The Great Debate

lifesaverz

I know...solids!  LO will be 5 months on Monday & I am thinking of starting with her soon.  So here's the thing...I was originally planning to start with veggies (avocado, sweet potatoes), but since she is still under 6 months I'm thinking maybe I should go with a cereal for awhile first, until she's 6 months & her digestive system matures a little more.  So if I do cereal then I am between oatmeal & rice cereal.  I've been thinking I'd like to do oatmeal instead, & I'm not really sure if it's because I feel like oatmeal might be healthier, or because I've heard so much against rice cereal, or what, but that's just what I've been thinking.  When we were at the store yesterday looking at baby foods I told DH I wanted to start with oatmeal & he was like "why?" instead of rice cereal, & I kinda fumbled & couldn't really think of my reasoning for why, other than thinking maybe it's healthier?? My pedi said the new thing is to start with veggies, but like I said I was kind of feeling like I should wait on that til closer to 6 months.  So I guess what I'm wondering is, for those of you whose LOs are doing solids now, what was your reasoning for choosing oatmeal/rice cereal/veggies as a starter, & also was your decision impacted by LO's age?  TIA for letting me pick your brains.

Kermode61581

SO is pushing to start her on liver (barf), reasoning is that it is high in iron. More than likely it will be chicken or turkey. Then a veggie then a fruit.

Cambury108

I started all my kids out with oatmeal, I don't have any reasoning's I just did. After a week or two on oatmeal I started adding in a veggie per week with a week wait time in between. I won't introduce fruits till after 6 months of age. There are enough veggies to get us way past that point. I have no reasoning other than I think I started my oldest DD on fruits to early and then she wouldn't eat the green stuff. She would eat the carrots,sweet potatoes and such but not the peas and green beans. We started this LO on oatmeal waiting 1.5 weeks to see her ability to suck off the spoon and swallow. Once she started getting excited for the spoon and opening her mouth we started green beans a bite or two of them alone and then a bite or two mixed with the oatmeal. After a week we introduced sweet potatoes the same way. Next on our list for the weeks coming up is peas and then carrots. 

Good luck!

jy725

We are starting next month and I have all of these same questions @jordanm24!

stacers33

I got kids with GI issues. We skip rice cereal completely (never give it) because it can make them gassier (already gassy enough). We would recc oatmeal for that reason.

Jenniferomeo

I totally intended to wait until 6 months to start solids but lo was just so interested in what I was eating all the time and I felt bad. He almost pulled my plate off the table a few times trying to get to my food. I guess i just felt like he was ready.
So a couple weeks ago I started letting him taste my food (lick my spoon or dab my food on his lips.) Just this week I introduced pureed sweet potato to him and I make it super runny. He only eats a couple tbsp.
I decided to skip any form of cereal because I just don't see it necessary.

cammyisagirlsname

I didn't want to give LO rice cereal ever. But his reflux is so bad. He chokes because of it and it scares the crap out of me. So just this past Monday we started giving him about 2tsp of rice cereal in the morning. It has helped SO MUCH in the amount of spit up. Today I bought organic oatmeal so we'll try that tomorrow. I'm going to start solids in a few weeks. Definitely starting with avocado, sweet potato and banana.

imrachellea

We did oatmeal a few days this week. We are trying to eat minimal carbs/starch, or at least good ones if we do, in our house so that was a more logical choice (logical as in we're making all her food and we have oatmeal and no rice). LO is 4.5 months so I'm not doing it every day and only teeny TINY amounts, as we plan to start BLW as soon as she's ready (hoping for after June 5, right as school, is out, we'll be home all summer, and she'll be about 6 months). I'm almost positive the first thing we'll offer her is avocado then steamed sweet potato chunks.

Cambury108

MamaCBear said:

Threadjack....we're not quite ready for solids, but might consider starting soon. LO just turned 4 months on Saturday, but eats non stop. He is EFF and drinks 6oz 5-6x/day.

Anyway, my question is...when you give them real food, is that in place of a bottle/BM or in addition to a smaller amount for that feeding? How many times per day do you give them solids? I'm not ready. Bottles for life.

I give her her solids in addition to her regular amount of formula now but she is so small that she needs the extra. If your talking about later on when they are on table food I always give them the food and the same amount of formula. They will decide when they are full. As they start to eat more like the whole jar of food you might be able to cut down the formula intake,but I am no where near that yet. Were at like 2-3 spoonfuls per feeding. Right now were doing solids 1x per day. A few sporadic times we have done 2x but 1 is usually all. Once they are on table food I push them up to the table at normal meal times so 3x a day. 

BrandyMarks

First yay our LO's share the same birth day!
We got the go ahead to start LO with solids her 4 month check up. We started with single grain rice then quickly switched to single grain oatmeal because she was very constipated. Now we do oatmeal in the morning and veggies at night. We started with green beans which she didn't care for to much and today we tried peas for the first time. She loved them. I made both the green beans and peas using frozen cooked as directed and puréed them. I put the purée in ice cube trays and froze them, she eats 2 ice cubes warmed up. I think she would proably eat more if offered but I give her about 4 oz of formula after and she seems satisfied.

mavgirl_73

We do no cereals. In our experience, with our kids, it just created horrible constipation. We do squashs, green veggies then add fruits last. We will start N on some squash tomorrow (4.5 months).

margaerytyrell

We started with sweet potato a few days ago. I mashed up a little and put it on his high chair. He had no idea what to do and never really touched it. I took him out of his high chair, plopped him in my lap and he was trying to eat my fingers. So I put some sweet potato on my hand and he ate it that way. I think that was a success lol

lifesaverz

Thanks for all the comments, you guys have kind of solidified my thoughts that oatmeal probably has more nutritive value than rice. Also, I noticed a lot of you with LOs under 6 months are still going straight to veggies. My ONLY reason for not starting right off with veggies had been that LO is still under 6 months...do you think that's a silly reason? Should I just start with veggies anyway?

yty0205

jordanm24 said:

Thanks for all the comments, you guys have kind of solidified my thoughts that oatmeal probably has more nutritive value than rice. Also, I noticed a lot of you with LOs under 6 months are still going straight to veggies. My ONLY reason for not starting right off with veggies had been that LO is still under 6 months...do you think that's a silly reason? Should I just start with veggies anyway?

We are doing oatmeal bc I don't like that rice contains arsenic, is empty calories and can cause constipation. We're going to wait a while longer on veggies bc I'd like him to be closer to 6 months for that. However he's hungry all the time right now and pedi wants extra calories on him so who knows, we may try them sooner than I thought.

mavgirl_73

@jordanm24‌ it's also been our experience that you need to try things. Ours wouldn't touch oatmeal and it was a dance of trickery to get them to eat it. It ended up causing constipation and so we went straight to veggies with no issues (one is almost 3 and the other is 1.5). There is no hard evidence that you must give them cereals of any kind. If your baby likes it great, if not, move on to the veggies.

canicksmom

Our pedi has recommended that DS start solids at 5 months, which is 2 weeks away, re: weight gain issues. Pedi said we could do cereal, but I haven't decided on that yet. He said we could also go ahead on orange veggies, as they're lowest in potential allergens. So, I plan on starting with sweet potatoes. If not for the medical reasons, I would have waited until the 6-month mark.

tattooedtragedy

@jordanm24‌ our pedi actually recommended skipping rice cereal and oatmeal because they tend to cause constipation and quickly spike the blood sugar levels without providing significant nutritional value. We started about 2 weeks ago with sweet potatoes and have also done green beans and carrots. Also we do this with her regular feedings.

ScarlettV

Same as @yty0205‌ . Rice has arsenic so we did oatmeal instead . Honestly if you're more comfortable waiting til 6 months, I don't think it's silly. If baby is satisfied right now then why not.

Ive read research that said starting solids before 6 months increases chances of food allergies...and I've read research that said starting at 4 months helps prevent food allergies. So who the heck knows. Just go with what works for you and baby.

lynngotts

Our pedi said to go straight to oatmeal because of the concern about arsenic in the rice supply.