When did you start solids?

[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

My DD is just over three months so we are not quite there yet. Everything I read says to start solids between 4 and 6 months, but I am just not sure when to really start. It seems like a big range to me! Of course, my mom keeps telling me that I started solids at 2 weeks - no joke! She has the paperwork from the pediatrician to prove it. I have a handout from our doctor about starting and all. He gave it to us at our last visit so we could get started (we see him again when she will be 4 1/2 months). DD is a big girl - already 15 pounds but I want to make sure she is ready. Also, how do you start? I know to start with rice cereal, but how soon do you add other things? When do you increase to more than one feeding a day? Any advice you might have would be great!

TIA!

[wencit]

The AAP recommends starting solids after 6 months, so that is when I plan to start DS. Before then, the only food he needs is breastmilk or formula. Our pediatrician gave us a solid food handout at his 3.5 month checkup too, but I put it away for now. DS is also a big kid (16 lbs at his last checkup), but I don't think weight alone has anything to do with whether he is ready for solids. Instead, I am looking for developmental cues to tell me when he's ready.

There is a great book by Ellyn Satter that I and a lot of other ladies on here recommend called, "Child of Mine: Feeding With Love and Good Sense." It answers a lot of questions you have.

HTH!

[maestramommy]

Hi Cathy:

You didn't say whether you are bfing, but if you are, there's no reason to start solids until 6 months; in fact that is the most current AAP recommendation. For formula fed babies I don't know if it's the same recoommendation, but I think you could still wait til 6 months and you'd be fine. 3 months is really too young. In order to be able to eat even cereal a baby has to have lost their tongue thrust reflex. This usually happens between 4-6 months. I started at 2 weeks before Dora turned 6 months because I really thought I couldn't get her enough milk and I had a popped blister on one side that kept bleeding, so I needed a rest. It turned out to be a waste of time because she was totally uninterested in eating, and remained so until 8 months. Still a very tiny eater.

Most people seem to start with rice cereal, but some have started with oatmeal instead, others with fruit or veggie. Just know that everytime you try something new, stick with that for about 5 days so you can see if your dc is allergic.

I've seen my own paperwork from when I was a baby, and it's crazy. I was on whole milk by 4 months, and could eat everything under the sun. Needless to say, I was a HUGE baby. I've seen a pic of myself at 9 months, and I look like a toddler.

[o_mom]

Here is some good info:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

You don't have to start with cereal, there are many other good foods. We always start with sweet potato.

For more info on solids:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

Yes, we are breastfeeding. And, I definately wouldn't start now, I just wanted to get an idea for when I should. I think she is still too young but I didn't get much help from the pediatrician. Thanks for the advice!

[Rachels]

No solids for at least six months! Read up on Kellymom about the developmental signs of readiness for solid foods-- it's surprising. Babies need to be sitting totally unassisted, for example. There's more, too. Various digestive enzymes aren't even present until six to seven months.

Abigail started solids shortly before 6 months because she had been trying to kick my teeth in to get at my food. It was a HUGE mistake. It wrecked her GI tract and her sleep for the next seven or eight months-- and I started slowly and carefully. Ethan, at nine months, has just really started solids recently and is doing great.

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
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Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
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"When you know better, you do better."
Maya

[Jenn98]

We started at six months with mashed avocados. It was about two weeks later when I was feeding her sweet potatoes that she finally "got it" and figured out I was feeding her FOOD! It was what I call her Helen Keller moment (you know, where she finally figures it out at the water pump) Anyway, I wouldn't rush solids at all! I plan to wait till 6 months or longer with DD#2 due in Dec.

ETA: Here is another website to look at: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

[kimbe]

We started offering solids at 6 months, but DD didn't really have any interest in solid food until she was about 10 months old. She ONLY wanted to feed herself and still refuses pureed food off a spoon! (Except if she KNOWS that it is ice cream!!!)

When your DD is ready, offer, but don't push her. She'll do a great job letting you know what she needs!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

We started at 8.5 months and skipped the cereal altogether. We started with bananas and then sweet potato. The only thing I used cereal for was to thicken the fruits when she was ready for more texture.

[pb&j]

EBF'ed baby, started at 5.5 mos. DS made faces during his first feeding, but never looked back. He's a great eater and will eat anything and everything. We started with homemade rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, but his second food was mashed bananas, and he eats all kinds of fruits and veggies now, and very little cereal.

AAP recs are for 6 mos, but I wasn't going to beat myself up about a couple of weeks, KWIM? DS was very ready, and has done great on solids - no digestive or sleep issues whatsoever (other than not tolerating oatmeal).


-Ry,
mom to Emma, stillborn 11/04/04
and Max, 01/05/06

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[hez]

We tried around 5 months & made some progress after a couple days, had a GI bug (probably rotavirus, but we both had it) to deal with, and then didn't try again 'til 6 months. I think he'd associated being sick with solids and decided he wanted nothing to do with them.

We took it at his pace. If he wasn't ready or willing to start solids, we weren't going to do it. On adding new foods, we did it one new thing at a time, at a pace that felt comfortable to us (probably slower than some others). We added a second feeding when he was doing really well with the first for a bit.

Go with your little one's flow, pay attention to the readiness signs (sitting up, no tongue-thrust reflex, etc.), and you should be good to go.

[KrystalS]

I just don't understand why doctors recommend starting solids at 4 mos. if the AAP says to wait until 6 mos. I started my dd on cereal at 4 mos and veggies/fruits at 5 mos., per doctor recommendations. My sister took my nephew in for his 4 mo. appt today and they told her to go ahead and start solids, everything, cereal etc. My nephew eats a lot, he goes through 12 cans of formula a month!! I told me sister I thought it was a lot, the doctor just told her to start him on solids and he would not want as much formula. Is that true? I have no experience with it to give her any advice, my dd usually only went through about 8 cans a month.

[Saccade]

It seems to vary widely among babies, as you can see from this thread. Some in our playgroup were totally uninterested (and unready) at 8 months -- no harm, no foul. Our kiddo was lunging at our food at 4 months (and sitting unassisted, and using a pincer grasp, and had lost his tongue thrust) despite our efforts to keep him away from solids and on BM exclusively. He cried his heart out for a few weeks until we let him have that taste of pear, and he did fine despite my paranoia.

You will know when she is ready, I bet. She should meet all of the readiness signs that PPs have pointed you to, and I think she should be telling you that she is interested and eager. What to start? Recently there has been discussion that we don't need to be quite as regimented as in the past (e.g., rice cereal need not be the first choice). Many cultures have different rules for which foods get introduced when. The key is to take things slowly, one at a time, so you can identify any allergies or sensitivities easily.

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[JdrKuhnert]

We also started solids just short of 6 months. We started extremely slowly - a few spoonfuls before breastfeeding. It took about a week before he would the full jar. I sat him on my lap with one of his arms behind me and held his other hand. This position was recommended to us at a baby nutrition class that we attended. They also recommended letting baby "play" with a spoon long before you attempt to feed baby solids. The idea is that the spoon isn't some complete stranger and it makes the transition easier. However, I didn't try that. We started with carrots (the norm here in Germany), but that was a big mistake. The poor little guy was extremely constipated. We moved on to zucchini and he has been fine with that. My son looks forward to his one meal of the day. The minute that I put him in his highchair he opens his mouth wide and moves towards the spoon. We will be adding a second meal within the next week - roughly a month after he began eating a full meal.

Janda

[DrSally]

I know, I encountered the same conflicting advice. I guess there is a difference of opinion even within the AAP--the breastfeeding section recommends 6 months, and the feeding section recommends 4 months. I planned on waiting until 6 months since my DS was exclusively BF and DH has a history of allergies. So I was shocked when ped was pressuring me to start solids, rice, fruit, everything at 5 months. When I questioned her and the allergy risk, she defensively said "I started my boys on solids at 4 months!" I tried to ask her more about her reasoning, was my son not gaining well (no), etc., and she just said "it's time, you came to me for advice and I'm telling you it's time". Well for someone with a Ph.D. who spend 10 years in college and 2 years in residency, I don't take "b/c I said so" very well. I need to know the "why" or the reasoning, which you don't need a Ph.D. to want that of course. It was all just very insulting though. Especially since I've heard that solids before 6 months displace breastmilk and after 6 months are complementary. Dr. said there's no extra risk of allergies and solids won't displace BM, and nurse after solids. I didn't know where she was getting this info from. Just like everything else, Dr's are also succeptible to baby food marketing, I wonder if that's it. Well, I nurse before solids to make sure he gets the BM first. Sorry for the ramble. The best advice I think is to watch your baby.

[Rachels]

<<the doctor just told her to start him on solids and he would not want as much formula>>

See, and that's stupid and dangerous. Rice cereal is just pulverized rice starch. It doesn't have anywhere near the nutritional balance of formula, and certainly not of breastmilk. Solids in the first year are for PRACTICE. They cannot and do not meet the full nutritional needs of a growing baby.

Just because a doctor gives advice doesn't mean you have to follow it. When you know better, you do better, kwim?

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bf.jpg


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou

[Momof3Labs]

We started DS1 at 6 months, and DS2 at 5 months. DS2 was showing all kinds of signs that he was ready at 5 months (we didn't see those signs in DS1 even at 6 months), and he's having a lot of fun with solids. He doesn't get them every day, and always gets them shortly after nursing, so it is a small meal. It has not upset his system at all, yet.

We started with oatmeal mixed into breastmilk and have tried several different fruits and veggies already. He also likes the Baby Safe Feeder with some ripe banana (frozen cherries weren't such a big hit in there, lol).

Don't start just because the ped tells you to (unless they give a good, medically based reason), start because both you AND your baby are developmentally ready. Then take it slowly (as far as quantity) and have fun!

[Moneypenny]

We started about 7.5 months with oatmeal cereal. She didn't have much interest so we just offered it a few times a week until she started to show more interest around 9 months. We slowly worked up to 3 small meals a day at around a year.

Susan
mama to my cutie pie, Avery
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[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions! It is just so confusing when the doctor hands you a form and sends you on your way! I will definately look for her cues and let her start when she is ready. Thanks for sharing your own experiences.