I was at my 4th month checkup today and she said that I could start solids whenever I wanted to because now they are saying that starting earlier will help prevent food allergies. She said that the whole debate has been going back and forth through the years so she said do whatever but that she needed to start by six months
when are you going to start and what is your plan??.
Re: When are you going to start with solids?i
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Six month birthday will be avocado and we'll do sweet potatoes the next day if it all goes well. Starting with vegetables and fruit are much more nutritious than rice and cereals. If you're curious a out what to start with, check out BabyLedWeaning.com or pick up a book written in the last year or so about infant nutrition. The ideals have changed considerably and a lot of old school peds haven't really done a lot of research. It's very interesting stuff. I say that as a human development major and a nerd. Hehehe.
he told you to skip rice cereal all together or that it wasnt necessary for it to be the first food?
Pedis here reccommend to start with pureed fruits (apple, mostly) and veggies (carrots, potatoes, squash...) at 4 months; just as an addition to BM/formula, not as a substitution
I did this with DS and plan to do the same thing with DD
Starting early does not help prevent allergies. There's also nothing wrong with waiting longer than 6 months. It's silly that she would set an arbitrary timeline like that.
We'll start at 6 months and when DD is meeting the correct milestones (sitting up unassisted, loss of tongue thrust, shows interest, able to bring food to her mouth, etc.).
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I'm impressed with this advice! All too often you hear of pedis giving poor nutritional advice, especially surrounding the topic of first foods.
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at our 3.5 month (i don't know why our visits are at the half month, but they are) the dr said that we should start cereal at 6 months....at her 1.5 month the dr had said 4 months...so i guess things changed in 2 months? granted it was a diff dr, and the one we saw last time is more strict....i take her again tomorrow for her 4.5 month to see yet a diff dr, who apparently is the most lenient one (my boss took her kids there too) so we'll see what he has to say....
i'm anxious to try giving her something other than formula...sometimes when dh and i are eating, it looks like she's looking at our food all jealous and longingly....with those can-i-have-some? eyes.....
but i'm sure i'll start with like, jarred food and such when she can sit up on her own...she's trying though....she wants to sit so bad
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Completely agree with you on this one!
This is exactly right. I am a physical assistant who works in pediatrics and everyone I work with has differing opinions. The only thing everyone agrees with is that every baby is different, and will be ready on their own time! The studies that everyone keeps bringing up are from 2011 and say 4 to 6 months depending on the readiness of the baby. You are absolutely correct when you say to do what makes you comfortable. You are NOT harming your baby by giving them food at 4 months, nor are you causing harm by waiting.
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Every "expert" has different recommendations. There is no right or wrong. 4 months? 6 months? cereal? puree? homemade? store bought? We could debate it endlessly (and I am sure that we will over the next several months), and there will never be a correct answer.
With DS1, we started around 5 months. We started with sweet potatoes (I think). Although we did give baby oatmeal and multigrain cereal occasionally, we did not start with cereals. We also never offered rice cereal for the constipating factor. I made some homemade food, but most was store bought. We used several different brands, some organic and some were not. We used purees for such a short time in the grand scheme of things. He was on full table food (and BM/formula) by 7 months or so.
One bit of advice though for whoever said they were giving avocado one day and something else the next day ... the general rule that most pedis agree on is to stick with one food for a few days to see how the baby reacts. If you give new foods two days in a row, you wouldn't know what one was causing a reaction. (Confession: I wasn't good with the rule after the first month with food, but DS1 never had any reactions.)
Same here.
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My pedi said I can start now or wait til 6 months. 6 months is what the AAP recommends. I'm making my own foods and starting with veggies/fruit.
I three. Every doctor, every baby, every parent is different. Do it when you feel your baby is ready.
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My pedi said that cereal at this stage would be just to get him used to using a spoon, not for the nutrition.
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it's personal preference but between 4-6 months is normal. we waited until 6 months with DS1 but are going to go earlier with DS2 maybe 4.5-5 months.
i'm just debating whether i'll bother with rice cereal or not...might just skip to avocado instead or banana
no reason to just do cereal...
a tip though - if you do cereal and baby hates it...add cinnamon! DS1 LOVED it!
no sugar and totally fine for LO!
they'll get enough if not more iron from pureed spinach or beans too
I do agree that every baby is going to be ready at a different point, but with that said, why wouldn't you err on the side of caution? I don't think this really makes much difference when you're talking about real food (fruits/veggies/meat), but when you're talking about cereal, giving it too early can have pretty important repercussions to your baby's developing system. So... since it's not really necessary to feed them solids, why would you rush to do it early when there's no benefit to it, but there could be negatives? This is a legit question, I'm not trying to be snarky. I just wonder, what's the rush?
And with that said, it's your baby, I'm not trying to tell people what to do. I just get the impression that sometimes people don't understand why it's advisable to wait, especially with grains.
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i completly agree as well. do what you feel comfortable with. i know ive tried giving DS the step 1 bananas and he seems to really like it but it was a tiral run just to see where he was, if he was even close to being ready for regular foods yet. every baby is different.
completely agree with both of you I also plan to wait till 6 months or more depending on milestones.