How long did you wait to introduce solids to your babe?

[MamaKoala]

How long did you wait to introduce solids to your babe?

[stormborn]

We waited until 10 mos to introduce, but she was 12 mos before she showed any real interest. Even now at 14 mos she is still mostly bfed.

[Piglet68]

Well, I can't vote b/c 3 month old DD is not on solids. But I plan to hold off as long as possible. I will wait until she is really asking for them, showing an obvious interest, etc. And even then I am not in any hurry to rush the transition. Basically, I'm going to let her decide when and how much.

[its_our_family]

Tracy drove us nuts!!! for solids at 5 months!! So I reluctantly started them. He had more time with his hands in our plates than he did with them anywhere. He just gave us these looks of longing and watched every bite. As we would bring our fork to our mouth he would make hard nursing oises and chewing motions. So I started them. He is doing good but is only on his 3rd thing. So far he likes greenbeans the best. Which is weird because dh and I HATE them!!!

[hawleyclan]

Hi! Ours usually start reaching for food around 8 months give or take... peas, green beans, beans, corn... they love to pick them out of a bowl and eat them, one-by-one...

It is a fun time to watch!

The Lord bless you!
Zoie

[mtn. mama]

With my first I naively started solids about 4 mos. Big mistake!!! He ended up with multiple food allergies! So I stopped and held off until about 7 mos. His allergies have only begun to diminish. With my daughter I used my experience and waited until about 10 mos. Now with our 5 mos. boy I am again going to wait as long as possible for his own timing.

[Starfire]

I waited till he was past a year. He never reached for anything, and was fine just on the breast. I also stayed home with him for the first year. Also every one was saying how not to give them honey, peanut butter, milk, orange juice, till after a year. So I just waited to give him anything.

Now I am due in April and I am also most possitive that because I will be going back to work, and dad will be homw he will feed it at the Book reconmended 4-6 months. We "talk" about this often but he is the one home, and not willing to drive it to my work (one mile away) if he runs out of pumped milk. (with my son I would pump for ever and noting would come out) so we'll see.

[Ivanhoe]

I sterted around 8 months, but he got congested and I delayed it until he was 9 months. However, he was not really eating until he was one year old. Now, at 18 months, some days it amazes me how much he can eat.

[RachelGS]

We just started solids at 5 months! I hadn't planned to even think about it yet, but Abigail was NOT KIDDING. She had been watching me eat for weeks, and got to the point of kicking, insistent vocalizing, and frantic reaching for my fork or cup. I decided that listening to what she was telling me was more important than watching the calendar. She is thrilled! I miss exclusively bf-ing, but it's a great pleasure to see her learning and enjoying herself so much!

[lucina3]

All of my girls started solids at 4 months-ish. With any more babies I have I'll probably start them a little later, probably 6-9 months-ish.

[tara]

I remember reading that you will know when your baby is ready to start solids, and it's true! At 5 months Jackson was watching us eat, following our forks with his hungry eyes, mimicking our chewing and smacking his chops. By 6 months he was trying to steal food off our plates and getting frustrated that we weren't getting the idea. So, we gave him bananas at 6 months and he ate 1/2 a banana right off the bat. He loves solids, eats like a piggie (still nurses like a piggie, too).

[thistle]

I intended to wait past 6 months for dd too. But at 5 months she was diving for our plates and grabbing things off, so I went ahead. She started belly crawling at 5 1/3 months and now at just over 6 months is full on hands and knees crawling and getting FAST!! Like some of the other moms I let her take the lead rather than the calendar.

Now when DH & I sit for dinner she wants to have something too.

thistle

[cottonwood]

We also started when the babies really showed interest, which with all of them has been 8-9 months.

[Susan123]

Our DS wanted to eat, so we introduced solids early. I don't regret it at all, in fact I'm really happy about it. DS is not a picky eater like other toddlers we know - he loves food, especially fruits and veggies. He tried a bite or two of banana around 3.5 mos, but didn't really eat more than a bite of fruit once every few days until he was 5 mos. At 5 mos on the dot he started really demanding to eat, although even then it was only about an ounce at a time, about once a day. It's not like it's an overnight thing, they don't suddenly start in on 3 meals a day. That surprised me a little, how gradual it is when you just follow their cues. To me, listening to what your baby wants and asks for is at the heart of AP, so that's what we did. There's no history of allergies in our family either, so that helped us out. By about a year, he was up to regular meals/snacks.

[Curious]

Dd had no interest in solids until after her first 4 teeth simultaneously broke fully through the gums at 12.5 months. I'd been sitting her in the high chair and giving her food, but it was really face paint. When her teeth were through, she suddenly lunged for the hummous I was eating.

I didn't want to start her on solids early because Dh has a family history of allergies. The only reason I pushed at all is because I have low supply and I've been hoping that I could replace supplements via bottle with real food.

Over the past weeks Dd has really increased her intake. She went from 4 supplements per day to 2 over that time, and today I was on the way to the refrigerator to get her afternoon supplement, when she pointed to a cup of yogurt I'd left sitting out about an hour before. So she ate that and just played with her supplement.

I don't see how giving solids can be anything other than baby-led. Dd is very clear what she wants (usually what's on my plate), when she wants it (generally when I'm eating it), and when she is done.

[z-girl]

Can anyone figure out why this poll is in the Nightwaking forum? I guess I'm just being tidy, but I think this belongs in Life with a Babe.

[Curious]

z-girl,

When I saw this thread I thought maybe it had something to do with the rumors that sleep can be disrupted when solids are started. Someone here proposed that this suggests allergies.

I noticed that when Dd started taking more foods, she did in fact seem to sleep a little more lightly. It was most noticable when she first really started increasing the amount of food she took, for about 3 nights.

But no one talked about this, so I figure at some point one of the moderators will move this. But it's an interesting topic.

[Susan123]

I think it's here because of the theory that starting solids helps a baby sleep without waking and needing to nurse as often.

From my experience, in some cases it does help. In other cases the baby gets gassy and wakes more. And most of the time it makes no difference at all in waking.

[z-girl]

I thought maybe it was the food/sleep connection, but I didn't really see it mentioned. No biggie!

[Mary-Beth]

dd showed some interest at 4 months and by 5 months was grabbing for anything she could...but I held out until she was a bit over 6 months old. (Gave her sips of water to hold her over and let her play with a spoon) I decided to wait until she was sitting well unassisted, VERY interested, had doubled her birth weight AND was at least 6 months old.