When Should i strat solids?

Question

my baby girl is almost 3 months and seems to be starting to get interested in some mushed food off my plate, is this too early to start her on a few bits and pieces incorprated with breast milk??

Answer 1

Wait until a minimum of 4 months and preferably closer to 6 months. Then start with rice cereal. After she is doing well with that you start one food at a time for 3-4 days at a time to isolate food allergies. NEVER share utensils with your baby, doing so introduces cavity and bad breath causing bacteria from your mouth into hers. No processed sugars until the age of one, no honey under the age of one, no peanut butter until two (unless there's a family history of nut allergy, then wait until age 3).

Answer 2

My pediatrician told me (after the fact) that I probably shouldn't have started my daughter on solids until about 4 months of age. I ended up starting her on bananas (because a banana is the mildest fruit/veggie you can introduce to a baby) when she was 3 months old, but I have since regretted starting that early.
She ended up developing an allergy to bananas (and I've read LOTS of books that will tell you that introducing solids too early can have a tendency to do just that), so we had to stop feeding them to her for the time being.
However, as someone else mentioned, as soon as the baby can sit up on his/her own and seems interested in more than just milk, you can start solids little by little. Definitely do not introduce more than one food any LESS than about 4 or 5 days at a time. Then, like in our case, you are able to recognize if something specific is causing an allergic reaction.

Answer 3

Yes, most pediatricians say the best time to start solids is between 6 to 7 months. I am sure you will have people answer otherwise, however talk to her doctor before you try anything & never foods off your plate (early on) that may contain extra preservatives, spices & ingrediants. She will need staright foods like rice ceral, or apple at first so if there is a bad reaction you can figure out to what.

Answer 4

Well you have the right idea when it comes to feeding her mushed up food off of your plate. BUT it is WAY too early to start her on solids. 6 months minimum. Both of my boys were big guys (almost 8 lbs 12 oz and 8 lbs 10 oz at birth) and I just had to breastfeed them often. I started my youngest on solids at 7 1/2 months and he never ever got the pureed baby food. He started on soft cubed chunks of food.

Answer 5

Dr will tell you no not to feed her solids although a lot of mothers do maybe not at 3 mts but the Dr will give you the go ahead around 5 or 6 mts because of an allergic reaction the child may have i let my baby try SMALL amounts of mashed potatoes at the age of 4 mts if you decide to do it remember NO salt it is not good for her kidneys

Answer 6

Yes, 3 months is a good start. You can start the number 1's in the baby food. Good Luck :D

Just a note: My twins are 7 months when they turned 6 months we were switching between 2's and 3's of the baby food.

Answer 7

Interest in food isn't necessarily a sign of readiness for solids. If you held up a bright green piece of broccoli, chances are your baby would be interested in it. Now if you next held up a shiny silver soda can pop-top, your baby is most likely also going to be interested in that! And, given the chance with either object, if it gets into her hand most likely it is going straight to her mouth.

Babies are born lacking the production of certain digestive enzymes. This is why studies show that children from our grandparents & parents' generations who were started out from 2 weeks old on solids, have higher risk of colitis, ulcers, reflux, and many other digestive conditions, later in life. Their tummies were bombarded by too many complex substances, too soon.

Of course, it would be difficult to run a test for these enzymes on every baby just to ensure readiness for solids, but it's becoming more and more accepted that 6 months is a pretty safe guess. That's when babies show several other more obvious signs of being ready for solids:

1. The ability to sit, unsupported

2. Loss of the tongue-thrust reflex (the one that makes them spit out that same bite of strained peaches a dozen times)

3. Loss (or decrease) of the gag reflex, allowing the child to swallow more easily without choking/gagging

4. Baby has mastered the raking grasp, and moving on to the pincer grasp, showing an ability to self-feed

5. At this point, an interest in actually eating the food becomes more relevant.

Some babies can do all of this at 4 months! If so, and if they are interested, you as the parent can make that call to start solids. Most babies will reach this point somewhere closer to 6 months, though, and there are some who will take a while longer even.

As long as your baby is breastfeeding, you don't need to worry about solids as a source of nutrition. Your breastmilk will provide for 100% of her needs until she is truly ready to start eating "real" foods, even if she is one of those babies who takes a lot longer to reach that stage of readiness.

You may find that, by starting solids a little later (6-9 months), you can completely skip the messy spoon-feeding pureed food stage, and start your baby on mushy, but still richly textured, foods, such as mashed yams, banana chunks, avocado spears, mashed potatoes, and many others. You may also find that she eats better if she is allowed to feed herself as much of her food as possible. If the food can't be eaten in small baby-sized chunks or mashed up, and must be spoon-fed, try giving her a spoon of her own to hold and use while you dart in and out with your own food-laden spoon. This trick always worked like a charm for me & my babies!

We didn't find much use for pre-packaged baby foods, obviously. ;) Saved a lot of money, and had happy eaters! :)

Good luck! I hope you enjoy every moment with your little girl.

Answer 8

as long as the foods are mild it will be fine (mashed taters,ect) but some foods could be too harsh for little system the best time to introduce table foods is around 8 months or so. After they have a few teeth but you can feed gerber foods starting at 4 months for 1st foods, 6 months for 2nd, and so on you can also feed gerber cereals at 4 months

Answer 9

WELL THE DOCTORS WOULD SAY YES IT'S BAD AT 3 MONTHS HER DIET SHOULD ONLY CONSIST OF BREAST OR FORMULA MILK. Besides HER TUMMY IS TO SMALL AND NOT READY TO DIGEST SOLIDS, SOLIDS SHOULD BE INTRODUCE WHEN BABY HAS HIS 2 BOTTOM TEETH AND CRAWLING.
AND GIVING HER FOOD FROM YOUR PLATE CAN RESULT IN HER GETTING ALLERGIC REACTIONS. YES IT IS TEMPTING BUT IF YOU REALLY WANT TRY BABIES RICE CEREAL INSTEAD.

Answer 10

Yes. Especially food off of your plate. It has too many additives in it. You usually don't even start cereal until they are 13 lbs.