waiting to start solids or starting now

bnabarrete

Baby just had her 4 month appointment today , our pediatrician has told us to wait for 5 months then give her rice cereal and then at 6 months start baby food . LO is exclusively breast fed doubled her birth weight and shows a lot of interest in Us Eating
Any ones else's doctor recommend this or whAt did you pedi recommend ?
Also are you following their guidelines or going with what you feel

stephwindsor

Go with your gut. We started on rice cereal and mashed bananas right before our 4 month appt. He was ready and loves to eat! No gagging and continued weight gain. Now that he's approaching 5 months we r starting to go less on the cereal and more on the fruits and veg.

Christina80xoxo

Mine is 21 weeks old. All of a sudden she really started wanting to eat with us. She would mimic us eating and open her mouth wanting to take a bite of our food.she also started waking up hungry at night again. She is half breast/ half bottle fed. I have her rice cereal and she loved it. Her pediatrician told me six months is good, but I started a little early.

EricandKaren

My 4.5 month old is certainly showing signs of interest, but we are waiting until closer to 6 months. While I know it's not like a magic day where all of the sudden it's ok, it is a recommendation by my doctor (and the AAP) so we will hold off a few more weeks. With my first we started at about 5.5 months just because he seemed so ready

soxgurl

My pediatrician told me at my daughters 4 month appointment I could start giving her cereal, fruits, and veggies. She doesn't care for the cereal but can't get enough fruits and veggies!!

rmckenna

My daughter is 5 months on the 6th, and we haven't started foods yet.  She's starting to show some interest though.  We got the OK from our pediatrician to start whenever we wanted to, but that nutrition wise, she doesn't need anything other then the breast milk for 6 months.  We might start this weekend or next depending on her.  I skipped the cereal with my son two years ago & only used it to thicken up some foods that were watery, like blue berries and zucchini.  I made all of my own baby food with him, and plan to do the same this time around.

myjessesgirl

The AAP currently recommends starting between 4-6 months, and basically anything goes except for honey and cow's milk. (Edit: Just looked up the AAP website, and they say "around six months," which to me seems vague. Other sites, like my go-to medical info site, UptoDate, says no earlier than 4 and no later than 6. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/starting-solid-foods-during-infancy-beyond-the-basics?source=outline_link&view=text&anchor=H3#H3 )
Of course, their recommendations change periodically. My LO is already sitting on her own and showed a lot of interest in food. She didn't quite double her weight, but 8 lbs 9 oz is hard to double and 16 lbs 7 oz is close enough! We started rice cereal a week after she turned 4 months old (and a day before her four month check, when the doctor approved), then added carrots and squash and will continue adding Stage 1 foods. She does great, has not had issues with swallowing, enjoys eating, and I still nurse her five times a day to ensure she's getting enough. Did you ask what reasons the doctor had for postponing starting already?

mariah1989kab

Go with your gut I'm a new mom and tried to go the book way doing everything I read. I waited until she was four months and introduced oatmeal cereal but it wasn't enough for my baby girl she wanted food, so I started slowly with gerbers stage one fruits and veggies doing a new fruit or vegetable every 4days to make sure she didn't have any allergies. Some things I will wait and do by the book but it's what best for you baby mamas know best

klcarr19

I started at 4 months and my now almost 5 month old is loving her meals!! Like PP I wait 3-4 days between trying new... My baby was 7lbs 6oz when she was born and when we stepped on the scale last week she was almost 18 pounds!!! She was 26in long at her 4mo appointment. Her nutritional needs were not being met with just formula... So we started at 4 months. Go with your gut!

bnabarrete

@AGM0616 when I asked he said she is getting enough nutrition from just breast milk but he said it was just a recommendation ... Although he told us to wait after reading more information online and from others we gave her some rice cereal which she does enjoy because some days she just doesn't seam satisfied with just milk and shows so much intrest in eating ... We will be adding some veggies in next week since it's going good so far ...

bnabarrete

Thank you everyone for your responses my daughter is showing all the signs like your babies so I'm still curious to why her doctor said to wait :-/ but I'm going with my gut and starting slowly because to me she is more than ready and does not seam satisfied with just Breastmilk anymore ! I really want to make my own baby food since I was gifted a baby bullet but I'm not really sure how too so until then we will be using pre made baby food

salasa812

So my son started maybe four weeks ago he started on cereal in morning Gerber for lunch and a light Gerber for dinner doctor said he should be fine as long as he is ready which he was he opens his mouth and closes it does not make close to any mess! Also started on a sippy cup!

myjessesgirl

bnabarrete said:

@AGM0616 when I asked he said she is getting enough nutrition from just breast milk but he said it was just a recommendation ... Although he told us to wait after reading more information online and from others we gave her some rice cereal which she does enjoy because some days she just doesn't seam satisfied with just milk and shows so much intrest in eating ... We will be adding some veggies in next week since it's going good so far ...

Yes, I've heard a lot about breast milk being able to sustain babies up to six months and even 9 or 10 months without supplementing, but my LO is doing so much better with the cereal and a couple tablespoons of veggies! I've noticed a huge difference in naps in particular. Good luck and hope your LO takes to solid foods without a problem! She sounds like my daughter as far as being interested in food.

Anne Mommy

DS3 wakes up hungry all the time now. We started food after his 4 mo check up. We were told we no longer have to wait in between foods, but we are planning to. DS1 has some mild allergies. I made all my own with DS1 and 2.  Nothing fancy for me- a $8 chopper from Walmart and icecube trays to freeze. I pop out one for now and thaw. When he is older, we'll mix 2 or 3 flavors together. 

bnabarrete

@Anne Mommy how much milk do you usually add for your baby food & how long does it stay good in the baby food ... Also how do you thaw it

Clobert

The recommendation now is for exclusively breastfed babies to wait until 6 months. Breast milk provides all the nutrition they need and the stomach lining is still open so it may cause allergies. Formula fed babies can look for the readiness signs that people have mentioned as early as 5 months. They say FF babies can start earlier because the volumes are increasing because not as efficiently digested and because they don't get different flavors from bm they might need to try food earlier.

lmc929

I heard the same as Clobert. Six months for allergy reasons.

Erika161

We had our last check up at 5 months and were advised by our pediatrician to start solids right away. She said newer research is now saying the opposite regarding allergies and we have been too restrictive in the recent past. There are always conflicting opinions but I trust my pediatrician. Also my baby has more than doubled her birthweight, can sit up alone and has been showing a lot of interest in food. I started with banana, then avacado, then peas so far (after a week of rice cereal). She took to it immediately, swallowing with no issue and laughing and smiling. It was definitely the right time and right decision for us. She's sleeping better and is much happier. It's a decision you have to make with your doctor based on your baby! Good luck!

rtrout10

We haven't done the foods yet, but my boy is interested. So for fun, I put him in his high chair and have been practicing with a spoon and breastmilk. He is soo excited to do it, especially after watching his daycare friends eat in a high chair. He did pretty good w the milk...until he flipped it all over.

jessiew7

I made the decision to wait till six months on my own. My dr said that was fine since nutritionally she doesn't need anything than her formula right now. She has started to show some interest in us eating but I still feel like she needs more time to learn to sit up before I start giving her solids.