What should I feed my 5 1/2 month old?

Question

I have been giving my daughter formula since she was born. I am going to start feeding her rice cereal. When should I start feeding her other foods? What things should I start out with and how much should I give her and how often everyday? How much formula should I continue to give her? She usually drinks about 30 ounces a day.

Answer 1

keep giving her formula. when you start feeding her rice cereal give her 2-4 tablespoons to start with. it may take a few tries before baby accepts the cereal. after you give her rice cereal for a couple weeks try oatmeal for a week. when you begin feeding vegetables start off with the green ones like green beans and peas. then try the orange and yellow ones. when you give veggies and fruits try a new food every five days to make sure the baby is not allergic to the food. when you give fruits try to start them after you give her the veggies. juice is not reccommended until 6 months of age. when you give juice dilute it with water. do not put it in a bottle. put juice in a baby cup. give baby formula as often as she needs it. the amount she drinks will decrease when she eats more solids like around 8 months old or so. she should be drinking 6-8 oz of formula at a time for meals . when you start veggies and fruits try to give her at least a couple tablespoons full at first. when she gets to be about 8 months try 2.5 jars of veggies and fruits a day. keep baby on formula until 1 year of age. don't worry if baby gets messy, it is normal for her to get messy when eating. don't worry if baby spits out her first bites of solid foods. it is a reflex .

Answer 2

What she needs, most of all is formula. (Or breast milk)
The sollids at this stage are more to get her used to the textures of strained food and how to get food off a spoon, and swallow without pushing the food back out of the mouth.

Baby cereal is actually very nutritious. Stick with the rice cereal until you can consult with her health care provider for guidelines on when and what to offer next.

Be sure to try only ONE food at a time so that if she has an allergy, you'll be able to tell.

Best wishes!
from a grandma-aged person

Answer 3

When my baby was 5 months he was already broke from a binki @ 6 months he was broke from a bottle. But when he was 5 months I started givin him whole milk no matter what any one said about it & I would give him regular food but only things I knew he'd be able to eat like mashed potatos, corn, green beans, chicken nuggets, ect. Now he's going on two and is healthier than any kid his age my doctor tells me. You also asked how often to feed your baby..... well @ that age I just feed him & he'd go to sleep then he'd wake up & Id feed him again & let him play a little bit then do the same things over. It's easy. Trust me!

Answer 4

Make sure you introduce solids very slowely and only one food at a time. This is how you'll find out if she has any food allergies and prevent any from forming. All new foods give to her only that food for a couple of days and watch for a reaction. Then move on to another. Introducing vegs. first will foster a tolerance for them (versus her always wanting sweet fruits or carrots).

Of course....always start with rice (for a week or so) then Oatmeal.

Answer 5

My son is 6 months old and I started solids when he was about 4 months old. When we started we were told to start rice then about 4 days later oatmeal. After that they told us to introduce fruits, then vegtables. But honestly I would add a fruit, then a vegtable, then a fruit and so on. We did the fruits first and we had the hardest time getting him to eat vegtables. When you add new things to his diet you must add them at least a few days apart and only add them one at a time so if your baby has a reaction to a certain type then you can pin point which one made her have a reaction. Also you have to go through all the jar ones before you can move on to the second jars. As far as juices and meats go they can only be added after the baby is 6 months old because their digestive system is not developed enough to handle the acids from them.

Answer 6

Introduce solids VERY SLOWLY.
Breastmilk or formula should remain her main source of nutrition.
Solids are mostly for fun and practice.
Introduce ONE new food at a time. Wait about 5 days between new foods to be sure there is no reaction to the food you've tried.
Bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes are good first foods.

Answer 7

My baby boy is 5 months old, and I feed him alot of things.
I make my own purees, and he loves them. I never did feed him that processed old grocery store crap. Have you ever tried it yourself? I've tried Gerber, it's gross!
I've been feeding my son homemade purees ever since he was about 2 1/2 months old, and he's as healthy as can be.
I usually make oatmeal, rice cereal, banana puree, apple sauce, carrot puree, pea puree, sweet potato puree, etc.
My baby's favorite is the celery, carrot, cabbage puree. it's tasty. I just use boiled vegetables from homemade vegetable soup, and a 1-3 table spoons of broth and then put them in the blender.

Your baby can only eat purees right now, but she can eat almost any kind of puree, even one with meat (preferably white meat because it is easy to digest).
Any vegetable and fruit puree is fine.

Good luck.

Answer 8

keep give her cereal and her formula too, when i did with my kids i would put the cereal in they bottle and put holes in it so they could get in out , and feed them baby food too , my baby favorite was sweet potatoes , so that what u can do , but first ask her doctor just to make sure it is ok

Answer 9

first of all u should give her vegetables and fruits (one at a time) dont give her a mix ( like carrots+ sqaush) give her carrots for 4 days and u make sure she is nto allegric to it give her something else like squash then a month later start mixing vegies together and feed her.at age 9 month five her meals with meat in them ( gerber dinner) .at age 1 year u can entroduce eggs and whole milk. good luck.

Answer 10

We love food. Yes, feed her if she likes. My daughter use to love mashed potatoes and gravy at that age.She is now 13. Best wishes to you and your daughter.