Do you give your baby food everyday?

[Adaline'sMama]

DD is six months old. We've been experimenting with solids for a few weeks, but she mainly just has breastmilk. In the past couple of days, it seems like she wants food so so bad, and when I give her any she scarfs it down. Yesterday I gave her some food, and she really wailed on it. Today I didnt give her anything until about 6 pm. She started getting really fussy, and she didnt want to nurse. She had nursed for about 30 minutes and then decided she was done, but was still super fussy. I gave her 3 oz. of juice (1/2 normal amount of sugar baby juice) in her sippy cup and it was gone in less than 2 minutes.

Do it sound like she isnt satisfied with breastmilk being the only thing she gets, or do you think it could be teething or a growth spurt?

[MJB]

Holly, you've seen my boys eat. We wait until 6 mos. to start but from that point forward they eat solids 2-3x a day. They also drink water out of a sippy starting before 6 mos. They both nursed a lot at that age and beyond, too.

An example of a meal for one of my 6 mo. olds would be one of these:
-a whole avocado, sliced
-a banana and some Os
-a peach or pear (Luka could eat one whole, including the peel, by 7 mos)
-1/2 cup of black beans
-a few homemade sweet potato fries (slice sweet potato, toss with olive oil, bake)
-cooked whole baby carrots

They were mostly eating the same food as us around 9-10 mos. and it was a gradual transition for the month or two before.

[Fujiko]

I've only started feeding my almost 8-month-old daily. He's done fine with just breastmilk. He loves solids, too.

I wouldn't give a baby juice. It's really not much better than sugar water. Heck, even if I had just eaten, if someone gave be a cup of yummy liquid I'd never had before, I'd drink it too! But it's not very nutritious. I'd stick with breast milk for liquid, or water if I had to, but as long as a baby is still nursing mostly, he shouldn't really need water.

[nola79]

I do offer my 7 month old food everyday. Some days she eats a lot, some days she's not interested.
I also don't give juice.

[GuavaGirl]

I give my 7 month old food twice a day. Usually 3 cubes (previously frozen in ice cube tray) of puree.

Typical combos:
(1 cube of each)

Turkey, green beans, apple
Chicken, butternut squash, plum
Turkey, sweet potato, spinach
Chicken, zucchini, peach


I honestly have no clue if I'm doing it right, but that's just sort of what I've done. There seems to be so much difference of opinion (as with adult nutrition too) that's it's really hard to find the "right" thing to do. I've just sort of gone with my gut. I tend to think paleo type eating is the healthiest.

[Sfcmama]

My 7mo is still not accepting solids but I wanted to share that she went through a MAJOR growth spurt around 6 mo where I felt like I was nursing all day. We tried solids thinking she was really hungry and/or ready for them but all she wanted was breastmilk (and lota of it!).
HTH!

[tzs]

i was feeling confused about this back in the day.....especially about how many times a day i would do solids....
i just took my SIL's advice, she's no expert but she's done it 5 times over. she just straight up said to do as many times a day as you want, once a day, every meal, whatever....but once you do you better be consistent and do it everyday. so i did. some meals she wouldn't really eat but didn't matter, we still sat and ate together.
the only thing i was bad about was lunch. that's my running-around time and i skip it alot. i wan't sure at what point i would have to bring her something or make sure to be home (we can't just stop and eat anywhere....kosher deal-io) i guess at a certain point around 10 or 11 months or so it just became more obvious that solids lunch was an important meal to her and i should plan for it, whether it was being home by a certain time, bringing a snack, or grabbing a banana somewhere.

[Snapdragon]

My ds is six months. He still gets 99% (or whatever) of his food and nutrition needs from Breastmilk but I am feeding him food almost once a day now. I feel like I sohuld be adding food in more and more.
Sometimes I just don't have it prepared and nursing is still easier.
He has had pureed fruits, pureed squash. I want to get some more veggies into him and maybe some grains. anyway- I think it is fine to feed them food every day but also just see what his needs are and be flexible, I guess!
I am trying not to stress about it- because I do a little bit when he is nursing and seems super hungry and I am like- I better get better prepared with the solids! but he gets full and satisfied from nursing so essentially I am figuring out that we can find a balance somewhere.
Added in- this thread just inspired me- so right now I am boiling some fresh veggies and I am gonna puree them and add a little butter and salt- yum- and offer them to ds

[Adaline'sMama]

Well, it sounds like I need to be feeding her solids more regularly. I guess there was just a part of me that is sad for her to not be EFB.

Mandy- she does love avacado and any kind of bean. Did you mush up black beans or feed them whole?

tzs- I totally havent been consistent. Maybe that is why when she eats solids one day, the next day she seems like Im starving her.

[MJB]

We did them whole; they were great because they are so nutritious and no prep required. I remember ordering a cup of beans whenever we went out to Qdoba or a Mexican restaurant. They're perfect for working on their pincer grasp, too (along with O's, which we started with wheat-free ones).
I can't wait until Edie hits 6 mos. so she'll have something to do other than scream for attention when I'm trying to eat my dinner!

[Nicole730]

My daughter is 6.5 months and she gets offered food - so far just a fruit every 2-3 days. She does get kind of excited while we're doing it, but total intake is low. So I'm just staying really relaxed about it.

[beebalmmama]

At six months my little guy was getting something offered mostly every day, once a day. I wasn't too worried about it at that age and so if we skipped a day or two it was no problem. Most of the time at 6 months he wasn't ingesting much. Most of what I offered in the beginning was whatever I was eating if appropriate. By 7.5 - 8 months he was getting solids at least once a day if not twice.

[Mama2mc]

DS didn't really eat solids every day till he was around 1.

[~Em~]

I didn't start the last two on solids until about 7mos, so no, they didn't get it every day and were fine (all my babies are really big, so calories were not an issue). Even until a year old, there were probably days that they just had breastmilk. I don't give juice until closer to 2, but they did get water in a sippy.

[beep]

My 9 month old has loved solid food since he started at 6.5 months. At the beginning we did 1 solid meal per day but pretty quickly progressed to 3 meals per day (by about 7.5 months), plus nursing. My son loves his solids and also loves nursing. He has different cries to ask for each. He usually eats 1/4-1/2 cup of puree (fruit, veggies, and/or meat) plus 1/4-1/2 cup of finger foods per meal. He has always been small, but is growing well and staying up with his growth curve.

[Quinalla]

I think once you start, it makes sense to offer once a day, if they don't eat it fine, but they start to expect it so it makes sense to stick to the routine. Sure, if you miss a day sometime no big deal, but I don't see any benefit in not offering once a day especially if your baby seems to want to eat once a day. We started just after 6 months and went from 1-2x a day pretty quick and then to 3x a day after that. At 10 months now I just go with the flow, during the week 3-4x a day is normal (one of those is a snack at daycare, not really a meal) and on weekends 2-5x is normal depending on how busy we are and whatnot.

[jennybear]

Since about 8 months (almost 9 months now), DD has been eating three squares a day. She's definitely into food and has been since we started a bit before 6 months.

I was pretty random about it for a while (some days she'd get three meals, others just one, etc.) but found her digestive system did a lot better when her meals were regular. She still nurses a lot, too.

[THBVsMommy]

DD is 8 months and just started eating every single day. She has atleast 1 solid meal a day with us (usually dinner). She loves sampling, but most of the time would rather play with the food as opposed to eat it.

[ErinYay]

We started solids at 5 months (she has been sitting alone since 4.5 months, and displayed many signs of readiness) but she didn't get daily solids until about 8 months. She now gets 3 "meals" a day and nurses regularly.

[beautifulnm]

Musashi drinks water out of a cup (not sippy) and eats two-three meals a day. He's losing interest in milk. He eats fruit and cereal for breakfast, vegetables and meat for lunch and whatever I feel like for dinner. He displayed EARLY interest in food but I held off on feeding him solids until he was about 5.5 months but once he started it was game over. He loves food. When I eat and I hold him he tries his best to stick his hands in it and feed himself; he tried to eat kalua pork at a restaurant one day X_x Like straining and reaching for it with both hands.