(experienced Parents) When Did You Start Your Child On Solid Baby Foods?
My daughter is 4 months (5-June 27th) and my pediatrician told me that I can stat baby foods between now and 6 months. I have been feeding her rice since she was 3 months, and that has been going very well. I only feed her at night between 6-8pm.
How soon should I start baby food?
Should I first mix it with the rice?
How many times a day should I feed her baby food? Because I only give her rice once a day. Should I do it more than once?
Do i continue rice when I start baby food?
Thanks for all suggestions and advise!
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A:
Start with a veggie – squash, sweet potatoes.
I would mix it with the rice at first.
Just give her baby food w/ her rice at night right now. Then after everything is going well, give her rice cereal and fruit in the morning.
I always continued with rice along with the baby food.
Just remember to wait to introduce a new food at least 3-5 days. Try sweet potatoes wait 5 days then try squash.
That way if there’s an allergic reaction, you will know what it’s from.
A: As soon as she seems ready… you’ll know when because rice cereal and milk won’t fill her up…she’ll always appear to be hungry..
START WITH VEGGIES (except carrots..because babies have never been exposed to “food” and carrots can cause there skin to get an orange tinge when its the first food there bodies are exposed to) Introduce the good stuff after veggies otherwise they have a difficult time eating the veg because they’ve tasted the yummyness of fruit first
Some good starter veggies are peas (cause they are a little sweet), squash, and green beans
The jars of baby food have stage recommendations on them…follow them to a degree~ example obviously you wouldn’t give your 4 month old food with chunks in it as she may choke…
Its recommended that you start with a few tablespoons of baby food AFTER one of there feedings (of milk)…for me I played it by ear.. my youngest was a pig and ate like 1/2 of a small jar each time… they let you know when there full
Yes you can continue rice with baby food ( i wouldn’t recommend mixing them “eew” unless you wanted to prepare a breakfast treat then mix in a bit of fruit food with the rice…or you can purchase pre mixed cereals that have fruits…yogurt etc..already added… READ the labels of these because there are lotsa different cereals…example rice, barley, multi-grain etc… these cereals need to be introduced individually and at the right stages (allergies, tolerance)
As an example I used rice as a “breakfast food” and baby food as lunch or dinner.. ALL accompanied by milk still at the age of your baby… Milk is still the most important for your baby at this time so always offer bottle first before food…
Hope you found my suggestions useful…
Have Fun and Good luck! Its your baby you’ll know what’s best
A: I started stage 1 foods at around 4.5 months and he loves it! His favorites are peas. Start veggies first before fruits. I feed him a half a container in the morning about 30min before a bottle and the other half at night before a bottle. Sometimes I will give him some in the afternoon if he starts grabbing for my food. You can continue giving the rice or mix it. My son started rice in his bottle when he was 3 months for reflux. since your daughter started early also im sure she is ready to try other things especially if her doctor said so. Good luck and get the camera ready!
A: You can start anytime now that she’s 4 months. Start with the 1st foods veggies so she gets a taste for those first instead of the sweet fruits. You don’t need to mix them with anything just warm them up and feed with a spoon. Make sure you wait a few days before you introduce each new food to her. That way if she’s allergic to anything, you’ll be able to tell what it is she’s allergic to very easily. Good luck!!!
Oh, I almost forgot I wanted to put this in here too. After my son got fruits introduced to him, I mixed fruit with his cereal. He liked it a lot better that way. You can also start using the infant’s oatmeal cereal too. My son liked that better than the rice.
A: I started the infant cereals about the same time as you(the rice formula). And when my daughter was around 5 months old I started mixing some of the jarred baby food in with it, just to give her the taste for it. I did that for about a month before I gave her straight up jarred baby food. Watch out though! Their diapers get nasty!
A:
If she is already eating rice and doing well on it , then I would go to vegetables next. Add a little bit to the rice every time , increasing it slowly over the next couple of days. If she does well then try different kinds of veggies. Eventually you can skip the rice altogether and go with just the baby food. I gave my son the rice always before bed to keep his stomach full for longer throughout the night. I would keep feeding her in the evening until she is 5-6 months, then I would start giving her food twice a day.
I fed him baby food and rice about twice per day at first, then increased it to 3 times per day, while still breastfeeding. You should continue with rice and try the oatmeal, my son liked that much better than rice as long as it was mixed with some fruit, and it gives them variety. Just make the cereal a little thicker each week, but never make it thicker than the baby food you will be giving him.
Basically, gradual changes are the key. Give her body time to adjust to new things.
Also, a very important thing to remember when introducing foods is to give at least 3 days in between trying new foods. This is because if she is allergic to something, you will know right away what caused the allergic reaction. If you give her carrots and peas in the same day, and they’re both new to her, you will not know which one caused an allergic reaction as opposed to trying one new food every week or few days.
Experts are recommending that you wait to start on solids till the baby is 6 months old. It helps prevent diabetes later in life. I started with veggies any stage one food and did mix the rice cereal in with it. I was taught that you need to mix the rice cereal into the food because it helps with iron and other vitamins that the lose once the baby stops having breast milk or formula as their primary source of food. I started with one feeding a day, later during the day when my baby was not too hungry as not to get her so upset she wouldn’t try eating. Then once I got that feeding established I moved on to two feedings a day and by 9 months eating 3 meals a day and a snack. At one year eating 3 meals 2 snacks and milk when needed
How soon should I start baby food?
Consult your doctor. I was told 6 months by our ped. and waited until 6 mo. because our daughter was not interested in food until then- she would thrust it out.
Should I first mix it with the rice?
YOu start one food at a time. You begin with the yellow veggies, then green. Do one food a week. Then move on from there.
How many times a day should I feed her baby food?
AT 8 months, we were feeding her twice a day- lunch and dinner. Now, at 10 months, she is getting 3 servings a day.
Because I only give her rice once a day. Should I do it more than once?
No…only once a day. I picked the night feeding and mixed it with breastmilk.
Do i continue rice when I start baby food?
I didn’t finish rice- because she hated it. I went to oatmeal and she loved it and still does.
Good luck and congrats!!
I started at 4 months….I wouldnt mix it with the rice, they might come to expect it everytime. I suggest starting with veggies(introducing the sweet stuff first has a tendency to turn them off to the veggies.)…be sure to introduce one at a tme, this way you can make sure they arent allergic to anything…Usually if they dont have any harsh reactions after 2 or three days, you can introduce a new one. Once youve figured out what they like ect…then you can start mixing…thats when the fun starts.
I suggest rice for breakfast and a small jar of food for lunch or dinner…..have fun!!!
You need to do it in phases -
Start with the rice like you already have
Then move onto oatmeal
Then try barley cereal
Make sure you give each food 3-5 days before introducing a new one to rule out an allergic reaction. Once your daughter has mastered cereal move her onto veggies
Sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash are generally the best to start with since they are sweeter. Then move onto green beans, peas, etc.
Then give her fruits – pears, apples, bananas, peaches, etc.
Then start her on the meats – you can get the stage 2 meals at this point since the meats are generally mixed with apples, or veggies that you have already introduced (provided she hasn’t had any allergic reactions)
You can mix it with the cereal if you want, but there’s really no need to. Definitely still give her cereal while you’re doing this. When we first introduced solids to my son, we’d give him cereal 2 or 3 times a day, and I’d nurse the rest of the time.
When he started on veggies we did cereal in the morning, veggies for lunch, and a combination of veggies & cereal for dinner with nursing in between.
The more foods you introduce the more variety you can offer. Switch it around once you have a handful of foods that you’ve deemed “safe” so she doesn’t get bored.
It will take about 2 months or so to get through most of the foods, so don’t rush it. The last thing you want is for her to have an allergic reaction to something and you can’t pinpoint exactly what caused it.
Good luck – you’ll do fine!
With the exception of my first child I didn’t feed my babies ANYTHING other than breastmilk til they were 6 months old for many reasons….one being that once you start introducing solids they drink less breastmilk and are apt to wean prematurely(something pediatricians think is just great because they don’t want to have to tell a mother when to wean for fear of backlash so they back door get you to wean this way)
By Rice, I HOPE you mean rice cereal. Feeding a child rice itself since they are 3 months is dangerous and a choking hazzard. What you should do to start baby food is simple. Start with “veggies” like sweet potatoes, green peas, carrots, squash, and green beans. After she takes to them well THEN introduce the fruits like apple sauce(homemade) squashed bananas, pears, and peaches. If you intro fruits first they will like the sweet taste and it’ll be hard to get a good relationship formed with veggies. After fruits then you move on to things like chicken and turkey and if you just HAVE to do it, then on to red meats like burgers and things like hotdogs. You don’t have to mix everything with rice cereal. It’s actually easier on their digestion of new foods if you DON’T mix them until they are established. After they’ve grown accustomed to various fruits and veggies and meats then you can get creative mixing in real rice and barley and oats and pastas to make great little combos that babies will enjoy. You should give each thing a week on it’s own to see how they handle it. They may hate it, which you can retry later on (pears are like that for mine I tried and failed 3-4 times before getting them to take it)
Also, you don’t have to BUY baby food!!! It’s the simplest thing in the world to make. All you need to invest in is a food processor(a little one) and a strainer and you are in business. You can also get ice cube trays and freeze individual 1oz servings at a time for ease during busy weeks when you don’t have time to make it. I always took 1 day a month and made huge batches of fruits and veggies and even meats processed them and froze them. It’s especially convienent when you are on the 4th kid for example and can’t hang out making baby food each day. The best part of making your own baby food is that you know what’s in it. No fillers, no preservatives, no hormones, no added salt and sugar(read the labels it’s appaulling!) Best of all, things always taste better cooked fresh no jars to chip glass into the food and no metal shards to get into the baby food(there was a recall of baby food and formula years ago because of these things)
In the beginning just start with the 1 feeding a day and if baby seems to get hungry more often or is waking up frequently then you can try adding a second meal right before bed….before you know it they’ll trade in their purees for food from your plate and that’s just fine as long as they’ve worked their way up to it over time(not in like a week or so).
Start her with the baby food tomorrow if you like. Start her with just lunch or dinner for a few weeks until she gets used to eating solids more than once and then throw in the breakfast for a few weeks and then the 4th meal of the day. At this point you may want to stop feeding her cereal at night, but some babies need that 4th meal to help them sleep through the night. Do not mix it with the rice cereal at first, she needs to learn different textures and tastes, give everything separate until she is used to them. Then if you want to put some fruit in her cereal feel free. Continue baby cereal you should try other kinds like oatmeal and barley for breakfast. Night cereal may not be needed once she is getting 3 solid food meals during the day.
If you mix it in with the rice cereal (Gerber also sells a rice cereal and apple sauce baby food), she will continue to get the iron she needs.
our baby is now 8 months old. We started with dinner only until we had gone through all fruits, then did fruit/cereal for breakfast, and veggies for dinner. Now we do fruit/cereal for breakfast, veggies for lunch, and dinner for…duh dinner.