Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Baby_Bunny_Hopeful
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When to start solids?
Baby_Bunny_Hopeful
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I plan to make DS2's food on my own (first time ever... kinda nervous!)
When did you start your LO on solids?? We started DS1 on rice cereal at 2.5 months and solids at 4 months... but so far DS2 is strictly BM (at 3.5 months old).
Do we introduce rice cereal first? Or go straight to solids? If so, when?
TIA!
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Re: When to start solids?
WIth my daughter, we started her on solids at 6 months and plan to do the same with this baby. We never really did the rice cereal thing. I made all of DD's food last time and (hopefully) plan to do that most of the time this time too. Except apples & prunes. It's just too easy to buy non-sweetened, natural applesauce and having prunes on hand help with constipation.
Personally, I would wait on solids a little longer, but do whatever you and your pedi feel comfortable with.
Oh, I definitely plan on waiting at least until 4-5 months (or more) until solids this time around...
Any suggestions on how to make food at home? Recipes/tips?
I will warn you, it was time consuming. But I really wanted to do it and I'm stubborn as anything! The things I learned last time were:
-make big batches! That way you aren't making food all the time.
-when you make squash, buy it cubed!!! So much easier that buying a whole one and cutting it yourself. It was way hard and not worth the little $ you save.
- I bought ice cube trays with covers from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I would pour the purees into the cubes, put the covers on, then pop in the freezer overnight. The next day I would pop out all the cubes and put it in a big freezer bag in our deep freezer (good for 4-6 months in deep freezer). Write with a sharpie what it is and when you made it and you're good to go.
-After a while, I would mix the cubes together (parsnip & carrot, applesauce & pears). She really liked that.
-buy a can of Libby's pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) and just freeze that. My daughter would eat anything if I added pumpkin.
-Veggies almost always work better than fruits.
I'm glad you're asking this because it's getting me in the mindset to do this again. I would either make the food after the kids go to bed or on the weekend when I had DH to help out. Hope that helps! GL!
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I don't plan to start my DS on solids until at least next month after he has his 4 month check up (I plan on asking the doctor if now would be an okay time to try them).
I also plan on making his food myself. I plan to go straight to solids, and I'll probably start with vegetables or applesauce.
I would ask your doctor when to start (or get his/her opinion), even though you have an older child, just because all babies are different.
we started rice and oatmeal in her bottles 2x a day to help with spitup issues after her 4mo apt. she's not a fan of the flakex mixed with BM straight like you would for sweet potato etc.
we started with Butternut squash a week short of 5 mo as the pedi said that was fine anytime after 4 mo for us. got a little rash so that's staying in the freezer for a while incase it was that and not the bath soap change.
now doing sweet potato and seems to be great.
you don't have to start with cereal. many mom's dont. we did to help with spitup more than to introduce solids.
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it's really not that hard or time consuming to make your own food. I do one or two a week and I'll make 2-4 ice cube trays each week. It takes maybe a half hour on a sunday.
good luck!
LO is 5 months old, we just started solids a couple days ago. (Our pediatrician said we could start at 4 months, but we wanted to wait a little longer.)
We started with avocado. Next on our radar to try are banana, sweet potato, apple, and squash.
We are not doing any cereals, there's little nutritional value in them.
From Frank Greer, MD, who is on American Academy of Pediatrics's Committee on Nutrition:
"Complementary foods introduced to infants should be based on their nutrient requirements and the nutrient density of foods, not on traditional practices that have no scientific basis." "newer thinking is that the emphasis for complementary foods should be on naturally nutrient-rich foods. This includes protein and fiber, along with vitamins A, C, D, and E and the B vitamins." "rice cereal is a less than perfect choice for the first complementary food given to infants"