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Starting solids questions
We can start Tyler on solids in a few weeks and I have lots of questions.
How long do you have them on rice cereal? Is rice the best choice as far as cereal?
What kind of spoon is best?
Is it best to introduce veggies first or fruits? I heard veggies since those are harder for most babies to like and the fruit ones are sweeter.
When do you introduce meats?
Are any jarred foods better than others as far as nutritional content.
Has anyone pureed there own fruits and veggies? How hard is it and how many feedings does one get out of them? Are they easy to transport to our sitter?
I heard that you need to wait 3 days before introducing another food.
What else? Told ya I had lots of questions!
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Re: Starting solids questions
We started DS on solids at 5 months. At his 3 month check up the pedi gave us a sheet with her recommendations for how to introduce things. I know a lot of people do their own thing but we followed hers pretty closely.
We started with rice cereal and did this for like 4 days (increasing amount and thickness each day) then we moved onto oatmeal and did the same thing. After about 2 weeks of just cereal 1 time a day we introduced veggies. She said to do yellow vegs first and then green. Each one we fed to him over 3 days to make sure he had no reaction. After we finished all of the stage one veggies we moved onto fruits.
Our pedi said to only feed 1 meal a day for 2 months and then add in a 2nd and after about another 2 weeks you can add in a 3rd. We were told no meat until 9 months.
I have only given jarred food. While I am sure it would be better to make my own food I never got into it. I did try to give him avocado once though and he hated it! Everything else he has loved though.
I just use Gerber spoons that have the rubber tip.
Good luck! DS loves his food and we haven't had any issues so hopefully it will go well for you too.
We waited until 5 - 6 months with both kids...
Neither liked rice creal so we moved on to oatmeal.. They can eat it forever. I switched to regular quaker at about a year...
I like the soft gerber spoons to start and then the take and toss for away from home (though I have never tossed one)
We don't do jarred food so I don't know anything about them...
We did foods in the following order: acocado, sweet potato, squash, green bean, peans, peaches, pears, apple sauce, plums, apricots, pumpkin, potato, blueberry... then added some yogurt..
I really like www.wholesomebabyfood.com it has a good guide of where to start. It also has great recipes...
I wonder if it is best to start solids at 5 months?
Silly question but when starting fruits and veggies could I put them in our food processor if they are not jarred?
Not silly. I normally steam or bake fruits and veggies and then put them in the food processor (except the obvious stuff like bananas, avocado, etc.). Check out the web site BPaullo posted, it is very helpful.
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How long do you have them on rice cereal? Is rice the best choice as far as cereal? We started with rice cereal. DS loved it, it HATED him so we stopped.
What kind of spoon is best? I use the Gerber with the rubbery ends.
Is it best to introduce veggies first or fruits? I heard veggies since those are harder for most babies to like and the fruit ones are sweeter. I started with sweet potatoes and avocado. DS loved them both. I did a few other veggies (can't remember which ones) and then moved on to fruits.
When do you introduce meats? I haven't don't meats yet. We didn't start solids until almost 6 months as well.
Are any jarred foods better than others as far as nutritional content. I primarily use Earth's Best but I'm not partial and will buy other jarred foods if they are on sale, have a different variety, etc.
Has anyone pureed there own fruits and veggies? How hard is it and how many feedings does one get out of them? Are they easy to transport to our sitter? I do half and half...some homeade and some jarred. The homeade is fairly easy to make with some planning. I only take jarred to the sitter but I imagine it would be easy. I read Super Baby Foods and they talk a lot about "Food Cubes." Great book!
I heard that you need to wait 3 days before introducing another food. I did this at first but now I will wait 2 days if DS seems to be responding fine. It is VERY obvious in DS when something doesn't agree with him.
Good luck! Solid are definitely an adventure! DS is in to feeding himself these days...wants nothing to do with Mommy holding the spoon...ahhh! What a mess!
How long do you have them on rice cereal? Is rice the best choice as far as cereal?
We never gave F rice cereal. I didn't feel it was necessary. I tried to puree brown rice and make my own, but that never worked out very well for me. I did puree whole oats in the food processor then cooked them in boiling water for ~10 minutes.
What kind of spoon is best?
Not sure what is best, but we used these:
https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Baby-Spoons-pack-Colors/dp/B0015Q9TXC
Is it best to introduce veggies first or fruits?
No clue, we started with avocado.
When do you introduce meats?
Not until she did finger foods, so 9 months.
Are any jarred foods better than others as far as nutritional content.
I did not serve F anything from a jar.
Has anyone pureed there own fruits and veggies? How hard is it and how many feedings does one get out of them? Are they easy to transport to our sitter?
I made all my own food and it was really easy. I would take a Saturday morning and cook a bunch of stuff at once. www.wholesomebabyfoods.com has lots of great recipes. I froze the purees in individual tupperwares, then popped them out into ziplocs. I used this: https://www.skiphop.com/product/222000.html to transport the food if we ever went somewhere.
I heard that you need to wait 3 days before introducing another food.
We did this.
What else? Told ya I had lots of questions!
I waited until six months to start solids, there is no real need to statrt at 4 months.
So Tasty, So Yummy
How long do you have them on rice cereal? Is rice the best choice as far as cereal?
we did not do rice cereal for truitt. it's not necessary, esp if you wait until their digestive track is more developed at the 5-6 mos range. they rec it for 4 mos range b/c it's so easy to digest.
with mathis we did try a rice cereal with probiotic. all it did was constipate him, so we stopped on day 2 and went straight to jarred food.
What kind of spoon is best?
i don't think there is a best kind. it just needs to be small. with T i went with the rubber coated ones that are so popular but you can barely get food on the bowl of the spoon. with mathis, we use the small plastic ones and they are great. he loves to chew on one while i feed him with another one.
Is it best to introduce veggies first or fruits? I heard veggies since those are harder for most babies to like and the fruit ones are sweeter.
i think that is phooey. i gave mathis sweet potatoes, which are practically a fruit, 1st and he hated them. apples 2nd and he loved them but it's been all veggies since (peas, spinach and carrots) with no issues.
honestly, the logical side of me says that exact opposite of the conventional wisdom. since they are just learning the process of eating in the 1st few weeks, give them something they will definitely like so they learn to like to eat rather than something they might not and reject eating altogether.
When do you introduce meats?
LLL says chicken is a good 1st food because it's mild and rarely causes an allergic reaction. i waited until after a year for other meats but chicken was in Ts purees around 8 mos.
Are any jarred foods better than others as far as nutritional content.
just read the labels. a carrot is a carrot, but i try to avoid HFCS and preservatives. a baby just doesn't need that if i can avoid it. i buy earth's best and a couple of other organic brands. when he starts table foods, i will become more lax about organic but try to stay as chemical free as i can.
Has anyone pureed there own fruits and veggies? How hard is it and how many feedings does one get out of them? Are they easy to transport to our sitter?
i didn't. it's more cost effective but i just don't have the time, esp with 2. i even bought the Beaba and returned it 5 days later. there are so many wholesome premade foods on the market that i don't worry from a nutrition standpoint
I heard that you need to wait 3 days before introducing another food.
yes, this is to test for allergies. i didn't wait for every.single.food with T but the 1st dozen or so i did. my mom accidentally fed mathis a puree blend the other day and he had never had 2 of the 3 ingredients but he's fine. i think how long you do this is dependent on allergies being common in your family.