Hi , What is the right time to start a feeding a infant some external food i.e. other than mother's milk?

Answer 1

Arounds 6 months of age, per the AAP's recommendations.

They can't really digest it prior to that as they don't have the stomache enzymes needed when they are younger.

Starting too early can put them at increased risk for allergies, diabetes and obesity.

ETA:
Someone mentioned honey. DO NOT give an infant under 12 months of age honey. This can cause botulism. I know a little girl who almost DIED of botulism. It's serious stuff.

Answer 2

they can start formula day one. I wouldn't suggest it though. mothers milk is really good for them. The other foods "solids" I can't remember, but it is pretty soon. The labels on the jars are a good indicator. I know that it is appropriate to let them eat grown up food when the show an interest. You do have to consider their teeth in your selection of what you feed them.

There are some foods that they absolutely shouldn't eat in the first year. Like honey and peanuts. These can cause serious food allergies to develop.

there are a million books about this. the most popular is probably 'what to expect in the first year' It has a lot of good information.

Answer 3

Wait at least until your child is three months old to start them on food. Then only start with infant cereal. Usually start with either rice or barley. Then wait until the baby is about 4 to 5 months to start on jarred foods. When you start feeding your child food only introduce one food per week. Starting them on food to early can be VERY dangerous. Their little bodies can not handle the possible allergic reactions. PLEASE follow my advise. My daughter was three months old and my mother in law gave her chocolate pudding (she only dipped the tip of her pacifier in once, that was all that it took). She had an allergic reaction that sent her into shock, she turned blue, we had to take her to the hospital by ambulance, and stay for three days. It was the scariest week of my life. From that moment on I followed the doctors advice as to how to introduce foods. My daughter is 19 months now and fine, but I will never put her at risk like that again. Good luck!

Answer 4

Take this by cue..
I started mine (elder girl, now 3) at abt 4.5months, some friends started at 6 months.

I started with very watery cereal + breastmilk ( for cereal, you can find this at the baby food section of any supermarket).

What you can do is, get the cereal and mix some breastmilk. It will be very watery, esp so if you're using breastmilk. (If you rather use formula to mix with the cereal, put more water.)
Over time, when your baby gets the idea, slowly "thicken" the cereal a little.

Let the baby have a taste of the watery cereal. It's ok if he/she spilts it out or push those out by tongue. It's normal for them to "reject".

Babies do not dislike the food we give, but rather, they are not used to it and also, cos they are used to sucking, thus when we spoon fed them, they will push out with their tongue. It takes a little time for them to get the idea of eating, other then drinking milk.

Do the introduction slowly, once a day, say late morning, early afternoon. Introduction of 1 food at 1 time for a few days, say 4 - 7 days . Do this slowly and do not force.

This also helps you to elimates "allergies" food which your baby might be allergic to.


Other food you might want to try after cereal may be:
Banana (use a spoon to mash it first before feeding)
Apple (either you cook it or use a spoon to scrape it so it would be "chunky" or hard.)

Also, you may want to feed porriage or congee too, with a little bit veggies - chop it till it's fine so baby won't choke.

I usually throw in either of the followings :broccoli, carrot,
spinach

Others ingredient you might want to add;
Fish (be sure there isn't any bones)
Chicken (chop till its fine)
Pork (provided that you're not muslim, chop till fine)

Extras:
Fruit juices
Baby biscuits (which kind of melts in your hand, good for teething babies too)

Baby food also come in jars - Gabers, Pigeon (if you're not in Singapore, you'll likely find this brand in some Japanese Store that carries domestic products)

Email me if you need anymore clarifications, jaime_wongmf@msn dot com

i'll be glad to help.
That's what mothers can do for mothers!

Answer 5

Depends, Drs say 6 months, but I would probably, (actually I did) start earlier if the milk alone was not seeming to satisfy the hunger.

Just start SLOW, just a couple of bites. Their system has no clue what is going on yet!

Answer 6

When he starts to get teeth and can chew or grind it. Until then their systems just aren't designed for anything other than mother's milk. Of course that isn't what the bottle feeders will tell you. You can look in your phone book for the local le leche club. They can answer all kinds of questions you may have about breast feeding.

Answer 7

Gerber has a wonderful baby cereal to be mixed with mommy's milk.. formula or water mine started at about 4 -6 monthes old
but this is a question you really should ask your dr about.

Answer 8

You should ask your doctor, but here is what mine said:
baby jar food: 4 months
cow's milk: 1 year (whole milk only)
small small chunks of real food: 10 months - 1 year

Answer 9

Mother's milk is best. I stop breastfed my boy at 2 yrs. Both my boy & I are very healthy. We seldom fall sick and it prevent the mother from getting breast cancer and lost weight in only 2 mths. I started feeding him Nestle (rice & honey) at 4 mth old and gave plenty of water to prevent from hard stool.

Answer 10

when the infant shows interest. just make sure you're not feeding them steak or something. start simple. apple sauce... oatmeal... stuff that doesn't require many teeth.