Introducing Solid Foods at 3 Months???

Hi D.
No solids yet!!! Please wait until at least four months, and six is even better. Since you have not contacted you ped, here is info from the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford's website (please check out the site for specifically what to feed when -- just google the hospital name and search "solid food" on the hospital site's home page):
"Do not give solid foods unless your baby's physician advises you to do so. Solid foods should not be started before 4 months of age for the following reasons:

Breast milk or formula provides your baby all the nutrients that are needed to grow.

Your baby is not physically developed enough to eat solid food from a spoon.

Starting your baby on solid food too early increases the chance that he/she may develop a food allergy.

Feeding your baby solid food too early may lead to overfeeding and being overweight.

As a general rule, solid foods do not help babies sleep through the night"

Hello,

I didn't start solids until 6 months, mostly because I was (and still am) breastfeeding. According to many physicians and moms, babies should get all their nutrition from breastmilk and/or formula for the first 6 months. Even though my boy showed a lot of interest in eating food early, I wanted to hold off because I was in no rush to begin making/buying baby food, have his poop change (and it will!), and exposing him to potential allergens too early.

I do know other moms who began at 4-5 months and their babies are fine. I do think 3 months is way too early, just my opinion. (What's the hurry?) Babies have sensitive digestive systems that are just not ready for most solids. Nevertheless, rice cereal is the most gentle intro to solids and that's what I started with. Then I progressed to oatmeal, more complex grains, pureed veggies and fruits. I make some of the simple one-ingredient food and I buy the food that has combinations. Now at 8 months, he's starting meats and some finger food. I used the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron to help me get started.

Yes, solid feeding has definitely added some fun to our daily routines, as I love the reaction my baby has to something like spinach and prunes. But don't forget, you will also have more prepping, washing, planning when you go out, and just a lot more mess. You have a pretty long way to go. I strongly encourage you to talk to your pedi about this. Good luck.

Hi D.,
I too fed both of my kids early. Around 3.5 months. I started with rice cereal then moved on to baby-food veggies, then fruits. My kids are now 3 and 5. No food allergies (one is lactose intolerant which he was born with and has nothing to do with introduction of solid foods) or other food issues.

If I were to do it all again, I would wait so much longer. Not for any health benefits, but for the simple fact that life is so much easier when all I had to worry about was packing bottles. Even going out to eat today requires thought as to which restaurant will have something for everyone... or who do I need to take a sandwich for...

Good luck.

I started my daughter at 3 1/2 or 4 months with the peditrician O.K. She was wanting around 40 ounces of formula and was never satisfied. I started with Rice cereal which is what most people do. After a few weeks I started with vegetables. You don't want your baby to get used to the sweet fruits and later deny the vegetables. My daughter loved carrots and sweet potatoes the best. After she tried every vegetable in the baby food aisle I then introduced all the fruits. I also switched to Oatmeal, because my daughter didn't like the bland taste of rice cereal. A few of my friends with babies the same age did the exact same thing. My daughter is 17 months and no food alleries or adverse affects. She does like almost every food and has always been advanced with what she could eat. I would run the idea by your peditrician and see what they say.

I recently read a study in the medical journal The Lancet (its one of those publications that is referred to in all sorts of print - they publish findings in studies and a whole slew of scientific/medical information) that linked childhood diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, to starting solids too early. It seems that feeding an immature digestive system - a baby under 6 months of age - any sort of solid effects the way the bodies immune system handles insulin. There is already a direct medical link between feeding solids too early and potential allergies, and there is just as strong a link between childhood diabetes (in children that are not obese and typically healthy in every other way) and early solids.
SO - NOT BEFORE 6 MONTHS, NO MATTER WHAT!

I started my daughter on solids shortly after her 4 month "birthday". My friend has a 3 year old and a 2 year old (they are 16 months apart)and with her first one the pedi said to start him at 4 months. Between him and her daughter things changed and the same pedi said to start her daughter at 6 months. I think it all depends on when your child is ready, but "they" do recommend waiting until 6 months now-a-days.
Also, the best thing to start them on is rice cereal (or oatmeal if he has constipation problems) mixed with breast milk or formula.
Enjoy, it starts to get fun and messy now =o)

I started my oldest son on solids at about 4 months also (cause technically your son is closer to 4 months than 3). But I started him because he was taking an 8 oz bottle every 2 hours. The boy was hungry. I started him with the cereals, rice, oatmeal, etc. and by 6 months he was eating a full range of baby foods.

course this is also the child who had grown 6 inches in 4 months time.

I would recommend introducing foods slowly though. start with cereals and veggies before anything else.