Babies: 3 - 6 Months

When to give solids?

I was planning to wait until 6 months.....are there pros to starting at 4 or 5 months? Cons to waiting to 6 months? Thanks ladies!

We are so thankful that our second daughter, Lillian Elizabeth "Lily", was born healthy and happy on February 11, 2013.  We love her to pieces.  

We lost our first daughter, Hannah Grace on May 4, 2011.  She was buried on May 14 during a beautiful service at my home church. We are grateful that if she could not be here with us, that she is healed and whole with the Lord. We look forward to the day when we will get to meet her. We love her so much.


Re: When to give solids?

  • hmonttyhmontty member

    In short, start when the baby is ready. If your child seems interested in what you are eating, or if he or she begins to seem unsatisfied with just milk or formula, no harm in trying a little cereal or fruit. If they tongue thrust it out, then try again in a week or two. 

     

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  • The AAP recommends not starting before 6 months. My oldest was interested right at 6 months so that's when I started with her. My second was 8 or 9 months before she was interested in food and skipped purees entirely. She wouldn't touch them and just wanted finger foods, so she went straight to tiny pieces of food. She still isn't fond of foods that have a pureed texture to them.
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  • hmonttyhmontty member

    imagepenguingrrl:
    The AAP recommends not starting before 6 months.

     However, this is just a guideline. You, as a mother, know your child best. If you feel like he or she is ready earlier, it's perfectly ok to try it out. Your child will let know know when it's time.

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  • imagepenguingrrl:
    The AAP recommends not starting before 6 months.

    This. As soon as DD seems ready once she's 6 months + I'll introduce solids. She's almost 5 months and is getting closer by watching us when we're eating but she can't sit up yet and still hasn't doubled her weight. 

  • I started when my LO was 5 1/2 months. I wish I had waited longer now in hindsight. She would stay up all night once a week (ad still does) with tummy troubles since I started her on solids.I dont see any pros starting it earlier. You can still get all the foods in on time starting later.
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  • imagehmontty:

    imagepenguingrrl:
    The AAP recommends not starting before 6 months.

     However, this is just a guideline. You, as a mother, know your child best. If you feel like he or she is ready earlier, it's perfectly ok to try it out. Your child will let know know when it's time.

    i agree with this but I'm a FTM so what do I know. Personally, I was waiting for 6 months since I felt guilty about not being able to breastfeed...however at 51/2 months out big boy who is 22 lbs is more than ready. He asks me for food and I gave in and just started. I am surprised that he opens his mouth and even leans in. He doesn't spit any out and eats everything well. I don't give him more than a tablespoon or two and yes I agree some LO have tummy troubles but every child is different. I have mommy friends that started at 5 mo and their kids did great.

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  • Pro to starting early: The best time to introduce new foods for the least chance of food allergies is 46 mos. but, like pps said, wait until your child is ready. DD was sooo ready at 4 mos. I have a feeling that DS will be too. They are both big eaters.
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  • I wasn't even planning on starting off with oatmeal, before switching to purees until 6 months. However, DS had other plans and also based on the rec of our ped. we started a rice cereal at four months and oatmeal a little over a week later. I was originally not planning on doing cereals---but I have seen such a big difference in him. He is a big eater and was always hungry. We do oatmeal twice a day (morning and night) and he is much more content and can even go longer in between meals. Mind you he was consuming 40 oz of formula and still wanted more every day. Which is why the ped suggested we do a little cereal to fill his tummy more. Now I think we will try to make it to at least five months before we start other purees. He loves his cereal and gobbles it up so good! I agree with the previous poster---you know your kid and have to follow their lead to a degree. I felt like when I mentioned to some of my co-worker mommy friends that we started even cereal at four months that daggers came out of their eyes. I got upset and even called the peditrician because I felt like maybe we were doing something wrong. Not the case, it's just another area of mommyhood where people judge you.
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  • meganwvmeganwv member
    My ped said wait until 6mo and prior to her telling me that I had already planned on 6mo. I don't see any reason to rush it and research doesn't show any positive reason to start earlier. 
  • check out this kelly mom article on delaying solids.... it explains the benefits of waiting

    https://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/ 

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  • mz07mz07 member

    We're waiting until 6 months. I decided to wait because I read, and this makes totaly sense, is that breast milk and formula is the most nutritionally dense thing that our babies consume, and they still get most nutrition from it until they are one year. So instead of filling baby up on rice cereal (which is NOT nutritionally dense at all, even made with breast milk) so that they don't want a milk feeding, we're going to try baby led weaning. This is when they start with finger foods, like steamed veggies, an avocado, and soft fruits, like a peach, and even meat (that's cut in a way they won't choke on it). This way they learn to eat solids they way an adult does, instead of slurping down peas, chicken, and rice that has no resemblence to peas, chicken, and rice.

    Even if we decide to do some purees, the thing about breast milk/formula still being the most nutrious single food that baby can have make me want to wait to the 6 months.

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  • It is recommended to start at 6 months cause that's when it is considered that a normal baby achieves all the milestones for a proper solid foods feeding. But, you should first check your baby's signs of readiness for solids. After you checked them you can start solids, well, if baby shows interest in them. You could use this https://goodmomming.com/ for specific recommendations and all the stuff food-related.
  • We also chose to wait until 6 months with DS and will with DD.  We wanted exclusive breastmilk for the first 6 months.
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