Introducing solids & straw cup and bottle question?

[jenrub]

DD turned 5 months and started her with rice cereal and she's on her 4th day. Ped said to try 3-5 days of a type of food, as well as, increasing meals and portions per appetite. After rice cereal, do I try a diff kind of cereal (oat, barley, whole wheat) or green vegs or rice cereal & green vegs? I offer her rice cereal for breakfast so when do I add lunch & dinner?

Offered her straw cup with water like others on diff thread with the "finger on straw trick" which she can drink from just to the lips but not quite swallowing which explains the water dripping. When I offer her a sippy, she just chews it. While she's learning the cup, I'm feeding with bottle. How do I easily transition her to the straw cup with formula aside from water so she gets her proper amount of milk and when? Does this mean she should be on the bottle with formula and straw cup with water until she can drink a fair amount of water from the cup then that'll be the time until then?

Any inputs are greatly appreciated by this first-time SAHM... So confusing. Never thought this will be so complicated. TIA!

[PGTB]

DD turned 5 months and started her with rice cereal and she's on her 4th day. Ped said to try 3-5 days of a type of food, as well as, increasing meals and portions per appetite. After rice cereal, do I try a diff kind of cereal (oat, barley, whole wheat) or green vegs or rice cereal & green vegs? I offer her rice cereal for breakfast so when do I add lunch & dinner?

Offered her straw cup with water like others on diff thread with the "finger on straw trick" which she can drink from just to the lips but not quite swallowing which explains the water dripping. When I offer her a sippy, she just chews it. While she's learning the cup, I'm feeding with bottle. How do I easily transition her to the straw cup with formula aside from water so she gets her proper amount of milk and when? Does this mean she should be on the bottle with formula and straw cup with water until she can drink a fair amount of water from the cup then that'll be the time until then?

Any inputs are greatly appreciated by this first-time SAHM... So confusing. Never thought this will be so complicated. TIA!

I don't know if I would worry about introducing straw/sippy and baby not getting it at this age. You baby will be ready and curious about drinking from other types of cups in due time. at least this is what happened with our DS, he also chewed on his fair share of sippy cups and honestly never got a hang of them or cared for them. But he learned to drink from straw cup fairly easily as he would use sucking motion more familiar to him. Plain straw cup without a valve should be a bit easier. We started with Playtex one designed for 6 month olds. At times he would suck out too much liquid at once and cough, but in due time he learned to control the flow. Just make sure your baby doesn't boycott the bottles completely if you must bottlefeed before he starts getting sufficient amount of milk from other sipping devices and/or solids.

DS refused bottles at 7-8 months and this caused him to drop weight and caused us to have huge issues making him drink enough milk while he still was getting used to solids. I cannot really recommend on how to keep up with bottles and teaching them to use other drinking devices successfully, hopefully, someone else will chime in. Some kids transition easily to sippy cups and start taking most of their milk from there and don't reduce overall amount of milk. At 5 months though I think it's too early to expect your baby to start taking most of their milk from other devices. I often see much older kids in strollers with bottles in their hands.

[jenrub]

I don't know if I would worry about introducing straw/sippy and baby not getting it at this age. You baby will be ready and curious about drinking from other types of cups in due time. at least this is what happened with our DS, he also chewed on his fair share of sippy cups and honestly never got a hang of them or cared for them. But he learned to drink from straw cup fairly easily as he would use sucking motion more familiar to him. Plain straw cup without a valve should be a bit easier. We started with Playtex one designed for 6 month olds. At times he would suck out too much liquid at once and cough, but in due time he learned to control the flow. Just make sure your baby doesn't boycott the bottles completely if you must bottlefeed before he starts getting sufficient amount of milk from other sipping devices and/or solids.

DS refused bottles at 7-8 months and this caused him to drop weight and caused us to have huge issues making him drink enough milk while he still was getting used to solids. I cannot really recommend on how to keep up with bottles and teaching them to use other drinking devices successfully, hopefully, someone else will chime in. Some kids transition easily to sippy cups and start taking most of their milk from there and don't reduce overall amount of milk. At 5 months though I think it's too early to expect your baby to start taking most of their milk from other devices. I often see much older kids in strollers with bottles in their hands.

Thanks! I thought they're supposed to be on sippy/straw cups by 6 months that's why I'm panicking. I've been reading up on solids on wholesomebabyfood.com where a lot of people here do and it's been a great help. Trying to get as much info as I can during DD's naps.

[BabbyO]

FWIW we didn't start solids until 6 mo and sippy cups/straw cups until closer to 9 mo. DS never liked sippy's that much. When we found straw cups without the valve he was MUCH happier. Took to the straw cup like a fish to water at about 9-10 mo. We like the munchkin take-n-toss for both sippy's & straw cups. No valves for my DS.

I thought I'd add...DS took a bottle or nursed until he was about 12-13 mo. We transitioned slowly over the course of about 4 mo. By 12-13 mo he was completly weaned of the bottle (with NO trauma or drama) and while we were at it we weaned of the pacifier between 12 and 15 mo...and by 15 mo he never wanted another pacifier. Not a single tear for either.

[mackmama]

We are at the same stage and, I agree, this stuff does feel surprisingly complicated!

DC is 6mo, and we just started solids. Here's what our pedi said:
-Start sippy with water around 5-6mo (I still haven't introduced it because I don't think DC is ready for it. I also don't want water to reduce bottle/milk consumption. I like your straw idea!)
-For solids, start with rice cereal. Stay on it for 4 days, then introduce a vegetable (staying on each new thing for 4 days). My understanding is that every time you add something, you will add it to your already established repertoire. We did rice cereal (DC was not a fan) for 4 days, then we introduced sweet potatoes (with rice cereal). DC likes that better but still isn't in love. We have done sweet potato for 4 days and will next add peas (so DC will then be eating rice cereal, sweet potato, and peas combinations). Pedi suggested not adding fruits for a a few weeks just since DC might prefer the sweetness of fruits and refuse vegetables. Pedi also said many babies prefer oatmeal cereal over rice cereal, so we might add that soon to replace the rice cereal.

I'm definitely still trying to figure this all out. I'd love to hear what your pedi has recommended to make sure I'm doing it correctly, too. Also, a friend recommended this book, and I've found it helpful:
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Foo...tt_at_ep_dpt_1

[lil_acorn]

I really like this website for info on starting solids and making it at home;
http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/index.htm