What Should I Feed Him Next?

Hi T.-- I started adding a little fruit to both my childrens cereal first and then in the evening I would serve some veggies with it for some variety. After a short period of time they were getting cereal, fruit and a veggie each meal. Definetly introduce one new food at a time to watch for an allergic reaction (I think you wait 24 hrs. before trying the next one). I don't think there is any specific way you need to introduce your little one to new foods but definetly check with your pediatrician for restricted foods---I believe you should avoid strawberries, milk, peanuts and eggs until a year- there are others that you should avoid as he eats more "big people" food so it is best to have a list handy. I do have to say my son was eating pretty much the same meals as my hubby and I at around 9-10 months but he was a big baby (9.5 lbs at birth) and had all his teeth by then and I just checked my list to see if I needed to adapt the recipe or make him something else. Hope this helps a little :)

I was told to go by colors... all things in the orange family, then green, then everything else.
The first veggie I gave my little one was carrots, followed shortly by avacados. I didn't wait to introduce fruits until later, and mine still loves veggies. Sweet potatoes are really good first foods also.
They make a Barley cereal you can try, or you can make your own with various grains... I made mine out of millet.
Whole milk yogert is also a great first food, but I would wait a couple more months to introduce that to avoid any milk reactions.
I mostly made all of my baby's food from scratch, there is a website, I think it is annabelkarmel.com , and she teaches you how to DIY. But there is also a really accurate list of when is an appropriate time to feed baby which foods.
Hope this helps!!

T.,

Starting cereal at 4 months is great. Since he is handling oatmeal so well you could start adding one fruit at a time until you know he isn't allergic. (24hr increments) Then start with yellow veggies and then green veggies.

That's my suggestion, and that's how I did it with my daughter.

J.

Hi-my name is H.. I am a 36 year old mother of a 13yr old girl and a 20 month old boy. My advice to you would be to start mixing some of the first step Gerber vegetables in with the cereal. Then eventually phase out the cereal to where your baby is only eating the vegetable. I know it sounds strange, but my son loved the Gerber chicken, ham, beef, etc mixed with rice cereal. You can also mix the fruits in with the cereal-I always mixed fruit into oatmeal and veggies and meats into rice. It seems like we stopped giving the baby cereal around 12 or 13 months old. I feel confident in giving you this advice based on past experience and the fact that my son was lactose intolerant and had so much trouble keeping anything down at first. I hope this helps you somewhat and always remember to enjoy your babies-they grow up so fast!

H. W.

I started my daughter on cereal at 4 1/2 months. She took to it instantly and had no problem with thick oatmeal. I started her on veggies at 5 months and she had no problems with allergies or upset stomach so I kept her on it. I didn't give her fruit until about 6 months and that is only once a day. She LOVES the DHA ARA granola, oat, bran and the other ones that have a little fruit mixed in with the bran, oat and granola. I began giving her bites of banana at 7 months, only because she is great at chewing, and then started the cheerios and other small finger foods. Now she's 8 months and she eats mostly finger foods, but I still make her eat some baby food (meats and granola) and I've started her on the Stonyfield farm baby yogurt. She doesn't really like it, but she eats it when she see's her brother take bites. Just make sure your still giving the formula/breastmilk (primary food) and using food to suppliment the milk.

All babies are different. My son didn't start baby food and finger foods until a LOT later on. He loved his bottle and thats all he wanted. Dr. Phil always says to "never substitute my judgement for your own" . Talk to your pediatrician and use you best mommy judgement.

Good Luck, J.

They say start with veggies first because the baby might get used to the sweet taste of fruits, but you can interchange the two. You should start with yellow fruits and veggies first, orange second, green next. Only introduce a new fruit every 3 days or so to make sure there is no allergic reaction to any of them. Just mix it with the cereal. If he's eating well you can begin introducing other food. My friend has a formula fed baby and she began feeding her fruit early as well because she wasn't satisfied with just formula and a little cereal. You could always check with the doctor first but he'll probably say the same. Good luck. Also if he doesn't like the veggie (sweet potatoes, corn and squash are usually their favorites) add a little juice to the mixture. Also be wary of citric acid fruits like oranges, strawberries. There not supposed to have those for a long time because of possible allergies. Good luck.

S.
mother of 9 month old boy

Hi T.,
What I did with my little boy was to mix 1 jar of baby food (ceral, etc)and the rest of the bottle with formula. Shake well. If you are using powdered formula, pre-mix it before putting it in the bottle with the baby food. What you will also need is a "Y" shaped nipple. I always used the Playtex vent aire bottles, but Wal-mart did not carry the "Y" shaped nipples, so I had to go to
"babies-R-us" to get those. It worked wonders. I do know that you are only suppose to introduce 1 new food at a time for allergy reasons, but I mixed everything with my little boy's bottle. I would mix ceral of a morning, fruit as a snack, a lunch item (peas, carrots, etc), etc... The only thing he didn't like very well was the meat items. Keep in mind that these foods will stain the inside of bottles and the nipples. But I found that they worked well for him. Good Luck and let me know how it goes.
J.

T.,
You are supposed to start feeding them rice cereal for 4 to 5 days and then you can feed them oatmeal for the same amount (4 to 5 days). While they are on the oatmeal you can give them rice too. The reason that they do that is to see if they are going to be allergic to it. If they are, you know what you gave them that was new so you know what it is.... you won't have to start all over to find out. So once they have had the rice, you never have to stop,.... you can keep feeding them rice but ADD the oatmeal. After the oatmeal you can add another cereal... if you want to go to vegetables, then do ONE vegetable at a time the same way. It doesn't matter what vegetable... just pick one. Most pick one like green beans or carrots (something that they will be exposed to alot) After they go through the vegetables then you can start the fruits.... ONE at a time. When they are a year old, you can start the baby foods with the meats in them. Again, only one at a time for allergy concerns. It also protects them from becoming allergic.
Now... I almost hate to tell you this, but I fed 3 boys like this and followed the rules to the T. I had a little girl later in life and she wouldn't touch the baby food. She wanted what we were eating. I would open the jars, she would take one bite, push it out of her mouth as if she hated the taste and she was done. I waisted more money. Finally I said forget this, this child has got to eat. So I just started feeding her whatever vegetables that we had. I didn't add salt and I mashed it up with a fork till smooshy. I made enough of the vegetable to last me a couple of days for lunch warmed up. I never went by the rules with her but I DID try to do one new thing at a time for allergy purposes. The only thing that I did wrong by doing this is I gave her mashed potatoes which got her constipated. Starchy things tend to constipate and I didn't know that. To this day, she loves to eat vegetables, she is a good eater... not picky... and she is tiny. I have always heard that if they are a good eater, that starts their metabolism out strong and those are the ones that don't get fat very easily. Boys tend to be better eaters and gain a little more weight.
Hope that helps.
M. T

u can mix friut with it to i started my son on fruit when he was 5 months old it wont hurt him and yes u can do veggies to do stage 1 on both of them

u deffinitely shouldn't start out with fruits, but start with any veggie, carrots, peas, squash, sweet potatoes are really good to start with. My 10 month old started on cereal & it wasn't too long before I started mixing 2 tbsp. of fruit with it once I started her on all the veggies. but I have always done the babyfood(veggies) in the evening more around dinner time, & just give her fruit in her cereal in the mornings & she loves it that way. I've only recently started giving her more fruit after she has her dinner. but in the end u have to do what works best for u & ur baby.

Both of my boys starting on baby foods early. they both had very big appetites. If you are going to start baby foods start with yellows and oranges. It can be fruits or veggies. Once you are sure he can hold those down then you can move on to the green colored foods. Just start slowly and let his system adjust. He should be fine. My boys were very healthy eaters

Hi T.. In my experiance, after starting with cereals, i started my 3 kids on gerber fruits stage 1. I always started with applesauce, then peaches, then pears, etc. I would feed one for a week, then move to another and so on. My mom (who raised 8 of us) told me to feed my kids the fruits one at a time for a week each to make sure there are no allergies. I must confess though, that by the time my kids were 4 months old, they were on soft table foods. My kids were and still are eaters. They are not picky eaters and will eat almost anything. I hope this helps. Good luck!

T.,
All the advice sounds great. My little guy loved the sweet potatoes, peas and carrots pretty early on. My little two cents of advice is don't waste your money on the prepackaged things that are super easy to do at home. I am still amazed that they sell jarred mashed bananas. You can do that in 10 seconds with a fork at home for a fraction of the cost. Also we did the sweet potatoes at home and it was really easy. Just bake the sweet potato, scoop, process it in a food processor and add as much water as needed for the right consistency for your baby and freeze it in ice trays. When it is frozen, store the little cubes in a freezer bag. When it is time for supper, just stick one in the microwave for about 25 seconds. Another easy one is avocado. Just mash it with a fork. My son loved it and it has lots of good fats. I saved the jarred baby food for things that are more of a pain to do at home. Also you can feed them the regular applesauce rather than the apple "baby food". It is lots cheaper. I buy organic on things that carry persistent pesticides like grapes (you wont' be feeding these for a few months and always cut into smaller bites), sweet potatoes, applesauce and apple juice. I don't usually spend the extra $ for organic on bananas and avocados since they are thick skinned and don't usually carry heavy pesticide loads. I hope this helps. Above all, enjoy it!!

J.

honey Dr. say not to feed until there 6 months but my baby has been eating fruits and veggies since he was 2 months and they say he is as healthy as an ox. go with ur babys flow
S.(mother of 2)

Everyone has given you sound advice (waiting a week or so before introducing a new food wtc) but there are a few things I wanted to mention.
Never give your child honey. Not until they are at least 2 because of the risk of botulism. Don't give strawberries until their 2nd summer, same with peanut butter because of the risk of allergies developing.
We always started out with carrots first because they're naturally sweet and very healthy for them. Then moved on to other yellow/orange vegetable like squash and sweet potatoes.
A lot of babies don't like the texture of the fruits or vegetables mixed with their cereal because it gets kind of mealy sometimes. If he doesn't like it, just try feeding without mixing them together.
If your son doesn't seem to like something, just try again a couple days later until he does like it. Sometimes it takes several times of them tasting foods before they like them.
And invest in a small food processor. Sometimes Wal-Mart carries them for about $5.00 As your son gets older, he'll want more and more of what mommy is eating and it's a lot easier then trying to mash it with your forks.
I've never seen a kid yet who liked the canned meats. All three of my kids would gag if I tried to feed it to them. I'd mix up a bit of roast or whatever I was eating with some broth in the processor and they loved it.
Best of luck to you and your son.

Avocados and bananas would be the best thing to try next. Avocados have lots of good fat that helps with brain development. Just mash it and thin with flax seed oil or formula.