I'm Trying to Get My 4 Month Old to Eat Baby Food!

The tongue thrust, when your son pushes out the food, is a sign that his body is not ready for solid food. It's nature's way of protecting him against foreign things in his mouth. The AAP even recommends that babies not start solid food until at least six months. Your doctor is absolutely wrong in telling you to feed him so early! The Dr. Sears link someone gave you below has great information. The signs that your baby is ready to start solid food are the loss of the tongue thrust, able to sit on his own without assistance, have an interest in what you are eating, and have the hand control to pick up small objects (the pincer grasp). If your baby doesn't have these signs it means his gut is still not fully developed and eating solid foods makes him open to getting food allergies, not to mention indigestion. Waiting until six months or longer will not hurt him at all, it will actually be much better for his health. Solid foods are only supposed to be for play and practice the first year. As long as your son is gaining weight and is happy formula or breast milk is providing all the nutrients he needs.

By the way, I live in Lexington!

First off i'm a little surprised that your pediatrician suggested this. Most say you can MAYBE start a very watered down rice cereal at four months then start babyfood at 6 months. I can't imagine a 4 month old being able to eat an entire jar of babyfood.

I started rice cereal around 4 months old, and to start with, we tried only a spoonfull or two at a time. It took several weeks before she actually kept most of the cereal IN her mouth. It's a whole new sensation for baby to have a spoon of food and it may take some time. But don't worry, he'll get the hang of it, just make sure that as you're first introducing foods your baby still gets just as much from the bottle as he did before.

Also, my pediatrician as well as dietician I spoke with stressed the point of starting one food (peas for example) and giving ONLY peas for at least 3-4 days, preferably a week, then move onto another food and offer only that food for the next week or so. So that if your child were to have an allergic reaction, you will know exactly which food caused it and you can stop feeding that to him.

I feel for you, in my opinion, the time period of first starting solids was sooooo confusing. You worry that they are getting enough and wonder exactly HOW much they should be eating, how much from bottles vs. spoon, etc.

Hang in there though, before you know it he'll be feeding himself!

It might take him a little while to get used to eating with a spoon and not a nibble... I started my little girl on baby food at 4 months as while i skipped ceral cause i did't like the Ingredients in it so i went stright to baby food i started with veggies which she loves squash is her favorite.when she was four months i would feed her ahalf of a jar at night and some oatmeal in the moring abot 1 once.. Just go with you babies flow... Some doctors tell you to wait and some tell you to start early.
it is really up to you and want you think your baby needs i say if he is wacthing you eat then he is ready..I hope this is helpful to you..

H.,

Don't stress out about your son not eating baby food. He is really young to be starting solids. Many pediatricians recommend not beginning solids until an infant reaches at least 6 months of age as breastmilk/formula provide all necessary nutrition. Furthermore, delaying the introduction of solids will allow your son's digestive tract to mature reducing the possibility of food allergies. Here is a link to Dr Sears' information regarding infant feeding. http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030500.asp

Your son will let you know when he is ready to move on to solids by reaching for food and showing more interest in it. He will also be better able to handle it, since his tongue-thrust reflex will lessen by that age.

Take care,

B.

If this is the first food your son has ever had, then it's not that unusual for him not to like it at first. With my daughter, it took a month or so for her to really get into the swing of having something not liquid in her mouth. Now she eats like a pro (13 months)! I had a tough time with the first foods, and I found that she LOVED pears. Maybe try some fruit?