4mo dr appt - time for solids?

optimist13

DD is 99th pctl for length! 60 for head and 70 for weight. she was 50th for those two last time, so i guess im doin something right!

 

doc says we are ready for rice cereal, but im not ready for that. is anyone else not ready for solids even if baby is?

 

edit: right now she gets about 2/3 BM, 1/3 formula

DucatiLeah

Are you BFing or ffing?

nattn

Our pedi said DD is ready for rice cereal also. (She's EBF right now.) I'm torn on it. She goes crazy trying to grab anything headed for my mouth so I do feel like she's ready, but it's adding more work and not adding more nutrients from what I understand.

LifetimeOfLove

I know what you mean. At our 4 month appt., pedi said DS is ready for solids. We were given the choice to start on cereal, veggies, or fruits. I wanted to wait but DH wanted him on solids. Since DH doesn't normally have an opinion on things baby related and DS seemed ready, we started veggies.

jayellekay

Take my two cents fwiw, but if I was still EBFing my DD, we wouldn't start solids till 6 months. Breastmilk is nature's perfect food, and like you said, cereal is added work but no added nutrition. There's no real reason (regardless of what a doctor says, unless there is some medical condition) for them to start solids, not even fruit and veggies, until 6 months or after.

However, since we are FFing now (blahhh), I've started DD on cereal. There's not much nutrition there, but we are using oatmeal instead of rice, so there's maybe a tad more nutrients for her. She loves it, and is learning to eat from a spoon, etc. I'm going to start her on fruits/veggies probably around 5 1/2 months or so.

andrea922

We are skipping cereal altogether (really no nutritional value) and waiting til 6 months for solids. We did the same for my son.

March2011Mama

We are waiting until six months to start anything as well, and as pp said, we'll probably skip cereal and head straight to the good stuff.

CutieBean79

Our pedi said DD was ready at her 4 month appt.  I waited a few weeks and started her on Monday.  I made brown rice cereal and she is figuring out the spoon.  She's not doing a whole lot of eating it.  I chose rice cereal because I am a tad nervous about allergies and digestion issues.  I'm glad now that I chose it because most of it is being spit out!  (Like all of it, lol)

sweetpea2718

Gosh, this is such a tricky subject because we read so many differing opinions on it, so I'll just give you the example of what we did:

Like you, we were given the green light at the 4 month appointment.  DS will be 5 months next week (on the 3rd) and has been eating rice cereal every evening about 30 minutes after his "evening" meal.  We EBF  and aren't replacing a meal with cereal and he gets a minimal amount.  Honestly, we're first time parents,  were told we could try it, so we did.  2 weeks later, he still gets a minimal amount (1 tbsp mixed with BM).  

I am glad that we did try it this early, just because my DS is so interested in the world around him.  He grabs at everything while we eat meals around him.  He watches intently as I put food in my mouth and chew.  He can now hold his spoon and "lick it clean" at the end of a feeding.

We will start fruits and veggies when he hit 5 months, but again, a minimal amount.  I am just going to give him tastes of things after his breakfast feeding, keep doing cereal after his dinner feeding (I may switch to oatmeal) but not let it replace any meals just yet.   

hackett

Booger eats about 28 oz of formula with rice cereal, a day. If I don't put cereal in his bottles he will eat non-stop! His four month appointment is on Thursday, and my pedi has always said solids are fine after 4 months. So, to practice with a spoon I give him cereal. Once he gets the hang of actually eating the cereal, I will start him on veggies.  

jandy09

I had read on Kellymom to try out a BM slushie if LO was looking interested in solids but you aren't ready to start. Last night we tried the slushie since DD has been getting upset that she can't eat like us. She still has her tongue reflex so it all came back out, but she would screech like a pterodactyl if I wasn't trying to spoon it into her mouth. I assume that she loved the coldness on her teething gums.

So while I pretty much wasted 1.5 ounces of BM, DD was pretty darn happy she was included in dinnertime. Maybe you could try a slushie to see how your LO does with spoon feeding?

apricoty

My opinion, based on what I read is that huge majority of children are ready for solids between 6 and 9 months of age.  Some even later, very very few earlier and even that's debatable.  Why?  Because around 6-9 months of age occurs something that is called 'gut closure' that makes it possible for your child to even properly digest solids.  Nobody knows when it happens exactly, but it's been proven that delaying solids is beneficial to most children. 

 If you want to read more on the subject and make up your own mind independent of what your doctor says, go on kellymom.com and read on the subject of solids.  She has well-researched and scientifically supported articles on there.

Breastmilk is OPTIMAL babyfood definitely for the first 6 months of a child's life.  In other words, there is nothing better on this entire planet for your baby.  So why push it? 

Good luck.

apricoty

CutieBean79:

Our pedi said DD was ready at her 4 month appt.  I waited a few weeks and started her on Monday.  I made brown rice cereal and she is figuring out the spoon.  She's not doing a whole lot of eating it.  I chose rice cereal because I am a tad nervous about allergies and digestion issues.  I'm glad now that I chose it because most of it is being spit out!  (Like all of it, lol)

 The reason it ends up being spit out is because your child is still not ready for solids - the tongue-thrust reflex (baby pushing everything out of her mouth) disappears when the child becomes ready for solids. 

sweetpea2718

apricoty:

CutieBean79:

Our pedi said DD was ready at her 4 month appt.  I waited a few weeks and started her on Monday.  I made brown rice cereal and she is figuring out the spoon.  She's not doing a whole lot of eating it.  I chose rice cereal because I am a tad nervous about allergies and digestion issues.  I'm glad now that I chose it because most of it is being spit out!  (Like all of it, lol)

 The reason it ends up being spit out is because your child is still not ready for solids - the tongue-thrust reflex (baby pushing everything out of her mouth) disappears when the child becomes ready for solids. 

DS spit things out the first few days, but now most of it makes it in his mouth.  He's pretty good at it! But, like I said, we're just "practicing" with a tbsp after his dinner meal.  I may try the smoothie idea too!  

apricoty

sweetpea2718:

apricoty:

CutieBean79:

Our pedi said DD was ready at her 4 month appt.  I waited a few weeks and started her on Monday.  I made brown rice cereal and she is figuring out the spoon.  She's not doing a whole lot of eating it.  I chose rice cereal because I am a tad nervous about allergies and digestion issues.  I'm glad now that I chose it because most of it is being spit out!  (Like all of it, lol)

 The reason it ends up being spit out is because your child is still not ready for solids - the tongue-thrust reflex (baby pushing everything out of her mouth) disappears when the child becomes ready for solids. 

DS spit things out the first few days, but now most of it makes it in his mouth.  He's pretty good at it! But, like I said, we're just "practicing" with a tbsp after his dinner meal.  I may try the smoothie idea too!  

 

He might be ready, who knows.  No theory fits all the children alike.  He is a little individual and you being his mom know him best. 

Babyville

andrea922:

We are skipping cereal altogether (really no nutritional value) and waiting til 6 months for solids. We did the same for my son.

Your baby's hair is absolutely amazing! So cute! I know that has nothing to do with the topic of this message but I couldn't let it go and not comment.