When Do I Start To Feed Baby Food, Cerial, Semi Hard Foods And Hard Foods To My Baby?
It all depends on the baby. They say cereal at 4 months and baby food follows. I am a mother to a 21 month old daughter and a 6 month old son, I started both of them on cereal at 2 months (off a spoon only) and baby food followed shortly. I stuck with first foods only though until they were about 6 months old. My doctor told me to go ahead and start the cereal and food at 2 months. My daughter was drinking 5-6 8 ounce bottles at 2 months old and my son was drinking about 6-7 7 ounce bottles at 2 months old. They were both only a pound shy of doubling their birth weight by 2 months. My daughter was 8 lbs 6 oz. at birth and 15 lbs. 10 oz. at 2 months. My son was 8 lbs. 7 oz at birth and 15 lbs. 13 oz. at 2 months. They are both extremely healthy and happy children. My daughter is doing things the doctor said most children don’t do til they are 3 and my son has been sitting up on his own since 3.5 months and crawling since 5 months. They are not overweight, my pedi says they are right on track with their weight (my daughter is currently at 30 lbs and my son is at 19 lbs.) or have any digestion problems. I don’t see anything wrong with starting solids before 6 months but like everyone says…every baby is different and I would talk to your doctor.
Experts recommend waiting until 6 months before starting any solids. Start with rice cereal, then introduce pureed fruit and vegetables one at a time, waiting 4 days before starting another new food. Some good early foods are: pear, apple, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato, zucchini, potato, broccoli, cauliflower, banana and avocado. When your baby is coping well with the smooth purees, you can gradually coarsen the texture of the food.
Hard foods pose a choking hazard and should be avoided: until 2 years – raw apple, carrot, celery, marshmallows and other soft lollies; until 3 years – popcorn, jellybeans; until 7 years – whole and roughly chopped nuts, hard lollies.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that for ideal nutrition, your baby should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months, and that nursing should continue after the introduction of solids for at least 12 months and longer if mother and baby wish. The World Health Organization recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, and that breastfeeding be continued for up to two years of age or beyond.
It is a myth that milk is deficient in any vitamin or mineral prior to six months. After that point, increasing those vitamins in the mother’s diet will further enrich the milk. You may continue to exclusively breastfeed longer, say to 8 or 9 months, then gradually weaning by slowly adding solids according to infant interest.
Any time after six months. The digestive system is too immature before this age, even though so many mums start feeding at only a few months. One of the other best ways to know is when they can sit up on their own as you need to be upright to digest food properly. If bub is doing well on milk there is no real rush to begin solids. My son began eating at 6 months as milk wasnt enough by then but my daughter (who was a premmie) didnt start eating solids until 9 months as she was still thriving on milk until then.
Your baby may be ready if he:
Sits with support and has good head control, and
Has doubled his birth weight and weighs at least 13 pounds, and
Continues to be hungry after 8 to 10 breastfeeding , or drinks 32 oz. of formula in a day
when they don’t have the reflex anymore. you know when you feed them something and they still stick their tongue out? until it’s gone you shouldn’t try to feed them hard food since they’re just going to spit it out. (duh). anyway, i hope that helps.
General rule is 6 months for intro of solids but every baby and mum/baby breastfeeding teamwork combination is different.
Babies only need breastmilk or formula till they are 6 months, then you can slowly start to introduce other foods.
Hi There usually from 4 months old you can start feeding your baby cereal and pureed fruit.
Hope this helped.
I am starting my daughter on farex (rice cereal) at 4 months & then fruit & puree veggies when she is about 5-6 months!!
visit http://www.learning-graph.com/recipes.ht… for tips and suggestions .
Baby rice at about 4mts and the rest from 6mts up
soft food-don’t even think about it until six months