Solid food?

Question

I have just started introducing solids to my 4 mths old. So far she has has baby rice, banana and rusks with no problems. Can anyone suggest how many times I need to feed her and what types of food to give her for b/fast, lunch and dinner? Thx

Answer 1

At this age solids are totally unecessary. They replace more nutritious and appropriate milk and can lead to allergies amongst other things.

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

Answer 2

First thing. NEVER give a baby a "cereal bottle" there is way too high of a risk for choking since the cereal can clump in the nipple releasing a bigger chunk when sucked on harder causing choking. They used to suggest that 30 years ago, but most health profs know better than to ok that now.

Most health profs don't suggest feeding solids until 5 1/2-6 months of age to make sure the baby's system is mature enough to handle any kind of solid foods. I would however suggest that once you wait until that time, which I do suggest that you do wait until 6 months. The suggested progression is rice cereal, barley cereal, oat cereal, corn cereal(optional) then green veggies, yellow veggies, orange veggies, the more colour they have the sweeter they taste. Then start on fruits and stay away from citrus until at least 12 months of age or longer. Wait 3 or 4 days between new foods so you give her system time to figure out if it is going to have a reaction to the new food or not, after the 3-4 days it is generally safe to say that food is okay for now. You really need to start with the not so sweet veggies first because for many babies, my nephew included, if you give them the sweet fruits first they don't take so well to the not so sweet veggies. And if she won't eat something don't assume that she doesn't like it right away, it is just something new. It took my son about a week to start eating peas, even though they were fairly sweet anyway, they were one of his first veggies so it was something new.
When we started our son on cereal he had it once a day at first then twice, breakfast and dinner. We found he had a problem from 6 months to about 18 months with oats, it gave him seriously painful gas buildup in his tummy to the point we took him to the hospital because we didn't know at the time what was going on and why our baby was screaming at the top of his lungs causing him to breathe irregularly for well over an hour. Now he is 27 months he is fine with oats and eats them almost every morning. He loves strawberries since the first time he had them but just around 22 months he started having a acne type reaction to them, and still does if I miss it in something. Left a lasting reminder on his Christmas pictures too this year.

Answer 3

The actual age for solids (besides porridge) is 6 months but if your baby is like mine was very hungry it wont hurt to give solids early.
Your baby will get its eating habits from these early days. it is best to give her only 3 meals a day. Try porridge in the morning and in the evening as it is more filling than the fruit or veg. And then you can try give her fruit or veg (boiled up and put through a sieve) for lunch. It is quite important to keep the lumps out of the food as babies tend to gag if given lumps. Between meals she should have her bottles as normal. Remeber that the meals take the place of a bottle. So dont give her as many bottles as you used to.

nice baby combos:- smooth yoghurt and squashed banana
custard and squashed banana
strained peaches and smooth yoghurt

carrots, peas, potatoes put through a sieve.

if for any reason she does not want to eat solids stop go back to porridge and try again a little later.

Answer 4

you should only give her cereal in the morning and then late afternoon. never after 5 pm or so. she should not have any other food untill she is 6 months old, her stomach may not be able to digest baby food untill then. you could cause a potentioncial health risk feeding her other foods too soon. as a
mother of 8 and gramma to 18 your child should not have anything else except cereal untill she is 6 monthes old!!!!
she needs either the breast milk or formula to develope healthy, the baby food will not give her what she needs it will just fill her up and she will not get the nuturients she needs!

Answer 5

When I had my now 4 year old I was told to wean her at 4 months, by the time I had my just one year old I was advised to leave it until 6 months as occasionally it can aggrievate gastro problems.

If you can leave it a little longer I would, but to answer you question, breakfast when you have it, lunch around 12:00 to fit in with your schedule and evening meal half an hour before you start her bedtime routine. Depending on her needs I usually give healthy snacks such as fruit in between.

Answer 6

What's the rush? 4 months old is too young for solids. The AAP now recommends giving your baby NOTHING but breast milk for the first 6 months of life. Her little tummy is not ready to be digesting solid foods yet. Feeding solids before 6 months is potentially setting your child up for food allergies later in life. Stick with breast milk... it's what's best for baby for 6 months exclusively. I didn't try to start my son on solids until he was 7 months old... and he is now 12 months old and doesn't eat solids everyday... he is still mainly breastfed. Human breast milk is the perfect food for human infants... and the majority of their diet should consist of it for the first year, at least.

Answer 7

I can only suggest for when she is 6 months old (only cause that is when I felt comfortable giving these solids). Raisins is recommended by almost everyone and I agree, trying to pick it up is entertaining for them. I also did cheese doodles (at 7 months) and I would also do cheerios (broken into four parts when first starting) at 6 months. Everyone offers different advice but the best advice you could probably get is from her pediatrician. Sorry I couldn't help ya better.

Answer 8

I didn't start my daughter on solid food until the second half of her first year because it's healthier for the baby. People used to start solids much earlier than is now recommended. I had many older women suggest that I start my baby on solids much earlier than studies now suggest is ideal. One woman told me that she started all of her kids on pureed foods at 2 months old and "they all ended up okay" but I decided to listen to the current research. It suggests waiting until a minimum of 6 months. So that's what I did.

Answer 9

Your going to want to introduce her to different solids slowly just in case she has a reaction to a certain fruit veggie or meat.. i alternated feedings with bottles, if you notice she is not getting full with a bottle go ahead and offer some baby food. My son hardly ever got filled up off a bottle. For breakfast he would have the oatmeals and cereals, lunch & dinners he would have meats with rice cereal, and i would offer fruits or veggies in between. My pediatrician told me as long as he tolerates his feedings and it makes the both of us happy, it doesnt hurt to offer.

Answer 10

i don't know. people have different opinions.

at 4 months this was my daughters meals:

rice cereal in the morning. and after that a bottle of formula. and every 3 hours a 4 oz bottle of formula. i didn't feed her baby food until she was about 5 in a half to 6 months old.

Answer 11

weetabix is a good one as you can mush it up fine or leave it chunky as baby gets to 7 months or so. mush it up very fine at 4 months and make it with formula or breastmilk not normal milk. if she likes chewing on rusks she'll chew a piece of bread quite happily - be a bit careful of any bits in wholemeal bread. i'm a useless cook, so i like the plum baby foods range, you can get them in the supermarket, they're pure organic mushed fruit and veg and my baby loves them, plus you can pop one in your bag to take out and don't need warming. i basically give my baby anything and everything to try and she's not fussy (obviously don't add salt and sugar and never leave her on her own with food). plus the jars these days eg heinz organic are good quality and there's no crap in em. if you're calm and chilled out about food then she will be. good luck!