Q&A: starting baby on solids|Questions on starting baby on solids?

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starting baby on solids–: Questions on starting baby on solids?
Everyone seems to say that people shouldn’t start rice cereal until 6 months. I was trying to do some research online and it says to start solids between 4-6 months. Personally, I think my son will be ready at 4 months, but I plan to wait until at least 4.5 months…until after he sees the doctor for his 4 month check up. Just wondering what people thought about starting a 4 1/2 month old on cereal and if anyone else has done it. Please no negative comments that I’m starting him to young because I’m not 100% positive yet that I am going to start him at that time. I’m a first time mom and this is all new to me. I’m just trying to figure this out just like any other first time mom.

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Answer by Do your own thinking.
“trying to do some research online and it says to start solids between 4-6 months”

No reputable source is still advising 4mo. Beware of baby food advertising masquerading as “information.”

Useful: nttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080321134522AAJdBps

Answer by Aiden’s Mommy!
It gets confusing doesn’t it! I’m also a 1st time Mom & began my son on solids (rice cereal) at 6 months. I just wanted to give his body time to grow & get used to his milk 1st. But if you think your baby is ready then go for it He’s now on stage 2 fruits & veggies. When he turns 10 months I plan on giving him homemade foods. Good luck!

Answer by Kelly J
i think you should try and keep him on milk until 6 months but if he seems to hungry and is drinking bottle after bottle of milk that maybe you should put him on solids at around 4 months old, but just baby rice. i think its just a guide line really i mean on the baby jars it says for 4-6 months if it really matters they would not be allowed to put that on the jars. also i think they are always changing something when it comes to baby’s, i would go with what you feel is right

Answer by psa73
The pediatrician will tell you to wait until 6 months, unless the baby is failing to thrive. There is no reason to start earlier, and the baby’s digestive system is not ready. Not trying to give you a negative response, just the facts.

Answer by michael’s mommy ]
my sons pediatrics told me i can start him on rice ceral+stage 1 solids at 4 months but i waited until 4 1/2 to give him cereal&stage 1 solids. but i dont like rice cereal it constipates my son…so i gave him oatmeal.

Answer by Volks
My first child had severe reflux so the doctor told me to start solids at 4 months, saying it would help with the reflux. So I started them, and it didn’t help, it just made her spit up in different colors!

So I stopped them and restarted her on them around 6 months.

With my second, I started right about 6 months.

Yes, the research says 4-6 months, but there are risks starting earlier than 6 months. It can contribute to allergies, diabetes, and weight problems. The truth is that a baby’s system really can’t handle solids at 4 months old.

It’s preferable to wait until 6 months for those reasons. Doctors will say to start at 4 months when they sense the mother is getting impatient, but there’s no benefit in starting at 4 months.

Also, rice cereal is often used as a first food because it’s unlikely to cause an allergic reaction, but you should know that those infant cereals are about as nutritiious as the box it comes in. Yes, they are loaded with vitamins and minerals, but nearly all of it is NOT bioavailable.

For instance, the iron in infant cereals is about 4% bioavailable, meaning only 4% of the iron in it can be absorbed by the baby. The other 96% gets excreted, which can cause constipation.

Regardless of when you start, infant cereals are unnecessary. They’re not inherently dangerous either, but they can contribute to obesity and diabetes. And you should also keep in mind they are not really getting anything out of them.

Answer by Happy HBAC Mama
Every baby is different. Please go by your baby’s signs that he is ready. If you try and he seems really interested, then keep going. If you try and baby is just spitting it all out, then just hold off and try again in a week or two, until baby is ready. I started one baby out at 4 months, and then started my second baby out at 3 months. The doctor said go for it as long as he is happy about it. (Please note: my son was 10 lbs at birth)
You will get people saying 4 months and you will get people saying 6 months. No one really knows your baby like you do, so just ask him.

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by basykes

starting baby on solids
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Question–: when starting my breastfed baby on solids, do i have to start with rice cereal or can i start with vegies?
I tried rice cereal at first, but it seems to make my baby constipated… my baby is five and a half months and has been breastfed only. I was going to wait till six months to start solids but he has shown a real interest in our food and when I fed him some rice cereal to see how he does, he loved it. He wanted more and more but I only gave him a teaspoon full because that’s what I have read you should start them with. After only two night-time feedings of one teaspoon full rice cereal followed by breastmilk, my baby stopped pooing for a week!!! I stopped the rice cereal after the two feedings because he didn’t go and I thought that was strange. We had to give him a glycerine suppository which worked. He went the day we gave it him and the next day and now it’s been five days again since he has had a bowel movement and I am becoming concerned again. I really would like to be able to start the solids because my breastmilk is very low at night and he still seems very hungry.

The answer in the following: (Hint: The correct answer provided by the users, does not guarantee the right.)

Answer by Debbie V
Poor baby glycerine suppository!! Put a little sugar or Karo syrup in his rice cereal. It’ll do the job naturally. Or give him an ounce of apple juice.

You don’t have to use rice cereal, but it is very digestible. I mixed a tablespoon or two of green beans (gerber) or applesauce (gerber) or peas, just any of the easily digested types of baby food. Stay away from yams (gassy) and squash until he’s a little older.

Babies think that they’re still hungry with the rice cereal because it expands in their stomach once it meets other fluids.

My mother tells me she knew it would happen, but I would scream because I was hungry after 6 oz of formula + rice. So she’d give me another 2 oz which would stay down for 10 minutes and then come back up (not vomit, just like it went in) as the rice expanded and I was too full.

I’m not telling you that your son isn’t still hungry. A little spoon of rice is not very much. Just take it slowly (feed him slowly) so his body can tell him he’s not hungry before he reaches the overfull stage.

Don’t let him go more than 3 days without a bowel movement. That IS time for glycerin suppository. I just hate them because I’ve had to use them on myself before.

There is a product on the market called “Miralax.” I can’t imagine it not being safe for babies, but check that first. You sprinkle it on your food, it becomes undetectable, but it promotes moisture in the lower digestive tract, and works like a charm with NO side effects at all. I’m chronically constipated, and I can’t use Miralax every day or I get the runs.

I’d like to tell you that I am a writer by profession. My book was published privately for use as school curriculum, 31 stories. So if I seem long-winded, I come by it honestly.

Take care.

Debbie
Not an expert

Answer by mystic_eye_cda
There is NO need for rice cereal for any baby, not to mention have you read what is in it? If you *really* want to introduce rice as a first food you can make your own rice cereal from whole grain rice and it would be more nutritious and less constipating because it won’t contain synthetic iron. However grains as a first food, particularly for the breastfed baby is a dubious idea as grains are poorly digested. Grains are also poor source of protein, fat, and zinc which babies need to properly grow and for proper brain development.

In my opinion the best way to start solids is with baby-led introduction to solids. This allows a baby to feed themselves and therefore take advangtage of the babies in-built protection against eating before they are ready, over eating, etc. Baby-led is also more fun and less stressful for most babies and among the moms I know (admittedly not a huge number) it seems to prevent picky eaters:
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html
Cereal is not at all necessary, particularly the baby cereals. Regular (whole grain) oatmeal is more nutritious for your baby.

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/ci2.asp
Why do health care professionals choose these starting foods when they know they will make most babies constipated? Good question. Even my own Baby Book lists these as starting foods.

The truth is, there is nothing special about these foods that makes them better to start out with. Babies don’t actually even need rice cereal.

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/firstfoods.html
Commercial, iron-fortified cereals are often the first foods served to babies who are not breastfeeding because they need the extra iron, but breastfed babies are rarely anemic as the iron in human milk is well-utilized. If there is concern about the baby’s iron levels, a simple test can be done in the doctor’s office.

Whole grain cereals, breads and crackers are the most nutritious. Wait until later in the year before offering wheat products. If you use cereals, make sure that they only have one ingredient and use either water or your own milk for mixing. Many mothers prefer to let their older babies chew on a hard bagel or an end of bread instead of sugary teething biscuits.

http://www.westonaprice.org/children/nourish-baby.html
Finally, respect the tiny, still-developing digestive system of your infant. Babies have limited enzyme production, which is necessary for the digestion of foods. In fact, it takes up to 28 months, just around the time when molar teeth are fully developed, for the big-gun carbohydrate enzymes (namely amylase) to fully kick into gear. Foods like cereals, grains and breads are very challenging for little ones to digest. Thus, these foods should be some of the last to be introduced. (One carbohydrate enzyme a baby’s small intestine does produce is lactase, for the digestion of lactose in milk.1)

[...]

Babies do produce functional enzymes (pepsin and proteolytic enzymes) and digestive juices (hydrochloric acid in the stomach) that work on proteins and fats.12 This makes perfect sense since the milk from a healthy mother has 50-60 percent of its energy as fat, which is critical for growth, energy and development.13 In addition, the cholesterol in human milk supplies an infant with close to six times the amount most adults consume from food.13 In some cultures, a new mother is encouraged to eat six to ten eggs a day and almost ten ounces of chicken and pork for at least a month after birth. This fat-rich diet ensures her breast milk will contain adequate healthy fats.14

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
Protein digestion is incomplete in infancy. Gastric acid and pepsin are secreted at birth and increase toward adult values over the following 3 to 4 months. The pancreatic enzyme amylase does not reach adequate levels for digestion of starches until around 6 months, and carbohydrate enzymes such as maltase, isomaltase, and sucrase do not reach adult levels until around 7 months. Young infants also have low levels of lipase and bile salts, so fat digestion does not reach adult levels until 6-9 months.

http://www.westonaprice.org/children/nourish-baby.html
In the US, Dr. Nancy Krebs headed up a large infant growth study that found breastfed infants who received puréed or strained meat as a primary weaning food beginning at four to five months grew at a slightly faster rate. Kreb’s study suggests that inadequate protein or zinc from common first foods may limit the growth of some breastfed infants during the weaning period. More importantly, both protein and zinc levels were consistently higher in the diets of the infants who received meat.16 Thus, the custom of providing large amounts of cereals and excluding meats before seven months of age may short-change the nutritional requirements of the infant.17

http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVDec99Jan00p130.html
If protein, zinc, or other nutrients are not provided in solid foods, the amount a baby receives from breast milk could be insufficient for optimal growth during the weaning period. Therefore, adding meat to the diet early in the weaning period may be beneficial.

Meat provides additional protein, zinc, B-vitamins, and other nutrients which may be in short supply when the decrease in breast milk occurs. A recent study from Sweden suggests that when infants are given substantial amounts of cereal, it may lead to low concentrations of zinc and reduced calcium absorption (Persson 1998). Dr. Nancy Krebs has shared preliminary results from a large infant growth study suggesting that breastfed infants who received pureed or strained meat as a primary weaning food beginning at four to five months, grow at a slightly faster rate. Dr. Krebs’ premise is that inadequate protein or zinc from complementary foods may limit the growth of some breastfed infants during the weaning period. Both protein and zinc levels were consistently higher in the diets of the infants who received meat (Krebs 1998). Thus the custom of providing large amounts of cereal products and excluding meat products before seven months of age may not meet the nutritional needs of all breastfed infants.

http://www.enlink.org/pt/re/nestle/abstract.00005176-200201000-00009.htm;jsessionid=GnMLmQXlG1np2wnnlZZx2n2zJJy10ppGVhdm8w85X7jv1cscTQxw!29071008!181195628!8091!-1
Conclusions: These results confirm that meat as a complementary food for breast-fed infants can provide a rich source of dietary zinc that is well absorbed. The significant positive correlation between zinc intake and exchangeable zinc pool size suggests that increasing zinc intake positively affects metabolically available zinc.

Answer by Toddlers ate my brain
Don’t bother with the boxed startch. My kids both started on veggies. it broadens their palates far more than flavorless goo does and has far more nutritional value.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2067856.ece

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

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

Answer by su_france2003
Certainly, cut the rice cereal – also Miralax is best avoided as it’s been linked with ADHD amongst other things.

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