Starting solids

LisaLisa1980

I admit I have not done much research on this as I should have. I understand the basics such as one food at a time, wait 4 days for a reaction & don't give honey, strawberries, eggs and seafood (are nuts included in that list?)

Did you wait to speak to your dr about solids or did you just go for it? Seems like all my friends just went for it.

I was going to delay solids but its not really a big deal. His next baby well check is in a few weeks but he turns 6 months in a few days.

If I want to give him oat cereal, can be from real oatmeal with water or does it have to be that boxed stuff? (Wondering if real oats would be a choking hazard??)

What did you give as a first solid?

Crequito

I went by what my pedi suggested.  No honey, nuts, seafood or egg whites (didn't say anything about strawberries) until a year.  Everything else in this order:

1. At 6 months exactly start with yellow and orange vegetables.  Do one for 3 days then try another and so on for the first 2 weeks.  In order I did: carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes.  DD was not a fan of carrots the first go round so we tried them again after sweet potatoes - still not a fan unless we mix them with butternut squash or sweet potatoes.  Then we started all other vegetables - peas was first on my list and DD isn't a fan unless I mix in some butternut squash.  Green beans are next . . .

2. At 7 months start fruits, again one for 3 days then another, etc.  Tropical fruits are off the menu for the time being.  I'm going to do bananas first, then apples and pears and then avocado - because I think that's technically a fruit.

3. At 8 months start proteins.  You can do egg yolks, but not whites.  Apparently if people are allergic to eggs it's the white they're most frequently allergic to.  I'll do chicken first and then some black beans and then maybe some steak.  The idea of pureeing meat really weirds me out but I'll do it . . .

Once LO has had something for a few days with no reacton it's ok to use it anytime after.  As long as there's only 1 new food being introduced at a time you're fine.  I give one cube 3 times a day (like breakfast, lunch and dinner).  Offer the puree first and once LO gives you the done signal stop offering.  You can then offer a bottle or wait a little while, which is what we usually do.  DD has been eating purees for almost 3 weeks now and she gets excited for certain foods (butternut squash has been her fav so far).  It took her a few days to figure out the spoon thing but now she's got it down - when she's interested.

We never gave rice cereal and our pedi said since she's eating purees fine now there's no reason to.  I also asked about oats and quinoa and he said wait a little while since they can be choking hazards unless you get them super smooth and soupy.  You should talk to your pedi though - he/she could have different thoughts on food.  Good luck!

MrsG071809

We did Baby Led Weaning starting a couple weeks after DD turned 6 months, and it has been great.  I would recommend Googling it or reading the book - its a very easy method to start solids, and my DD is loving it!

pinottoparenthood

We waited to talk to the doc. DS turned six months on Thursday and we started with solids on Saturday. We were thinking of doing BLW, but DH got really scared of choking and our pediatrician recommended we start with purées, so we gave him mashed avocado on Saturday, Sunday, and today. Within the next few days we will introduce another veggie. For now I am just cooking and mushing things so they are fresh and still have some texture. (I didnt cook the avocado obvi.) We hope to have him on table foods by around 7 months or so.

SLGILL1978

I talked to my pedi about it at her 4 month appt. She started with oatmeal (Gerber mixed with formula/breast milk) at 4.5 months. Then a month later we went to veggies and fruit. I started out with purees but now my 8 month old eats those in addition to whatever I eat and I make food for her as well. Just easy things like pasta, potatoes, eggs etc. However, I was too impatient to way the 4 days to see if she had a reaction or not. And she never did.

LisaLisa1980

If I use the boxed oat cereal, can I mix with water or does it have to be BM or formula?

pele658

You shouldn't use the kind of oatmeal you would eat for breakfast, they make special baby oat cereal. It's a much finer texture that's easier for them to eat. BM or formula is better than water because then they are still getting more nutrition than they would with water. 

We started with rice cereal then switched to oat. We also tried multi-grain. LO is going on a solids strike right now (she's 6 months) so we'll try again in a week or so. 

LisaLisa1980

pele658 said:

You shouldn't use the kind of oatmeal you would eat for breakfast, they make special baby oat cereal. It's a much finer texture that's easier for them to eat. BM or formula is better than water because then they are still getting more nutrition than they would with water. 

We started with rice cereal then switched to oat. We also tried multi-grain. LO is going on a solids strike right now (she's 6 months) so we'll try again in a week or so. 

I dont have any stored BM, and I'm a little iffy on using formula incase of a reaction - then how do we know if it's the food or the formula?? If the majority of his food comes from breastfeeding, than just a bit of cereal with water shouldn't be harmful??  I also don't really like the idea of giving boxed foods. I live a pretty clean diet and I'd like to pass that onto my son as well.

MomIn2013

You can get baby oatmeal that you mix with water. I found that was the easiest and DS really liked it.

aibrean

I started with rice cereal and then oatmeal a few weeks later. We did the following: apples, carrots, pears, sweet potatoes, bananas, peas, prunes (3-4 days each). Our LO LOVES veggies over fruit. When I was preggo I got gestational diabetes so fruit was minimal compared to veggies because of the sugar content (even though natural, I had too many spikes with them). I think that's why she's taken to veggies more. Peas and carrots are her favorites.