Solid food schedule?

[braidmama]

Hey all, just started ds with solids about 2 weeks ago. Just oats for now after nursing, and its only been once a day...but I was wondering your babies first solids were? Did you go the cereal route or start with veggie/fruit purees? How many times a day at the beginning did you serve these things? When did you decide to try out more solid meals during the day? Did you offer one at a time for a few days to watch for allergic reactions, or just dive right in?

I know its a lot of questions but I'm just curious! I'm thinking about trying out avocado soon but am not sure if I should continue with the oats while trying these new foods or stop. Our ped said we should offer veggies first bc if we start with fruits ds isn't going to want the veggies, since their sweeter. I think that's pretty silly, myself...

[Knitting Mama]

We won't be starting solids for some time, pretty much waiting as long as Cecilia will let us (she is 1 day younger than your boy). When we do start, my plan is to do avocado first, followed by sweet potato a week or so later, and then go on to introduce more fruits and veggies slowly. We won't be doing purees, completely self-feeding, and I don't want to introduce grains until over a year because of the necessary stomach enzymes for digesting grains.

Here's what I am waiting to see before introducing solids: Sitting independentely, being able to pick food up easily with fingers (pincer grasp, not the palm swipe grasp she does now) and the loss of the infant tongue thrust reflex. So far she's not there on any of them, so we won't be doing solids for a while!

[braidmama]

Oh, okay...yes we were going to wait longer, too. I was hoping for at least 6 months, maybe 7 or really however long it took for him to show more signs or readiness. He wasn't satified with just my milk and would cry a lot until he had more and I really didn't want to supplement my milk...I've only given him a little of the oatmeal once a day and its been a couple of weeks but not even every day. He seems to be doing well with it, I'm thinking then I am just going to switch to fruit and veggies but I'm on the fence.

[Nicole730]

I just started trying a little bit more yesterday and today. I told myself we would do veggies first this time around, but haven't tried any yet! So far, bananas and an apple/plum sauce. She fed herself a few bits of banana and then today I put some of the sauce on the spoon and she brought it to her mouth. I am definitely going to be a little more relaxed about introducing foods this time around. I'm also going to less purees and have her feed herself more than I did with DS. I don't plan on doing any sort of baby rice/oat cereal. When I do introduce grains it will be the "real" stuff.

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by Liz.Furtado

Oh, okay...yes we were going to wait longer, too. I was hoping for at least 6 months, maybe 7 or really however long it took for him to show more signs or readiness. He wasn't satified with just my milk and would cry a lot until he had more and I really didn't want to supplement my milk...I've only given him a little of the oatmeal once a day and its been a couple of weeks but not even every day. He seems to be doing well with it, I'm thinking then I am just going to switch to fruit and veggies but I'm on the fence.

Have you thought of trying frozen breast milk cubes in a mesh feeder? That way he can nom on them himself, they're nothing more than milk, and they have the bonus of helping if he's teething.

[Sorin]

Originally Posted by Liz.Furtado

Oh, okay...yes we were going to wait longer, too. I was hoping for at least 6 months, maybe 7 or really however long it took for him to show more signs or readiness. He wasn't satified with just my milk and would cry a lot until he had more and I really didn't want to supplement my milk...I've only given him a little of the oatmeal once a day and its been a couple of weeks but not even every day. He seems to be doing well with it, I'm thinking then I am just going to switch to fruit and veggies but I'm on the fence.

I know a lot of people here on MDC delay solids, but DD was showing similar signs like your DS, so we started experimenting with solids (she'll be 5 months next week). I had also read that you should start with veggies first because of the sweet fruit thing, but I figured that since breastmilk is so sweet, she's already developed a love of sweet things so I didn't worry about it. We tried at first the rice cereal. She hated it--even mixed with breastmilk. I switched to oat cereal. She hated that, too! One day, I saw a banana on my counter and decided to mash it up and give her a taste. She LOVED IT! To date, she has tasted and loved bananas, carrots, prunes, and peas. I give her a little bit every day, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night. I mix it up so one day it might be carrots, and the next day it might be prunes. I was given a Beaba babyfood maker as a gift, so all the food she has is fresh and organic.

She still nurses like a champ all day and night, has plenty of dirty diapers, and has had no reactions to the food. She has developed such a love of her tasting menu, that when she sees the spoon she opens her mouth like a little bird and starts kicking her legs with excitment. It is so cute!

[rightkindofme]

I'm a big fan of starting with well steamed/baked veggie chunks. If kiddo isn't ready to nom on them then kiddo doesn't really need food yet, in my opinion. We do tend to start with avocado but then again we live in California. I think our kids are required to start with avocado.

[SilverFish]

lots of babies don't really like avacado. mine doesn't anyway. i'm sort of in the middle of BLW and a regular puree schedule. at 6.5 mos, we're definitely still in just tasting territory. she hasn't swallowed more than a miniscule amount of anything she's tried, and it's been a pretty even tie between puree or mushed foods and finger foods. I prefer a more natural introduction of foods, basically, what ever we are eating.

so far, winners have been:
sweet potato mashed with coconut milk
lentil curry
banana (she was kind of on the fence)
pear

finger foods she's enjoyed:
melon (the biggest winner by far)
cheerio type things
green beans
chunks of crusty bread

[jecombs]

With my DD, we waited until she was 6 mo. to start any solids. I plan to do the same with my DS, unless he starts showing me some serious developmental signs that he's ready earlier.
We started DD with mashed (not pureed) banana, then moved on to mashed sweet potato, then mashed avocado. These are still her favorite foods today (she's 3).

[RaeDyCo]

I never started either DS before 6 months and followed the info from Kellymom:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...ay-solids.html

These are great menus that ensure that baby's primary nutrition comes from breastmilk, not solids, for the first year and ensures that mom doesn't lose her supply due to baby eating too many solids, not enough bm.

http://www.mother-2-mother.com/samplemenus.htm

As for the order of foods, I didn't really do cereals, mostly veggies, fruit and some meat (not that either DS liked meat in the early days).

[fruitfulmomma]

My first four started solids around 4 months. With my youngest, who was showing signs of allergies/intolerance, I managed to hold her off until 6-7 months. There is no way she would have waited any longer.

We do not do any cereals, jarred baby foods, or purees. Our children are offered anything off our plates that wouldn't present a choking hazard. (My youngest being an exception to this because she does have numerous food intolerances, but I have to eat the same diet as her due to bf'ing, so again she gets what she wants off my plate.) I do not make special meals for them.

As far as what your doctor said about fruit, I haven't found that to be true. My children all like a wide assortment of foods including plenty of veggies. My youngest for example will sometimes eat a lot of peas (sweet) in one setting and leave other foods alone and the next time she will only eat meat and not touch the peas. Sometimes she'll eat a bit of everything.

[braidmama]

Thanks for all ideas, dudes!

I had a feeling I was going to be reading a lot of posts about his age and starting solids but tbh that wasn't really what i was looking for. I've done plenty of research on the subject...I totally understand the reasoning behind it but I also understand that every baby is different and personally I don't necessarily agree with the signs of readiness guidelines for every baby, but that's just my opinion.

We did start with oats but it isn't commercial baby food, I grind and cook organic oats myself, mixed with a little breastmilk. He has only been eating about one meal of this around noon when I get home from work and after he nurses. I'm know a few people who's babies seemed to enjoy avocado so I'm thinking, just like adults, taste varies from baby to baby. I definitely wouldn't expect all babies to like the same things all the time. I'm planning on trying out avocado, plums, bananas, squash, sweet potato, carrots, etc, but space them out a bit. Not planning on any meats any time within the first year, maybe not even the second. We're not big meat eaters around here but we do eat a small amount of fish. Not really even a lot of that either though. I believe in meals made from whole foods that are mostly plant based. I was really more interested in what people are doing that already have started solids. I have a food mill and have a sweet discount at the natural foods store where I work so everything will be fresh and organic. I'm not planning to overload him with solids, and I definitely agree that babies main source of nutrients and calories should be breastmilk.

Aimee! I love the idea of the frozen bm cubes! DS just started recently with the early signs of teething (isn't weird how some babies have a few teeth already? He has none yet!). I do want to get a couple of those mesh feeders, tbh I kind of forgot about them so thanks everyone who suggested them! I might just used those instead of mashing stuff until he's big enough to self feed more! I have low supply so its rare that I have extra milk but I might be able to try it out.

RaeDyCo ! Thank you for the links! I know about kellymom but the other one is brand new to me! I'll check it out!

Sorin! I'm so glad you understand! Its only been a little while doing this but we are def gonna try out the fruits and veggies. He gets just about all of it down (still makes plenty a mess, though, haha) and opens his mouth as soon as he sees the spoon. he still nurses a lot, too. I have low supply and work til noon every day so as soon as I'm home we spend the entire afternoon and night nursing it feels like! Constantly! We struggled with it for the first couple of months so its so amazing to see how well he's doing with it now. So proud of him ^_^

Everyone else! Thank youu! I'm not singling anyone out, just short on time and have to run!

[JessicaS]

In the beginning solids are really just about experimentation and learning rather than actual nutrition. If any actually gets into your baby that's great but it isn't super important.

In the beginning I generally offer

Bananas
Sweet potato
Squash
beans/lentils
avocado

My son did like his solids and was eating pretty well pretty quickly but my daughter didn't really get into solids until she was 18 months. There is a wide range of normal.

[busymama77]

abimommy is right - there is a very wide range of normal. Both of my boys started solids around 5 or 6 months. For DS1, we started with rice cereal and he enjoyed it. DS2 did not so we moved on to purees. He loves the veggie part - sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, and carrots. We don't read in to about what's in what, we just go with baby's cues and do what we feel is right for him. All you can do, IMO.

[braidmama]

Thank you! That's exactly how I feel! I tend to be very rigid and obsessive and anxious (I'm my family would agree that this is a severe understatement) about everything under the sun so the fact that I don't feel that way about this is a postive thing and I'm going with it!

[Snapdragon]

my almost 6 month old has had

applesauce
pureed plum
pureed squash
thinly cooked and pureed oats
pureed carrots
pureed peach.

Just because fruit is around and fresh right now.
Next I am going to make some simple veggie soups (maybe withpaotatoes or grains added) and puree them.

He seems to me like he needs more than nursing right now. He nurses voraciously and then loves all the food I give him!

I remember reading an article one time about different first foods that parents give their babies all over the world. It varied so much, depending on what they ate! I don't think it is bad to give "sweet" ie fruits early on, or that they won't like other things if you do. As long as you feed them tasty things.

I bought a jar of some kind of organic baby food just to try and I found this particular one to be so gross- both the squash and the carrots. I am not saying by any means that all jarred baby food tastes gross, I have only tried this kind- I forget the name. But it tasted spoiled! I just make fresh food and puree it. I make sure it tastes good to me before I feed it- add a dash of salt to the squash, etc.
I am getting excited to slowly add more foods in.

[Tattooed Hand]

My DD is 9 months (today!) and she was only interested about 2 weeks ago. Because she's a bit older, I have been giving her a steamed version of whatever is going in our food, in large chunks (too big to choke on) for her to eat. She has 6 teeth. There has been some gagging and she barfed a bit a couple of times, but over all she is doing well and juding from her poop, eating a reasonable amount. Except for some buckwheat this morning, it's been mostly fruits and veggies (Carrots, summer squash, cabbage, cucumber, potatoe, pear, peach, apple, and tonight, the bit hit, beets). She loves some more than others. I just give her a selection and let her decide what she wants to eat and how much and just still nurse her on demand. It's going great and she's having a blast. I'm not too worried about nutrition yet though because she's getting all that through breast milk right now.

[mamadelbosque]

Neither. Both boys ate food off our plates from the time they started solids ~7.5 months (Ds1)/8.5 months (ds2 - he took longer to be able to sit up ). I never fed a single spoon full of purees. Aside from like applesauce/ice cream/etc that everyone else was eating w/ a spoon - then he got bites from mine or DH's or whoevers lap he was sitting on... or these days standing infront of and bitching at to share

[Quinalla]

Banana first, then baby oatmeal, then avocado. I put a couple days between introducing stuff at first, but once I got through all the fruits/veggies I could think of, I stopped worrying about it and we did some purees, some mashed/chunks. Some purees because it is easier/faster for me and that is what they give her at daycare. She is starting to not want the purees as much now, but still loves her cereal. But yeah, we did wait until 6 months, though I am sure she would have taken stuff starting around 5 months, but she wasn't unsatisfied hunger-wise, so I figured I would wait as that is the new recommendation. At 9 months she has only found a few things she doesn't like (peaches and prunes) and loves trying new things

Also, the veggies before fruit thing is silly for BF babies IMO, breastmilk is very sweet, just try lots of things IMO and try them again a few times even if they don't like them the first time as they often change their minds later.

[greenemami]

ds just turned six months-we tried some peach puree first, then some mashed up (but still chunky) avocado, and today I mixed a little cereal with the peaches. He liked the avocado and the peach cereal, but I think the peach puree was a little too runny for him. I am planning on doing sweet potatoes next and maybe some whole milk yogurt, and bananss and applesauce. I know I waited to do carrots with dd b/c of nitrates, but I might introduce that sooner this time. I make all my own baby food and will probably move more towards the chunkier side rather than thin purees that I did with dd.

You don't have to stop the oatmeal to introduce something new, just only introduce one new thing at a time in case of allergies. I.e., you can mix fruit into the oatmeal, just one fruit at a time at first.

Okay, my 3-year-old is feeding the baby, better go supervise