Starting Solids...?

Question

My ped said it was ok to start solids on my 4 mon baby and I have been dealing with the rice cereal for 2 wks now, and she said to later introduce green veggies, when should I do that? What veggie? Also, did your ped give you a food chart, My doc didn't give me one, where can I get one?

Answer 1

Start veggies at 6 months.

Here is a feeding chart for you

Age-by-age guide to feeding your baby and toddler
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyfeeding/1400680.html

Answer 2

Wow--most PEDs will tell you to wait until your child is 6 months to introduce veggies and espeically fruits. Most of the time you stay on rice cereal until your child gets the hang of it which is usually more than just a few weeks. You want to get that rice cereal down!!

No, the PED didn't give us a food chart. I don't know quite what you mean by food chart. Use common sense--either buy the baby food (stage 1) in supermarkets or just LOOK at what they have.

Answer 3

I agree that four months is a little young, but maybe your ped recommended this because you are bottle feeding. You are doing the right thing by starting on rice. You should be mixing the rice with formula (or breastmilk if you are breastfeeding). The consistency should be very thin and soupy so you are almost dripping it into her mouth. It should also be warm, like your formula. I use to heat a bottle of breastmilk, mix some milk into the rice, feed some rice, then feed some bottle, a little more rice, then finish the bottle. Sure the nutrition is important, but you're also trying to teach your little one to eat from a spoon. Thicken it up as she becomes more comfortable with eating from a spoon, but not too much.

After rice, introduce another grain, perhaps oatmeal or barley, and spend some time with each one of those. You're also looking to see if she is allergic to anything. I've heard to take at least three days between introduction of new foods, but up to a week is good for now. She may like the oatmeal better because it's sweeter. You could even try to mix the grains with juices, again, go slow with this, especially if she's never had juices before - get the ones marketed for babies, no juicy juice yet, but it does need to be 100% juice.

Once you've done a couple of grains, start with yellow and orange veggies first - sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. Get some of those into the rotation, then go to the greens (the oranges are easier to digest) - spinach, green beans, and peas. Stick with the level 1 foods, the really thin ones, no mixtures yet.

Get some veggies down, then start with some fruits. I've heard that more allergies are related to fruits than veggies. I've also heard to do veggies before fruits because once babies get the sweet taste of fruits, the won't want to eat anything else. Start with the more bland first, like bananas and pears, then go to something a little stranger, like applesauce and peaches. Again, stick with those level 1 jars.

Don't give up if she looks like she doesn't like it, different tastes can be very overwhelming. Keep trying it, sometimes it takes many, many attempts at a food to get them to start eating it. Oh, another thing, once you got some grains down and move into veggies, continue to serve grains, same with fruits, kind of like adding a new side dish to a meal she's already comfortable with. I tried to have a grain, a veggie, a fruit, and milk at each feeding. Once she's comfortable with a wide variety of tastes and is eating from a spoon more easily, move into the Level 2 foods, then Level 3 (mine never ate the level 3's, went to finger foods instead).

Check out the Gerber and Beechnut websites for more information and tips. Good luck! This is a very fun and exciting time.

Answer 4

I would say you could start on veggies now. Just start with green beans or peas. Once you start a new food only give that new food and older ones for at least 2 days before changing to another one. That way if there's a reaction you know what it's from. Then if everthing is okay give something else. I didn't get a food chart either. I just winged it. You can give your baby any baby food and they should only eat when they are hungry. They will refuse when they are full. I don't know where you can get a food chart but ask your doc he might know.

Answer 5

I never started anything until at least 7 months (just exclusively breastfed), but every child is different and dr's are different! Okay, here's what I'd do: Keep doing rice until 6 months, then move to barley cereal for a couple of weeks, then oat cereal for a couple weeks. Stay away from the mixed cereal for a while because it contains wheat. Then I'd move on to veggies. I know the nutritionist stated to start with green beans but my first daughter had a reaction to green beans (we started her on peas) so I haven't even tried it with my second who is almost a year old. My oldest also had a reacion to squash so we're staying away from that one for a while as well. We did peas, then sweet potatoes, then carrots. Then we tried fruit. Mashed banana, pears, etc. Apples come later for us. We also don't do even 100% juice diluted with water until well after a year old. They don't need it. Good luck!

Answer 6

start with fruits then by the time you get finished with those then you can start with veggies then but the time you are finished with those you can do meats. then after meats you can do combo foods and then so on.

make sure when introducing stuff do the same food for one week then go to another. you can also change the baby cereal to oatmeal or barely. the rice and bananas may harden the #2 or make the baby constipated a little pear juice or apple may help the baby use the bathroom.

Answer 7

I started mine also at 4 months. We used rice cereal for 1 month and she hated it so we only fed her purity in the bottles any and all of them. I didnt get any charts of any sort. Just with the fruit give it in the afternoon as this might make her active at night. Give your baby any veggies from 5 months old. Good luck.

Answer 8

As a Nutritionist, we recommend nothing but breast milk or formula for the first 6 months.

Lets start where you are. Continue with the rice cereal, but......

I wouldn't give veggies or fruit to your child until 6 months old. Start with Green beans only for 3 to 5 days, watching for any changes in the babies behavior or skin. Then Peas only for 3 to 5 days, still watching for changes in babies behavior or skin. Next try Carrots only for 3 to 5 days, watching for changes, then squash only for the 3 to 5 days, then sweet potatoes only for the 3 to 5 days, etc....... Fruits are AFTER all the veggies are tested, to make sure there is no allergic reaction. Test the fruits the same way I suggested testing the vegetables.

Don't rush it, soon enough your baby will be eating all the time. Babies are only babies for a short time.

Cereal does nothing for your baby, at 4 months old studies are showing that babies can't get any nutrition from them. They do not sleep better with cereal. You may even be doing harm, filling their bellies with something they can't digest, not making them hungry for their breast milk or formula, which they need for nutrition.

As you add new foods, do not decrease the amount of formula or breast milk. Solids are in addition to, not in place of. ALL nutrition comes from breast milk or formula in the first6 months to 1 year.

Answer 9

Nearer six months really unless he/she is a very hungry baby!

Follow ons for rice then : pears stewed well and mashed, same with apples

Bananas well mashed are good. Stay away from strawberries for a while - they can cause an allergic reaction.

Try plain well boiled carrots mashed, potato, even cauliflower ... anything you are cooking that you can beat to a pulp will do!! Try doing one thing at a time though, so you can tell what baby likes and dislikes.

I wouldn't start on green veggies for a while as they are incredibly hard to puree!! Simple as that.

Answer 10

Well if you google or wikipedia it you should get a good chart, and did your ped tell you that you need to put it thru a moulie Not sure of spelling, it needs to be ground fine, as babies usually wont eat solids if they have lumps to start, eventually they get used to them, they are not big into textures. I did not start to give my children solids until they were 6 months, try not to introduce meat in any form for as long as possible, it makes their nappies pheeeeeeeeeewwwwwwl. Not sure where you reside, but heinz is a good brand of baby food, and quite nutritious, though I made all of my own, in batches, and froze enough for a week in tupperware containers, then it is always there. but it does not hurt to have some heinz cans or jars available for emergencies, and, it gives your child a nice variety of different tastes. Not introducing different tastes makes it harder later, when they have developed a bland pallate. Also, when the child gets older, please do not try to force them to eat things they do not like, after all, you don't. My daughter did not like broccoli, so whenever I cooked it, I gave her one piece, and always cooked two greens, so she got hers, and she always said, but I don't like broccoli mummy, and I always said, you might change your mind one day, so I always give you one little piece just in case you change your mind, she is 21 now, and has loved broccoli for years, eventually she changed her mind, also, I used to trick them, I would dish up far to much for them, and when they said, I am not hungry, I would say eat half. Another good trick, if they were starving prior to dinner being ready, if you make a child wait, sometimes their hunger will abate, so I would let them have cheese, or fruit, something nutritious, that way, if they did not eat their dinner after that, it did not really matter much as they had something sustainable. Enough, I could probably go on for days, oh and always remember, the tiniest piece of chocolate takes away the appetite, totally, for a while.
Babies usually love pumpkin and mashed potatoes, together.
you can always thicken it with the cereal if it is to mushy.