When to Introduce Solids/homemade Baby Food

I made ALL babyfood for all 3 of my kids, including cereals. I use the excellent book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. You can get it at www.superbabyfood.com, www.amazon.com, or at local bookstores. I still use the nutrient tables and many many of the recipes even though my kids are 3, 4 3/4, and 7. The book also has awesome recipes for cleaning products, fun things, decorating ideas, etc. I think you'll love the book. I"d love to tell you more about specific recipes, combinations of foods for the cereals, how I did it, etc. I wouldn't trade making my kids food for the world. Also, I breastfed each of them til sometime past their second (or 3rd for my dd) birthdays. My middle son breastfed exclusively for 12 months.

I introduce foods to my babies at 3 months, because they were not statisfied after being breast feed. They wanted to eat all the time. So I started them off with baby rice cereal mixed with breast milk until it was soupy. I add the little jar of baby food to have some taste like peaches and so on. I would change the jars each meal like breakfast would be peaches, sweet potatoes for lunch and so on.

Talk to your pediatrician. He or she should have given you info at the 4 month visit about starting foods. For an exclusively breast fed baby, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests starting around 6 months, though their nutrition committee suggests 4 months. Don't put cereal in a bottle - it can be a choking hazard and can adversely affect weight ie lead to too much weight gain. Normally, you start with rice cereal - I like the DHA enriched gerber rice cereal. you mix it with your breast milk (or formula if you have no breast milk pumped). you start with a few spoon fulls and work up to a little bowl. After a few days of rice cereal, you can move on to oatmeal eg. DHA enriched gerber oatmeal. After a few days of that you can do pear. You need to do a few days of anyone newly introduced food so that you know they aren't allergic to it or it isn't causing upset. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a great book on care of a child from 0-5. You can buy it on their website www.aap.org It has guidance on everything - eating, sleeping, behavior, bathing etc etc.

good luck

Never, ever put cereal in a bottle unless prescribed by a doctor for reflux. It promotes unhealthy eating habits and leads to baby being over-fed.

Continue to nurse on demand and offer him very thin cereal/breastmilk mix from a spoon at 6 months. Here is a great site with info on the "open gut" (the reason you should wait till 6 months) and ideas for feeding and homemade baby food.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/early-solid-food-feeding...

I made almost all of my daughter's baby food once she started eating at 9 months. Don't be surprised if baby doesn't want solids right at 6 months. They are all different as you can see with my little one.

Grabbing and such isn't necessarily indicative that he's ready for solids it just means he's becoming aware of the world around him and what he can in that world.

Good for you for breastfeeding so long!!!! I exclusively breastfed my little guy until 6 months and then introduced food along with breastfeeding. My doctor said as long as he was still gaining weight that exclusively breastfeeding until around 6 months was preferred. We started introducing pureed bananas, peaches, and pear. A little later we added things like avocado, broccoli, carrots, applesauce. Kidco makes a great babyfood making kit that comes with a small puree machine and babyfood trays for freezing. I made all my baby food and pureed it and froze it into cubes for later use. It is super easy and great for your baby. I think I started giving him happy bellies oatmeal around 8 months? Good luck and keep up the nursing if you can. You will have a very healthy baby!

I highly recommend reading Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron to my new mom patients. I goes through the transition into solid foods. It also goes over how to store and make your own food.
Good Luck!

As a long term breastfeeding mom (REAL long term), I would say that he is interested in trying food. I agree - do NOT use a bottle. You can make up some rice cereal, very liquid and spoon feed him. See if he likes it, but don't force the issue.

A mom in our mom's club just got a baby food maker from Williams and Sonoma and loves it: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/beaba-babycook-ba...

I breastfed my daughter too and she didn't try real food till she was 7 months old because that was enough for her!After 7 months we start with baby serial and feeding with spoon and pured fruit(apple,banana)after a month vegetable and meat

Hi S.,

It sounds like your son may be ready to try solid food, but it probably can't hurt to wait a few weeks if his weight gain is okay and he's still nursing well. I would suggest that you skip the rice cereal (it's disgusting!) unless you have food allergies in your family. Some people advocate that you shouldn't start with sweet things (fruit/sweet veggies like sweet potatoes and squash), but breastmilk is incredibly sweet. It will probably take your little one a while to get eating food from a spoon (I wouldn't give it to him in a bottle). I think you could start with oatmeal and mix it with breastmilk (till it's fairly liquidy). Other good first foods are sweet potatoes (bake them and puree them with water), carrots (boil and puree with water), winter squash (bake and puree with water). I have a baby food cookbook, which is unnecessary, but I found it helpful. It's called So Easy Baby Food Cookbook. I thought it was helpful because it lists the food by when you can introduce them, and suggests possible things to add (like seasonings!). Freezing trays (like ice cube trays with a cover) are helpful so that you can make a big batch and defrost as necessary. If you have a history of food allergies in your family, wait a week in between introducing new foods. That way you can check for any reactions your baby may have. And it's a good idea to nurse your baby first, before offering solids, so that he's not starving.

Hope that helps!
R.

ask your Pediatrician.

The tongue thing he is doing could also be his 'tongue thrust' reflex... which is to push food out of the mouth. It is a developmental thing.

They do naturally get grabby at this age too. Which is developmental as well.

But once you do start solids... you should still nurse on demand... and BEFORE giving solids. If giving solids before nursing, this is done to "wean" a baby.

For the 1st year, solids are just an introduction to foods. Not their main source of nutrition. Breastmilk/Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition...not solids and not other liquids. This is per our Pediatrician as well.

Ask your Doc, about how/when to start solids.

Here is a useful link for additional info.:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_introducing-solid-foods_113.bc

All the best,
Susan

I'm having trouble remembering, but don't think 5 months is too early for a baby showing signs like your son is. I used a book as a reference (easier for me than getting online every time I had a question) - "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. It gives you pretty much all the info you will need about when babies are ready for certain foods and also tips and hints about making your own (which I also did and was so glad I did). I did visit wholesomebabyfood.com too and found that site to have a great deal of helpful info.
Congrats on wanting to do all the right things for your son :O)

The first thing you start with is rice cereal. Depending on your doctor, s/he will suggest you start between 4-6 months. I have a 5 month old and his doctor said we could start at his 4 month checkup. So you start with rice cereal then you can add in Stage 1 foods in 4 day intervals. It doesn't matter the order of the food just as long as you wait 4 days in between. When they first start eating they really don't eat very much so I would suggest you just buy some stage 1 foods before you start making your own. Then once he is actually eating the food you can start making your own. I also have a 2 year old and I made most of her food in ice cube trays in the freezer (fruits, veggies, and even dinner type foods with pasta, rice & meat). I had a list that I found online that showed which foods for each age group and used that as my guide as to what babyfood I made. It was a piece of cake. I steamed all of the food using a pot and a steamer basket then would put the food in a blender using either bottled water, boiled tap water or the water from the pot of steamed food I had prepared. I really enjoyed doing it & it's a lot cheaper than buying jarred baby food. However, the jarred stuff is good for on the go times but you can work the food ice cubes in too if you plan so they're not frozen come meal time. Just take them out the day before and put them in a container or ziploc bag.

Start him out with rice cereal mixed with breast milk in a bowl. Make it fairly liquidy so he is able to take it from a spoon. After this try him on vegetables next. About six mths. Don't try all kinds, leave him on one for about a wk. then proceed to the next. This way you aren't mixing up his taste buds. Keep him on the rice cereal in the mornings/evenings until hes' able to grab for his food then you can introduce while in highchair cheerios' etc. little things that his hands can pick up. Good luck, you will learn as you go along. Some pediatricians won't agree with baby foods until 12mths. however my 9mos. old grandaughter is now eating everything while in highchair. Anything she can grab with her hands she loves. Weiners, cold meat cut up, cheese, crackers etc.

Updated

I'm sure that you can give him rice cereal, make sure to pump so that its your breast milk to mix it. Make it creamy. When he is about 6mos. old veggies come first. Cook up some carrots, peas' use a ice tray and fill veggies half and half so you have both veggies. Try one at a time for about a wk. to see if he is going to take to it as well his taste buds have to get used to each of them, so don't give him one kind one day and the other the next. This will only confuse his little belly and he may get constipated.
Good luck. Once sitting in a highchair you can give him finger foods, something he can pick up himself and eat from the tray. You can as well make up instant mashed potatoes, small portion, again these can be frozen. My grandaughter who is now 9mths has been on finger foods for about 2mths. She will eat small pieces' of weiners, cheese,crackers (the baby ones') she is basically eating everything and is very healthy. No allergy problems or anything. Good luck.

Skip the yucky cereal that doesn't have anything nutritious in it save for iron. Go right for something yummy, like an overripe banana or avocado.

Check out this site: http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

I introduced banana to my daughter at 5.5 months. She had started sitting in her highchair at the dinner table with us and she kept fussing and reaching out. Once I shoved some banana in her mouth, she was happy as could be. She had been showing signs of readiness for a few weeks, but they recommend breastfeeding only till 6 months.

With my 2 yr old, I started at just under 5 mos. My doctor had given me the go-ahead and some information on feeding at our 4 mo checkup. I decided to just wait and see and start him when I saw all the signs and thought he was ready. For mine, he was starving one day, and nursing didn't cut it anymore. I tried for a couple days, but even though he was getting his fill, he wanted more. I could just tell. He had been watching us eat and reaching for it, and could sit up, etc. I started with cereal (I can't remember what the reason my doc recommended starting with cereal, but she said it was best, so that is what I did.) I did cereal from a spoon mixed with breastmilk for about a month. Just a little bit after nursing. Always do solids after nursing, about 20-30 mins afterwards, so that you don't decrease your milk supply. Don't do cereal in a bottle, that is usually only recommended for babies with reflux to help keep the food down. You want baby to learn to eat properly.

I used the Super Baby Food book also, along with some websites. The book was very helpful. I always had a couple of jars of stuff in case we went out, but at home we did all homemade from the beginning. I chose go about it very casually and not make my own yogurt and stuff. You really can be as involved or laid back about it as you want to be. I used a Magic Bullet to blend in and loved it. I also had a tiny Cuisinart food processor (the smallest one) and I used it as well. Some things blended better in one or the other. I did a lot of baking, because you could do bigger batches for the same amount of work. I would bake a few things at once, like sweet potatoes, squash and regular potatoes, and then blend them all. You are going to be able to find lots of good produce soon to choose from to make your own. Summers are much easier to find good stuff than winter.

I definitely recommend getting the book if you can, and here are the three websites I liked best:

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
http://weelicious.com/

I was told that the sign isn't the grabby, but intently watching you eat, and wanting what you have, plus waiting till 6 months to avoid some allergies (ped rec). I started with the rice cereal and breastmilk, but my son HATED it. We moved onto the purees and he did better. I started with a few jars of store bought stuff, just to make sure that he was ready before I made a whole batch, and to let me know the consistency to expect. I would also scan the baby food section for ideas of veggies and fruits to try. I just used a stick blender after steaming fruits and veggies, and had no problems...except when I would make it a bit thick, but my son let me know.

I bought a KidCo food processor for my 1st child and enjoyed making baby food. We started at 4 mos and stated with rice cereal and then moved on to purees. My 2nd child just turned 5 mos and is still on breastmilk solely. I think we'll start solids months 6-7. I don't feel compelled to begin with cereals. I think we'll start with purees. My little one is doing the same thing, trying to grab at cups and bowls and I do think he's expressing interest. The tongue and lip stuff could be teething. My son cut his first tooth last week and days prior he was doing this funny thing with his tongue and sticking it out a lot. So, it might be time to start making your plans as to what you want to do. Just remember, once solids start, the real work begins. It's SO easy to feed our little breastfed babies right now and they are getting all the nutrients they need.

hi S.,i would start with fruit,you can purate it so your child can easely taste it,try banana or pear and i hope it will work