell you to wait till 6 months. I know there are some old school doctors out there that will tell you to start earlier, but the way I look at it is Doctors go to med school to study medicine, diseases, and sickness. They only touch base shortly on nutrition. That is why I seek out specialist for any question about my babies. Nutritionist for food questions, lactation consultant for breastfeeding issues, dermatologist for skin problems, and I always look for alternative holistic ways to treat sickness first before giving them any antibiotics. I pretty much cured my sons asthma with a healthy natural approach when all the doctors wanted to do was put him on inhaled steriods, preventative meds and more. I said no way. Do lots of research, you'll get your answers and can make your own decision. But I would definitely wait till 6 months.

My kids had nothing but breastmilk til they were a year old. Feeding too soon can invite food allergies and tummy trouble. Thankfully, none of my 3 have any allergies and I can count on one hand for all three, how many times they have had antibiotics in their whole lives. They are now 30, 27 and 25. What's the rush? I followed Le Leche League's advice..try to get to the year mark and wait til they are grabbing your fork out of your hand. You are right, there are alot of different thoughts on this. Read up and go with what works for you and baby.

We started our older kids on cereal and juice at around 4-5 months just like the doctor said. Our youngest (now 14 mo) we didn't give any food until she was ready for table food (had pincer grasp, had a proper swallow reflex, could mush soft things in her gums, was grabbing for it) around 10-11 mo, and it has worked wonderfully! She still doesn't get much juice, prefers to nurse actually, but is right on target or ahead a bit for weight. I guess it might make a difference if breastfeed or formula feed currently as well.

i gave my girls cereal at about 5 months, maybe 6 and baby jar food at 9 months. they do not get juice very often, and if they did it was mostly water. they didn't get juice untill almost a year old.

My son is coming up on the 7 month old mark. He started on single rice cereal when he was about 4 - 4 1/2 months old, and then 1st stage baby food (mixed with cereal or baby oatmeal) at about 5 1/2 - 6 months. Hope this helps. I don't plan on giving him juice until I get the doc saying it's ok. I want him to drink formula (and milk when he's old enough) to ensure he gets proper nutrition. Hope this helps :)

Skip the juice...give water if necessary but juice is just sugar (even if it is 100% juice) and they will be less likely to like water in the future.
I started solids at 6 months.

Hi A.,
My daughter is 21 months and we started her on cereal around 4 months and on first foods around 5 months. She had a little trouble with the texture of the first foods so I added just a little rice cereal to it to thicken it. My pediatrician (and this will vary depending on who your ped. is) told us to start her on whole milk at 10 months. She did fine with the milk but I used the two months before she turned one to wean her off formula. She would get a bottle before nap and bedtime but milk the rest of the day. It was also a great time to transition from bottle to sippy cup. We did not start juice until around 10 months and I diluted juicy juice or gave her motts for tots which is a thinner versioun of the real thing. Hope this helps.

At 6 months I started my daughter on very very diluted juice once in awhile. I really did not start her on juice daily until around 9 months and she still mostly drinks water at 2. I started her on rice cereal at 4 months because of reflux, but started actually feeding her cereal mixed with bannana or applesauce once a day at around 5 months. I did not start her on actaul "1st foods" until about 6 months (I pureed my own baby food).

I think I started rice cereal around 4 months or a little before. Just look for cues from your child. And I slowly started soft food a little after that. I just pureed food that we had. I used a hand grinder...you can get at Meijer or Baby's R Us for 10-20 dollars. Great for taking to restaurants too;)
My 21/2 year old drinks juice. I can't remember when I started giving it to her...maybe 11/2? I waited until she "asked" for it. And I still water it down when she isn't looking;) My 11 month old hasn't had juice yet. Just formula or water.
My kids don't drink a lot of juice...but they love fruit!:)

typically your doctor will suggest rice cereal at 4 months and if they take that well and get adjusted you can start 1st foods after that, which I thought was too soon for both of my girls (3 years and 7 months). So with both kids I did start the rice cereal at 12 weeks with my 1st hoping she would sleep longer as I went back to work but then did not start it until 16 weeks with my 2nd daughter.

1st foods I started both girls on at 6 months. We did all the step 1 veggies first for 4-6 days then we tried all of the fruits.

Hope this helps!

Hi A., We started our son on rice cereal at 4 months, and baby food a few weeks later. When you introduce baby food, make sure you do one thing at a time. Like carrots for 3 days, then peas for 3 days, then applesauce for 3 days, etc. It's how you check for allergies. We also tried oatmeal at 5-6 months. Our son liked that better than the rice...As far as juice, the guidelines our doctor gave us said 6 months but we held off until closer to 9. We did give him plain water about 7 months. Hope this helps! It can be really confusing but you know your child best and will do what's best.

Hi A., I few months ago I asked the same queston on here and gut such a wide variety of answers from do what you feel is best, listen to the Dr. even people critisizing me it saying it was early... So here is what I did, and my Dr. was cool with it- at 3 months we started to put a teaspoon per oz. of single grain rice cerial in her bottle, by 4.5 months we started giving her 1st foods. We started with fruits (many people say not to because then they may not like the veggies) we worked our way through the fruits then started on sweet veggies like sweet potatos, peas, then green beans etc... we have had no issues... She is almost 6 months now and doing great with it. Our biggest cue she was ready was that she would stare- i mean really stare at every bite of food we would take... lol. Good luck, I just went through this so if you have any questions or anything feel free to message me!
A.

Hi A.,

I started putting 1/2 tsp of rice cereal in my baby's bottle at about 3 months. I only did this a couple times a week, just to see how he did with it. At four months (currently), he is breastfed throughout the day and for dinner he gets a "meal." I give him rice cereal and about once a week I introduce new food. Since I make my own baby food, I went to the market to see what the 1st foods are. He started out w/ carrots (which he loves), then we did yams, and now we are on apples.

As far as juice is concerned the doctor said that juice is basically sugar water and explained that I wouldn't give him soda, so why give him juice. I don't fully buy into that but I am going to wait until he is at least 6 months before introducing diluted juice.

~M. Dionne

Our daughter, now 13 mos., is our first and I really valued our doctor's advice. We began 1st foods at 4 mos. We started with baby cereal, cheerios, and anything else that easily dissolved in her mouth. I believe at this time we also started jar baby foods. Again, our doctor recommended 1 new food a week so we can watch for allergies and give her system time to adjust. Hope this helps.

-A.

I skip the rice cereal...It is kind of gross! I start with mashed bannanas and pureed sweet potatoes at about 6 to 9 months. I have 3 girls and all 3 started at diffrent times. I never used jar food. I use a hand blender and puree table foods such as bananas, sweet potatoe, peas, squash, green beans...sometimes you have to add a bit of water to thin down the food a bit.
We wait until 2 years old before giving juice. I feel that juice, even 100%, is too high in sugar. We only put water and milk in the sippy cup.
Good Luck and many blessings,
K.

A. - We tried rice cereal at 4 months but had some problems. (My son was having problems with formula - milk protein allergy -so we were switching formulas. After the problems, my doctor thought my son had an immature digestive system, so he just was not ready for cereal.) So we stopped the rice cereal and waited until he was 6 months and then started on solids at 7 months or so. This worked best for us. Most babies do fine at 4 months with cereal. However, I do know that if I have another baby, I won't start cereal unitl 6 months again. For me, and this is just my opinion, 4 months seems too young. As for juice. My son will NOT drink juice. I try about every 2 to 3 weeks to give him juice (mixed with water) and he wants nothing to do with it. Which I am actually kind of happy about. He's 14 months now. I think I started trying when he was about 9-10 months. I didn't want him to get hooked on it too early. But now we don't have that problem at all. Remember, you have to do what you think is best for your baby and situation. There is no right or wrong.

Rice cereal at 4 mos with the ok from your Dr.

Veggies at 6 mos (with ok from Dr). I new veggie every 4 days until through all veggies, then start fruits. I new fruit every 4 days.

I didn't give my son juice until he was 2. Then it was 1/3 juice and 2/3 water. My daughter is 16 mos and I do give her juice b/c otherwise she would drink a gallon of milk a day. I give her 100% fruit juice, watered down. I try to stick with Orange juice and cranberry juice and to avoid apple juice as much as possible.