when introducing foods to your baby....?

Question

When you started giving food to baby how long did you feed baby rice ceraeal before introducing fruits?what age did you start rice cereal?What fruit did you start with?For how long before introducing other fruits, and when can you go to veggies etc...My son is 4 months old and he stares at food and cries when he can smell food. I am strictly breastfeeding and I don't want to rush him into foods but he seems like he really wants it and he eats more than my friends formula fed baby! I'm a new mom and I just want the best for my boy, but I'm new to this.

Answer 1

You could try doing baby-led feeding, which will let you know if your son is TRULY ready for solids. Babies usually know better than we do. Put some soft food (banana, cooked carrots, etc.) on your plate, and see if he grabs it and gets it in his mouth. If he does, he's probably ready for some baby-led feeding. Also, "real" food is better than "baby" food for babies in a LOT of ways...harder to choke on (they won't "suck" it down, thinking it's a liquid), it has more flavor (would YOU prefer real sweet potato or watered-down sweet potato "soup"?), and it's cheaper (baby just eats whatever's safe on your plate.

Basically, what that means, is he feeds himself. You provide the food, and let him go at it. At this age, EVERYTHING is finger food, even dubiously "solid" ones such as applesauce and oatmeal.

I started with bananas around 4mos. Tried rice cereal a few days after, and she hates it (I tasted it once; I can't really blame her). Went to other fruits/veggies...applesauce, soft peaches/pears, cooked carrots, soft sweet potato, avocado, etc. every few days (the only thing she's allergic to so far is cinnamon). Started meats and stuff around five months. Really, most of the "start with this" ideas are guidelines and aren't set in stone, esp. if you have no history of allergies in your family. As long as you're not trying to give baby peanuts at four months or something (use common sense), you'll probably be ok.

I now have an eight month old that eats just about everything. We try to limit salt and sugar (except for natural sugar in fruits, of course), don't give her honey or milk, but, otherwise, she gets what I'm eating, be it chicken cesaer salad (without dressing), homemade chili, tofu, or a slice of pepper jack cheese. It's nice to have an adventurous kid that a) I don't have to tote around 73 different containers of baby food for (since she'll eat what I'm eating) and b) hopefully won't have to always find a place that serves mac and cheese when we go out when she's older.

Answer 2

my baby's doctor said it was ok at 4 and 1/2 months. She had interest in food and the process of eating. I tried the gerber rice cereal but didn't like the weird plastic-like smell. I got some beech-nut and found that stuff to be much better. For one, I can pronounce the ingredients. After a couple of days of rice cereal intoduce other foods. Some people say veggies first, some say fruit. Just puree them very well. Add b-milk to it, so it's not too thick because that will make them gag. I say, it's your baby have some fun and experiment. I make my own baby food, so I can't tell you portion sizes. Avacadoes are good, canned peaches or pears (in pear juice) And most important of all: Take pictures and have fun

Good luck :)

Answer 3

He is still a bit too young. His digestive system is not ready.

My daughter did the same thing - she showed a lot of interest whenever we would eat around her. I still waited; by the time I started feeding her solids she was totally ready and did extremely well. It's almost as if she learned by observation.

I started mine with rice cereal at about 5 1/2 months. Within days I gave her fruit (pears) with it...just a bit on the tip of the spoon with each bite. I started on veg's about a month later. She's done great...not only taking the spoon but also with digestion.

Start slow, don't try new things too quickly. Give him one type of fruit for a few days or even a week before trying another.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I mixed some cereal with breast milk in my daughters bottle every now and again. She loved it. She was a little younger than 4 months when we started doing that. She started real baby food around 5 to 6 months. We started with peaches. She liked those a lot. We would keep with the same thing for 4 days to a week then switch to a different fruit. We started yellow veggies about 3 or 4 weeks after fruits and green veggies 2 weeks after yellow. After that, her food meals usually consisted of some type of veggie or pureed meat followed by fruit or a dessert (she liked the apple cobbler baby food). She would have the same amount of both. She went to table food at 11 months.
If your son gets really hungry I dont see any problem with mixing just a little bit of rice cereal in with his bottle. It might help him sleep a little longer through the night (it did with mine-shed sleep for 7 hours straight after a rice bottle). Before doing anything though, I'd consult his pediatrician and ask him/her what the best course of action would be.

Answer 5

I sounds like you boy is ready to try something new. When introducing my daughter to solids at 4 months, I fed her rice cereal once a day for about a week, then mixed in a little pureed pumpkin, she loved it! I've heard that its best to offer vegetables before fruit, as if fruit is given first they can develop a taste for it and refuse the veggies. Good luck!

Answer 6

4 months is usually when you start baby food.
Not just fruits but veggies ( if you give him just fruit he'll get a sweet tooth wont want to eat veggies)
Just remember to only give him one kind at a time for a few days just incase he's allergic to something. give him peas for a few days then try something else that way if he allergic to something you'll know what and wont have to guess That goes with fruit and veggies
I started feeding my daughter food at 4 months and she's just fine ( she ate more than i did she's a little pig at times lol)
Anyway you can feed him either one at this age also you can give him cereal feed him with a spoon I would start with rice cereal and go from there you can make it thicker or thinner according to what he wants
Good luck to you hope that helps

Answer 7

So am i so dont worry my girl is 5 months old and since 4 months she has been eating 5-6 oz every 2-4 hours, im going through a can in 2 days.

Just getsome rice cereal, mix some breastmilk in it(or baby nuresy water), make it soupy. feed it to him, if he spits it out then try again a few days later. Sometimes they have the thrust still(i think thats what its called) where thy push food out with there tounge. he will make faces cause of the texture feels different, but this is phot moments, lol. You will tel if he is ready or not.

I ahd my girl eating rice cereal in 3 days. just went slow with it. After 5 days went ot fruits and veggiees stage one. She is picky and wants her bottle half the time and i dont argue. I skip solides often cause she spits it out sometimes and wants it others

Answer 8

I started all my baby's on rice cereal at about that age. Don't give mre that 1 TBS. though at first....but it's IMPORTANT, DON'T GIVE YOUR BABY ANYTHING ELSE UNTIL HE'S 6 MONTHS. The digestive system of a baby is very sensitive and can't really tolerate anything "stronger" than rice cereal until that age. I have 3 kids and that's what my pedicatrician told me, and they're just fine. Even WIC told me to give them that much cereal, but don't give it more than once or twice a day...if he/she starts eating more, then let him, but don't OVERFEED him. And the other important part is don't put it in a bottle, there's a higher likelihood of choking. Give it to him on a spoon, he'll learn how to eat from it.

Answer 9

By about 2 weeks I was feeding my daughter rice cereal and added fruit after a few days. My daughter was born on Oct. 27th and ate Thanksgiving dinner off the table. She loved the mashed potatoes and I mashed up peas for her. If your baby is crying for regular food, start out with something light. You don't want to give them several different foods at once, your right to want to space introducing them in case there is an allergic reaction to something. At 4 months my pediatrician had already told me to feed her off the table.

Answer 10

Start a little rice cereal mixed with breastmilk, if you think the baby is hungry. You can also start baby on jars of babyfood, like fruitjelly as well.