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twins r fun
05-18-2002, 05:26 PM
My 6 1/2 month old twins are just beginning solids. They've got cereal and a few fruits and veggies under their belts. I'm about to increase to 3 meals/day and they have been gradually increasing the amount they take at each feeding. The only guidance my pediatrician gave me was that until 9-12 months, their nutrition still comes mainly from formula. My questions are:

1. Should they be getting roughly equal amounts of fruits, veggies, and cereal each day? Or is cereal more or less important than the jarred foods? Or does it not really matter what they eat at this age?

2. What's the difference between the stage 1, 2, 3 foods other than amount in the jar?

3. Jarred meats seem really gross to me. Do my babies eventually need them, though?

4. When do they start eating finger foods and table foods?

5. What guidlines do you follow at 9-12 months when the solids do comprise more of their nutrition?

Anything else you think I might need to know would be great also. Thanks!
Nicole

suzska
05-18-2002, 11:18 PM
I'll try to answer a few of the simple ones....

>My questions are:
>
>1. Should they be getting roughly equal amounts of fruits,
>veggies, and cereal each day? Or is cereal more or less
>important than the jarred foods? Or does it not really
>matter what they eat at this age?

I'm not sure, but I would think as long as they are getting enough formula, the rest doesn't matter too much. Most of the vitamins and iron (that they don't get from the formula) are going to come from the cereal. But they'll get other things, like vitamin C, from the fruits. I don't know that they need "equal" amounts, but there should be some kind of balance among the different types. This is just my opinion. And if you asked me what my son ate at that age, I couldn't remember.


>2. What's the difference between the stage 1, 2, 3 foods
>other than amount in the jar?

The "texture" increases between the stages, as well as the variety of ingredients. Stages 1 and 2 are still pretty much "puree," while Stage 3 starts to actually have recgonizable "bits" of food in it. My son is 14 months old, and still won't eat a full 6 oz. jar--he seems to get bored with one taste. So I give him about 1/2 of a Gerber Graduates meal (I save the other half for the next day, rather than have to throw food out) and then something to "munch" on, like bread or crackers or Cheerios.


>3. Jarred meats seem really gross to me. Do my babies
>eventually need them, though?

They seemed gross to me, too, and I never bought them. I introduced meats by giving him something like "Chicken and Apples" or "Turkey and Sweet Potatoes" after we had gotten through all of the basic Stage 1 foods.


>4. When do they start eating finger foods and table foods?

I think we started puffed rice cereal and Cheerios around 7 or 8 months. (My son had about 8 teeth by then, though.) Mashed bananas and mushy carrots after that, I think. I know by 10 months he was eating a few things like pasta. Around 12 or 13 months we were on to Chicken Fingers and French Fries (cut/torn into little pieces, of course). But it's up to the individual baby. Some kids as old as my son still don't like table foods. My son's favorite things these days are eggs (sort of scrambled in the microwave--DH has one of those egg cooking "cups" ), wheat bread, mini pancakes, applesauce, and Gerber Pasta Pick-Ups, and almost any kind of cracker. And "grammy's" home cookin', of course.


>5. What guidlines do you follow at 9-12 months when the
>solids do comprise more of their nutrition?

I just made sure my son was still getting plenty of formula until he was 11 months old. That's when we started switching to whole milk (ped's "advice" ). Now he still has oatmeal for breakfast and usually some Gerber Cereal Snacking Squares or Cheerios as a snack or lunch. I figure he gets most of his RDA of vitamins from those three things. And he usually has applesauce (with Vitamin C added) at lunch. Some days he's real good about eating his fruits and veggies, and some days not.

>Anything else you think I might need to know would be great
>also. Thanks!
>Nicole

That's all I can think of now. And, remember, these are mostly my opinions or what works for me. And, you're welcome!