solids question

kaese

LO is almost 7 months (will be next week) and we just started solids at 6 months 1 week.  Ped was vague about how to go about it other than generalized stuff (it's practice food at first, wait four days between new foods, some kids reject veggies if you do fruits first) and I am looking for specifics.  It's a little overwhelming because there are so many different "ways" to go about it.  Here are my questions/concerns:

When did you move from rice cereal (or whatever your first practice food was) to starting new foods?

 What foods did you do first? (like, specific veggies to try or fruits or whatever...I want to do homemade but I guess I could get ideas by perusing the shelves of baby food)

 We are currently doing solids (rice cereal) in the morning.  When did you go to more than one meal a day?  Does this affect appetite enough to decrease milk supply/appetite?  I'm trying to BF for one year and I guess all of my paranoia comes from not being sure how the transition from EBF to solids goes and when weaning actually starts.  

 Thanks for reading and helping!  I get really anxious when there seems to be no clearcut answer or one way to do things.  I want to do what's "best" even though clearly there isn't a best way, just lots of ways that are all acceptable.  It will help to know what others are doing and relieve me from my "I'm going to tank my supply if she starts eating three meals a day" fears.

 

 

Danaz1

There is really no one way to do things . With dd I started cereal and a month later did fruitsbthen a month later did vegys. There is research saying they will reject vegys if fruit is first dd still ate the vegys start will orange vegy first sweet pot squash and carrot also go to wholesomebabyfood.com for tips

Danaz1

I meant there is no research saying they will reject vegys if given fruit first

kaese

Thank you for that website!! It is way more informative than anything else I have found. 

Totally get your point about there being no one way to do things, but out of curiosity, did you start with 3 meals a day, or when did you move up to that if not?

cltk12

This is what we did:

At 6 months started with oatmeal once a day.  We started on a Saturday and then DC continued during the week at lunch.  We didn't do rice cereal as our pedi said it can cause consiptation and to just go to oatmeal.  Then we went to veggies and introduced a new veggie every Sat and then DC continued it that week on Monday and Tues and then the other days mixed it up with food he has already tried.  DS is 6 months 3 weeks and only on 1 meal a day.  Next week we'll start fruits at dinner for his second meal.  We also add in oatmeal to the veggie to make it thicker as he likes that consistentcy better.

katieh1017

We started doing regular solids even later than you are. Lillian is MSPI and has had issues handling the foods (had some food reactions and belly aches) so we took it slow and are still introducing new foods slowly.

I started with only feeding her on the weekends and it wasn't consistent.

Started with oatmeal. Didn't really like it so I now just mix it with food. Here is our order of foods:

Avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash (reaction), pears, peaches, carrots (reaction) and green beans.

We also do some BLW so she has had bread, pizza crust, waffles. She also gets puffs on her tray for each meal with a sippy cup of water.

Right now she gets about 2.5oz of fruit mixed with oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch she gets a veggie mixed with oatmeal and dinner is a veggie (no oatmeal). I am intoducing new foods on a weekly basis. I also intro a new food mixed with one I know she is ok with. For example, I mixed green beans with sweet potatoes when it was her first time with green beans.

Edit - As far as when to increase the amount of meals, just go with it. I did only breakfast for a while, then added in dinner. Only last week did we add in a lunch too. I give her solids 1 hour after her bottle. She could easily eat more than what I give her but I know solids shouldn't replace her bottle now.

vrj0522

My DS started on solids a week before turning 6 months. Before solids he was having 5 - 6oz bottles of formula a day (30 oz). What I did initially was give him 4 - 6 oz bottles and for his fifth bottle (his 10:30 am feeding), I would give him 3 oz of formula and some rice cereal. After a few days we added peas. Then we started on barley cereal and then sweet potatoes. By this time, he'd been on solids for about 2 weeks and since he was already 6 months old, we added a second meal of solids. So now he has 3 - 6oz bottles of formula and 2 - 3 oz bottles (plus 2 oz that we mix his cereal with for the day), for a total of 26 oz of formula and 2 meals of solids consisting of cereal and veggies. We've also added oatmeal and green beans, squash, and avocado to his meals.

The pediatrician told us that from 6-9 months old, he should be having at least 24 oz of formula per day and that is really what I focus on. The solid food is just to finish filling him up but I make sure that he has all the formula that he is supposed to.