Feeding Advice

R.,

I would feed hiim the little jars of the stage one veggies and fruits and see how he does with them. Also, when he is done with the little jar give him his breast milk/formula. My sone is 21 months old and at about 6 months I had him on cereal in the morning, a bottle about 2 hours later, baby food for lunch and a bottle, a bottle between lunch and dinner, then for dinner I would give him another little jar of baby food and a bottle for dinner, then a bottle 2 hours later, and then cereal before bed with whatever of a bottle he wanted. I made sure he had a bottle with every meal even if he wouldn't take all of it, he would take some of it and that ensured me he was still getting plenty of his required nutrients. It sounds like a lot of food but he may eat a little bit a jar at first, you know, only a few bites. But they catch on quick. I did this schedule for about 2 months before I transitioned him to table foods like potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes from my plate. He loved table food and I found that he was less interested in the bottle when I moved him to table food. I still gave him his formula though and let him take what he wanted. By 10 months old I couldn't get him to take formula anymore. I talked to my pediatrician and they told me to go ahead and transition him to milk. He is a far better eater than my oldest son and still is. My advice would be to introduce baby food and if he takes to it keep with it.

yup rice at 3-4 months baby food 5-6 months, just make sure to do one food at a time. have fun watching the faces he makes!

The advice we received from our pediatrician (in line with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics) was to initiate cereal and stage 1 vegetables at 4 months. Neither kid loved veggies, so we did more fruits and moved to things like yogurt around 7-8 months.

Pediatricians used to recommend waiting to introduce certain foods because of possible allergies (e.g. Strawberries, egg whites, peanut butter) until they were older. That changed about 2 years ago.

Here's the link to their current policies if it helps: http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the introduction of solid foods between the ages of 4 and 6 months. http://www.healthychildren.org/English/news/Pages/Introdu...

I've just started the same thing and after a brief conversation with his pediatrician he started one veggie, which he'll continue for 3-5 days (making sure he has no reaction to it) and then do the same thing with another. I have been advised not to introduce fruits first because the kiddies take a liking to those a bit more and may refuse the veggies, but he'll be getting fruit once he gets through a feww veggies...probably within the month.

I was a stickler for "no table food before 6 months" although my younger son was like your baby -- *very* interested in food! And I never did "baby food" or infant cereal -- just fed them straight from the table, if there was something at the table they could safely eat and wasn't too spicy, etc. I would cut up things like boiled carrots into small bits and let him pick them up and feed himself. I've heard that women in the past would pre-chew bits of food to feed their babies, which makes sense to me.

I started the cereal a little after 4 months also, when he was just starving one day. I started out with cereal once a day for a week or so, then 2x, then 3x. After about a month of that, we started real food. I substituted a veggie for a cereal feeding. I was breastfeeding, so I still always nursed him on demand, but tried to do the solids on a mealtime schedule. Then I would nurse afterwards to let him fill up. At first I think I just did one veggie meal a day at lunchtime, and cereals at breakfast and dinner. Then after a couple of months I was mixing cereal and veggie or fruit into every meal.

Definitely follow the 4 day wait rule between foods to make sure he isn't sensitive to anything. I made my own babyfood, so mine never really liked the very thin consistency of jarred stuff. I started with veggies, then did fruits, so he would get a taste for veggies. I did orange/yellow veggies first, then green, then fruits. If he doesn't seem to like something, you have to keep introducing it, it might take up to 10 times before he decides to like or dislike it. I would just go back to something I had already introduced if he refused something.

The only things I avoided at first were things high in acid, or choking hazards, or honey. As he got older, I gave him all kinds of stuff that people were surprised by, but he loved it all. I avoided anything too spicy, but gave him lots of other seasonings like cinnamon and cumin. I just used the 4 day rule on those too. Make sure you don't give him honey, including things like honey graham crackers or honey nut cheerios until he is a year. That is because of botulism, not an allergy issue. I gave mine all the stuff that some people avoid in fear of allergies like strawberries and peanut butter (thinned a lot), and he did fine.

Even if you don't want to make your own babyfood, I included two websites that are great resources for when to introduce things and good food combinations. Also for stuff like which fruits will aggravate diarrhea, or make you constipated. After I had introduced things, I would make sure to feed him a constipating fruit one day, and then the next day he would get the opposite. That way his tummy didn't get upset. And once we were up to three regular meals a day, I would just mix them up. I did yogurt around 8 months or so, I think. Meats I did after that, probably around 9 or 10 months.

Hope all that helps! Good luck!

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/