A Girl in Pearls & A Boy with Toys: Pearly Wisdom: Starting Solid Foods

Today’s Pearly Wisdom topic is:

Starting Solid Foods

We talked to the pediatrician about starting on rice cereal/purees at his 4 month appt. Since he was sleeping through the night, growing & thriving on schedule, she said she’s in no rush to see him on solids… so we decided we’d wait another month… What does he wake up with on his 5 month birthday?

Pink eye!

Needless to say, we waited a little longer… He was about 5 1/2 months when he first had rice cereal, and then 6 months we he had his first veggies and it all worked out great!

Here’s some experiences from other Mama’s…

Samantha

Go SLOW, and follow their cues. Xavier was struggling with constipation, to the point I was at the pharmacy, asking the pharmacist what to do. She said to me "Maybe he's just not ready..." and I felt so stupid, because well..DUH. So we backed off for a few weeks, slowing down to just smallish amounts until we saw cues that he was more into it and his body was adjusting better.

Shanna

Samuel started solids on a special schedule based on his prematurity. We offered rice/oatmeal/barley earlier to aid with severe reflux issues and slowly added in fruits and veggies. His favorites (ok, my favorites) are Earth's Best - deals on Amazon, Ella's Organics, Plum Organics, Happy Baby - all $$$ and Gerber.

McKeever

We started solid foods very early. We began around 4 months with puffs and such and then moved onto soft foods like green beans. At about 6-7 months, Grayson ate no baby food, (excluding bottles) regular food only. She eats whatever we are eating and she loves it.

Melissa

We started Landon on rice cereal at 4 months. He was a big boy, and showing signs of readiness. He did great and still does now! He's a wonderful eater and is eating Stage 3 purees. We also give him Baby Mum Mums and puffs. We're starting more finger foods, but it makes me nervous!

I've heard with breastfeeding to not let solids take the place of a nursing session because it will mess up your supply and/or lead to early weaning. Landon nurses every 2 hours all day, sometimes 3, but not usually. I tend to offer solids an hour after he nurses, 3 times a day. He always eats them and still nurses within his normal time frame. I've found you just have to play around and see what works best for you and your baby.

Emily

-I didn’t really follow any guide lines. I just let her lead me.

-I make my own baby food and prefer the blender over a “baby food maker” because it makes larger batches

Oh gracious. Be patient. No baby is the same. All your friends that are spouting the “Oh my child took his first bite of baby food and now is eating entire turkey legs.”? Well good for them. If your child gags and spits them out and doesn’t start eating Puffs until he’s 10 months? That’s fine too (if you can’t tell mine was in the last category) I’m JUST NOW getting the kid to eat a normal amount of table foods. He’s a total gagger. To which the pedi said is fine. Just be patient and don’t stress out. They’ll do it on their time.

Andrea

feeding baby is one of the best things in the world- nuk bowls and towel bibs are wonderful in this household!
we use the baby breeza for making baby food- its so nice using one gadget to steam & puree foods.

Erika

We started far too early. Our doctor said try rice cereal at 4 months and Savannah’s system just wasn’t ready for it. She was up for three nights straight with a stomach ache. So we stopped and tried at 5 months and the same thing happened. We are on day 2 and so far it’s going ok. She isn’t overly excited about eating but so far her stomach is handling it. So my suggestion is to follow your baby’s lead and not the doctor’s recommendation.

Thank you to this week’s contributors!!

Samantha, Mama to Xavier, 6 months, Author of Three Beasts One Baby