When to Start 'solids'...and What to Start With?

I started with cereal but quickly moved onto veggies. Her first was green beans. I started a 3 months. She was hungrey and has never been a big fan of a bottle so we moved on to cereal. I never made my own but I am a BIG fan of organic. The fewer pesticides the better. Good luck! It will be so fun!

L.,

I was in the same boat as you, not knowing what to do. We started our son out on Rice cereal, then oatmeal, then mixed cereal, then veggies. We started with the least sweet; green beans, then squash, carrots, sweet peas, finally sweet potatoes. We started new food on a sunday and went an entire week on that veggie before moving on, just to make sure he didn't have a reaction. Plus it was easier for me to remember.

Just remember your dr. is just giving you an idea of what to do, you are her momma and you know what is best for her. If you think you should start with cereal then go for it. Watching them eat baby food is so fun, I enjoy every minute of it.

I am currently in the same boat you are. Our pediatrician recommended we hold our daughter off as long as possible towards 6 months. We started her rice cereal for about a week when she was almost 5 months & then she had a flare up of her eczema. I just recently tried it again yesterday mixing the rice with some apple prune juice (Gerber) to help with the cloggage that the rice seems to do. She liked the taste of it alot better, but she had another flare up of her eczema. Hence, why our pediatrican wanted us to hold off as long as possible. So I'm just going to jump in next week when she turns 6 months with bananas or one of the other recommended first foods. I had the same thought as you though whether it mattered if we had a rice cereal "stage" or not...I'm guessing rice is just a good recommendation if you start prior to 6 months. But then again, like I said, I'm doing this for the first time! Good Luck! It was fun yesterday when I gave it to her, much better than the first time when she made a face and cried! yesterday she couldn't get enough of it!

I started our oldest daughter with cereal and it made her constipated so our pediatrician said to skip the cereal and move on to vegetables and fruit. With the twins, I started with banana, avacado, and sweet potato. They never had a taste of one jar of baby food. I made their food taking ideas from the Super baby food book... All three children exclusively drank breast milk. The super baby food book is great. Feel free to contact me!

I started my son on "solids" when he was about 5 months old. It takes a little time and effort, but eventually they get the hang of it. I started my son with peas and he really liked them. Sweet potatoes are another good one to start with. If you feel that your daughter is ready, then you should go ahead and give it a try. Mother always knows best. :-) Good luck!

My son is exculsivly breastfed still at 6.5 months. He seemed a bit interested at 6 m in food, and I tried, but he didn't care once he had some. It is best to start at 6 months because of Open Gut. Babies have gaps in there intestines till 6 months which feeding foods too early can sometimes cause allergies.

With BF babies they say to start with sweet potatoes, bananas and avacadoes. I am skipping rice cereal as I feel it is just a filler and has no nutritional value.

As far as making your own food. YES! I have started making some for my son. Go to www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ or http://www.cuisinart.com/baby/

I hope that hleps!

It's perfectly ok to skip the rice cereal. Mine hated it and I heard recently that the APA is recommending delaying grains until they turn a year. You can easily make your own baby foods too -- it doesn't take much time at all. A neighbor loaned me the book Super Baby Foods. There's a good index of what foods to introduce and when. Also, there are recipes for making your own baby food including cereals. My son loved them and I credit these first foods with his good eating habits (along with breast feeding which also varies in flavor due to the mother's diet).

Good first foods include: mashed banana and avocado. I think they used to say veggies first, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Keep in mind too that foods during the first year are an experiment and shouldn't be the bulk of your baby's nutrition. Breast milk is by far more nutritious so no reason to give that up. There's some good information on Dr Sear's website and on the LLL website regarding introducing solids. I think most peds are recomending delaying solids until 6 months now especially if there's history of food allergies, hayfever or excema on either sides of the family. It sounds like your little one will be raring to go and you'll have a ton of fun.

I believe the best reason for the cereal is that it's easy on the tummy and can get baby used to eating from a spoon. I've alwayz heard start with whatever veggie you choose but stick with just that one for at least a couple of days. Carrots is a good one to start with, not that bitter. I made my own baby food for a time, you just have to make sure that it's completely blended with no chunks in it. I would express some milk and give him a bite of veggie and then some milk to wash it down. Hope this helps.

I would still start with rice cereal - that is the most mild food there is so allergies are most unlikely with this. I waited to start cereal until my daughter was 6 mos old and did that for 2 weeks, then started with veggies (green, yellow, orange in that order) then fruits. When she was 8 mos old I started her on meats (only did the "simple meals" which were turkey/greenbeans, etc. nothing that had a million ingredients) and also started giving her 1/4th'd cheerios. By 9.5 mos she was eating table foods completely (anything you could smush with your finger and thumb) and she didn't have teeth until 11mos old.

Make sure you wait 3-5 days before introducing a new food to check for allergies.

Good luck!

We started both of ours with sweet potatoes. Neither of them liked carrots. I can't stand the smell of peas, so we didn't have those much. Green beans and squash we good though. You can make your own (there are cookbooks for making baby food), but it's hard to get the right consistency. Sweet potatoes were easy though because they're mushy anyway. We would just buy a sweet potato and make mashed potatoes with it. You can fill an ice cube tray with the mashed sweet potatoes and each "cube" is a serving. Home made baby fruit was easy too -- pears, apples, peaches, etc.
Wait 3 to 5 days before introducing a new food to make sure there aren't any allergies.