Starting solids

[katielynn]

It seems like it's been years, but we are finally at the 6 month mark and are going to introduce solids tomorrow! Rice cereal is first, but I'm getting a lot of conflicting information about fruits and vegetables. Do I introduce them now or wait a few days? Which ones are best first foods?

[valley]

My baby started eating cereal first for 2 weeks at 4 1/2 months. Her doctor said at five months we could introduce vegetables and fruits. I fed her once a day everyday, either in the morning or night. Now i feed her babies 1st foods. Her doctor said to start with veggies so she doesn't get use to the sweet stuff first and not like the veggies. She eats one kind of food for two to three days so I can know if she is allergic to it. She has been doing good and she eats veggies and fruits now. Plus, we still give her cereal.

[beccahowellcpht]

My pediatrician told me at 4 months (because my daughter was underweight) to start her on rice cereal, and add one thing every 3 days. We did that, and it worked pretty well for our daughter. We gave her fruits and veggies, and staretd her on meats at 6 months.

[Jakesmom]

A great book is this one here.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Meals-Ex...2342815&sr=1-6

I picked it up at Chapters and it's definitely helped me cut my baby food costs. I pay about a third of what it is to buy the already made jars.
My son eats a tablespoon of organic rice cereal twice daily. We started a couple of weeks ago due to him showing us the cues (chewing hands, still upset after a long nurse, waking frequently to eat, reaching for our food, chewing motions, etc) and the Dr giving us the ok. He absolutely LOVES mashed bananas but we find that apples are a little tart for him and pears a little too sweet. We haven't tried much else but we're looking forward to it.

My inlaws gave him food without me looking... Eep. I was not impressed. Does that happen to anyone else?? They don't get that I'm only feeding Jake organically for the first two years.

[cavemom3]

I have to fight well-meaning relatives with sweets off with a stick. It's a daily battle to keep my kids from being given sugary treats from everyone they encounter.

My youngest is two now (wish us luck trying for #3), but she didn't tolerate pureed baby food for long. It seemed like she didn't like to eat, but she just wanted more texture.

Once our babies were old enough to point and eat some table food, we put up little posters of the foods we usually had on hand, and they pointed at them to let us know what they wanted to eat. We NEVER struggled over eating after that; they were always happy to eat what they asked for, steamed broccoli and applesauce one meal, frozen peas for another. We found the images online then, but now there's a site that has them all in one place:
www.giveavoice.com.
Wish we'd have had that before; it took us 7 or 8 hours to search out what we needed.

[mamabard]

My son (now 8 mos. old) had some digestive issues from even breastmilk. His system has just been developing slowly. Because of this I have learned that some seemingly innocent and common first foods are not necissarily the best. For example rice cereal, applesauce, and cooked carrots all may cause constipation. Instead of rice we have oatmeal. One of his favorite foods(and a good 1rst food)is avacado. Whatever you choose, try and make it yourself! As far as the grandparents sneaking food...try and relax...humans have been surviving as a species for a long, long time. Not to advocate, "anything goes" but...lets not overreact.

[WilliamnJacksmom]

My son started at 3 months because he had more than doubled his weight by 2 months. I started with the rice cereal for a week then oatmeal which he preffered. The started his veggies at 4 months, I started with veggies, green first and alternated with fruit, giving it 3-4 days between to check for allergies. Still in the middle of sweeet potato city and wondering if they are acidic, does anyone know?

[ra11en]

I was told to start with veggies first as well, so baby doesn't get used to the sweets. Lucky for me my little one is not even a little picky on food - she will eat absolutely anything.

Just make sure to introduce only 1 new food at a time, and no other new food for a few days so you can make sure there isn't an allergy. We had to keep my daughter off acidic fruits for a while because they burned her little bottom during bowel movements. Weird allergy, but an allergy nonetheless.