are there benefits to starting solids early?

abj22 · February 2009

I've been a little bit confused about this. My pedi said to wait until 6 months to start solids but it seems like most people on here have already started by 4 months or earlier. Am I missing something?

DD seems satisfied on her formula and STTN fine. We sometimes let her "taste" the end of a carrot or a piece of cheese just to see her reaction and she doesn't seem all that interested. Is there any downfall to waiting??

CJinMD · February 2009

our pedi said cereal at 5 mos, veggies and other stuff at 6 mos. andrew was always looking at our food, so we started him on cereal about 1.5 weeks ago. he is only getting 1.5 tbs once a day.

i think pedis all differ on when they say they can start, but it is generally between 4-6 mos. i think you are fine to wait.

mrparsley07 · February 2009

I think it's supposed to be best to wait til six months because babies are less likely to develope food allergies if you wait. We have had to add cereal to Kailey's bottle from 3 mo. on because of how bad her reflux is. At 4 mo. we started giving her oatmeal from a spoon and then skipping the cereal in her bottle at breakfast time, We now do that for breakfast and lunch. Basically we do that to get her ready for when she does start solids in a month.

earthboundmisfit · February 2009

There are benefits to starting LATER..baby's digestive system is more mature and better able to handle solids. I don't think we'll start until at least 5 months..she seems satisfied on formula and I am not ready to start her on solids! I plan on making my own food so that's extra work that I don't really need right now haha. Plus I'd kind of like to wait until she can sit up on her own better.

mrsk2005 · February 2009

We started cereal at about 4.5 months. We're waiting to start veggies and fruits until closer to 6 months. DD has had rice and oat cereal so far. We have some barley cereal we are going to try next. DD was always eyeing our food when we were eating so we thought we'd try some cereal and see how she did. She did really well on it!

abj22 · February 2009

ok, thanks ladies. I think we'll continue to wait. She had such issues with eating in the beginning which is why I think our pedi told us to wait until 6 months in the first place. And I hate to fix it if it ain't broke if you know what I mean. She is doing fine just on formula.

lilyvalley · February 2009

We are probably going to wait until 6 months as well because I have read articles about a link between starting solids early and obesity. Since I am obese, I am a little freaked out about it with DD. I am planning to talk to the pedi at tomorrow's visit to see what they recommend.

rowanthefrog · February 2009

Actually there are more benefits to waiting until close to or at least 6 months to start. Here is a good article with info about that.

https://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

I started Ethan at 5.5 months.

A

ll3414 · February 2009

Yeah - we're waiting until 6 months too. And for all the reasons mentioned above.

valkaz · February 2009

Nope, it's actually better to wait. It lets their gut become more mature/developed, and it helps with food allergies.

We waited until close to 6 months to start any solids.

yellowcar · February 2009

We waited until 6 months with DD because I was BF'ing and just didn't want to lose that close contact with her. Plus, it is so nice to keep the free food as long we could! She's never had any issues with food allergies. We'll wait as long as we can with DS too.

AverysMomma0624 · February 2009

Actually, the benefits are in waiting to ensure baby doesn't have any allergies. Our pedi said we could start at 4 mths, so we pretty much just did rice cereal for a month and a half to get her used to a spoon and eating out of a bowl and in her highchair. I was worried about starting too soon. We started veggies and fruits around 5 1/2 mths...

Kaybee44 · February 2009

Our pedi originally had said that she likes to wait until 6 months to start solids. At his 4 month appointment, she said we could start him on rice cereal whenever we wanted but she preferred if we waited until closer to 5 months and then to start other foods when he is closer to 6 months. We started him on rice cereal at exactly 5 months and we will start other foods at 6 months

I figure she's the doctor, I'll do what she says

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