When To Introduce New Baby Foods To My 4 1/2 Mth Old?
I started her on rice cereal @ 4 mths. She’s now up to 2 tbsp twice a day at breakfast & dinner time. When should I start introducing new foods, like the veggies & fruits?
A: I started giving her vegetables at around 5 months..I chose Heinz and only gave her the vegetables in the beginner category (carrots, peas, squash). Fruit and meat came at 6 months. She loved the vegetables and ate all her por!
A: A good general rule of thumb is not to go by age alone, but development as well. A baby is ready to start solids when:
1. She has doubled her birth weight
2. She can sit well with support
3. She can move the food to the back of the mouth with her tongue
4. She shows interest in other foods, like what you are eating
5. She is drinking 2 oz for every pound she weights in a 24hr period, and is still hungry.
These are just guidelines because every baby is different. But as with turning her to face front in the car, there are guideline to follow to show she is ready. Most babies achieve these things between 4 and 6 months.
When you do start with foods, start with cereal mixed with formula or breast milk at her most hungry time of day (usually morning). Once she has mastered moving the food to the back of her tongue and swallowing, then you can move on to 1st foods.
I read all the nutrition labels and found that Beechnut were the most nutritious (Gerber are close, but I think they have gotten lazy with their nutrition and are riding on the fact that they are Gerber)
Try 1 new food every week, and just that food all week to find any allergies. Allergies present with rash, vomiting, and diarrhea. It takes most babies 10 tries of the food before they actually show they like it or not, so just because she spits it out the first 4 or 5 times, keep trying until about 10. If she still refuses that food, don’t force it; try it again in a couple months.
Once baby has tried and been ok with a food, you can mix it with other foods she has tried. Cereal can be mixed with any fruit, or even veggie. It may sound nasty to you, but baby will love it.
Usually 1 or 2 spoon feedings per day is all baby will need until around 6 to 7 months, when you may want to up it to 3, breakfast lunch and dinner, with bottles in between.
Babies are actually more in tune with their bodies than you may think. If she is not ready, she will not eat it. She will spit it out. Babies have a reflex to reject solids until they are ready. As they are ready, that reflex fades.
Feeding a baby solids will not cause them to be fat, or speed or delay their development in any way. The only thing that you should not do when introducing solids is to put them in the bottle, or even those seemingly nifty baby feeder bottles that are meant for baby food. The muscles used for sucking from a bottle and those used for eating with a spoon are very different, and it is important for baby to distinguish the 2. Also, cereal in the bottle has been shown to cause diabetes. The sugars in the cereal are charged by those in the milk when there is such a high level of milk to cereal. As it sits in the bottle, it becomes extremely sweat, and thusly, very unhealthy.
Other than that, if baby meets all the guidelines, are you think she is ready, go ahead and try it. The worse that will happen is she will spit it out because she is not ready, and you can try again later.
Also, starting with fruit will not make baby reject veggies, and starting with veggies will not make baby any healthier that fruit. Try which ever you want 1st, then go to then the other. Switch back and forth until baby has tried them all.
It is good to talk to her doc as well, he will know if your baby is ready
A: In the UK we are now being advised to keep babies on milk only until the age of 6mths but as your baby grows their appetite grows with them and they really do need more than this. You’ve done the right thing starting her on baby rice and if she’s got the hang of feeding from a spoon you could try her now, introducing small amounts of each new food at a time, possibly mixed with baby rice initially.
I wish that I had done veg only initially as my daughter had a naturally sweet tooth and preferred fruit. She still won’t eat carrots and she’s 8 now
A: I started all my kids around 4 months old. I started with green beans and peas, then a few weeks later we tried fruit. I also mixed a little cereal with their veggies because they hated the runny texture, same with the fruit. If that’s your little girl in your avatar she is absolutely adorable! I love the hat!
A: Start with green veggies. Like peas or green beans. You should wait until the five month mark. Then, try banannas or applesauce. I would alternate between introducing new veggies and fruits.
A: You can start now!! I started my son at 4 months!! He did great!! Just start w/ veggies and give her the same thing like 2-3 days in a row for allergy purposes!! you start w/ veggies b/c the fruit is sweet and it will be harder to move them to veggies if you start w/ fruit
A: well that depends on how much she likes cereal..though doctors recommend to wait till 6 months but my doctor gave my son an ok sign at 4 months to start solid..it depends on his/her development as well..start very small..give her a small 1-2 spoons of mashed banana..see her reaction…does she try to have more?is she happy with the taste.?if so..its a sign to give her some fruits like banana and vegetables like carrots..give it a shot..
A: It all depends on your baby, because I started cereal with my daughter also at four months and she did not like it. So I started giving her the baby food jars of oatmeal and fruit and she has been just fine ( she is know 8 months) and now eats almost anything baby food and some table food. The doctors will tell you to wait until your baby is 6 months of age until you give them baby food but if your baby is not getting full then I would just use your own judgement. Just no citrus, peanuts or real milk unitl a year old.
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