Feedings! - Fairport,NY

I didn't feed my son 3 meals a day until he was almost 1. My thoughts were to enjoy the lack of schedules meals as long as possible, lol!

Also, my DS never got the hang of a sippy cup, we went straight to straw cups.

Don't worry too much if he doesn't get the hang of stuff. It's easy for a pedi to say things like that. Unfortunately, no one bothers to tell the kiddos!

At 8 months my son's schedule looked something like this:

6:00 – Wake and nurse
8:00 – Breakfast (usually fruit and some cheerios-he didn't not like rice cereal)
9:00 – Nurse
10:00 –Nap
12:00 – Nurse
1:00 – Lunch (usually a vegetable and a grain and a sippy cup with water)
2:00 – Nap
3:00 – Nurse
5:00 – Dinner (vegetable, fruit or grain depending on what I felt like he didn't eat much of earlier in the day and offer water)
7:00 – Nurse and bedtime routine

Shortly after he turned 8 months I introduced yogurt, which he loved and has often for breakfast now. At 8 months I was offering finger foods at every meal, but always feeding him something on a spoon too (sometimes pureed, but sometimes if it was like rice or something he would just eat it whole). At around 10 months he decided he would not take food off of a spoon anymore and he prefers to eat with his hands all the time now. Cut up fruit, cheerios or other cereal, cooked peas,sweet potato, corn or carrots, he loves pita with hummus and it's a great source of protein. Pancakes are great too. At this point (he's a year now) if we are eating it he will too, but if I try to give him something that looks like baby food he rejects it. Just follow his lead and offer plenty of healthy options and he'll get what he needs. Oh, and as for the sippy cup my son would only drink a little here and there initially and I knew he was getting enough liquid nursing so I didn't worry about it (he also only drinks from the take and toss ones, not any of the spill proof ones-you have to suck too hard with those). Now he drinks out of a sippy cup with now problem, a regular cup with help and a straw. Again, just offer lots of options and he'll get the hang of it.

C.,
I nurse for 9 months exclusively. Then I start meals. If your formula is fortified you need not be worried. Just start with Rice cereal. My kids have always liked the oat cereal the best. And it is also easy to switch from that to oatmeal after a few months. You can mix any fruits or vegetables with the cereal. Any soft fruits are good, like bananas and small pieces of peaches and pears. Cooked vegetables are a good choice as well. Any crackers that dissolve quickly are great too. A baby food grinder is a wonderful thing to have. I pretty much give my babies whatever we are eating, just ground up. At around nine months they do like to pick things up, so offer small little pieces of soft food and he will be so happy:) You can test if it is soft enough by trying to squish it with your tongue.
Good luck
E.

We started both of our kids on solids at 4 months per the direction of our pediatrician, and both were eating finger food around 7-8 months.

Here's a recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics on solid foods:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

I'd start with things like cooked frozen vegetables (mixed vegetables were our kids favorite - we removed the green beans pending number of teeth), shaven lunch meats from the deli, string cheese/cheese sticks, real American cheese from the deli, slices of apples/pears for them to gnaw on, scrambled eggs, toast, etc.

Anything that doesn't pose a choking hazard and isn't a known family food allergen is all within the AAP's policies on introducing solids - no foods are off limits any longer, but you should introduce new foods with a few days in between to make sure possible allergic reactions can be identified.

I tried giving my son finger foods around 9 months, but he had a hard time with chewing and would gag on them. I tried cheerios and gerber puffs which pretty much dissolve in their mouth, but he would still gag. I would start with things like that first but you may find that he can't chew them right away. I think my son was 11 months when he really started to chew finger foods well. I used to just give him a jar of stage 3 baby food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also remember giving him oatmeal with smashed up banana for breakfast a lot too. My son didn't start using a sippy cup until he was 15 months old. I would try these things now, but don't be surprised if it takes a while for him to catch on to all of this. Good luck!!

Honestly, I wouldn't stress over it too much. My daughter didn't eat ANY solid foods until she was nearly a year old. She would drink water from a normal cup independently by 7 months (we never used a sippy). One day, when we were eating Indian food, R snagged a piece of Tandori chicken and ever since she'll eat anything palatable (when mom messes up in the kitchen its a totally different story :P).

We skipped the whole spoon feeding stage here as well. Gave R a spoon and her serving of what we were having and let her feed herself. Sometimes she would use the spoon and sometimes her fingers. So pretty much everything from rice and peas to cream soup and mashed potatoes were "finger foods" here :D

Hi C.,
I would start with avocado--perfect first food, loaded with vitamins, no need to cook or blend. Super soft pasta that has holes, like rigatoni, penne, wheels. Tofu is easy to cube and it is already soft. Bake homemade fish sticks using tilapia (boneless), egg and flour. Also try Amy's snacks--wholesome brand made by a mom (soy pizza squares and other finger foods)
I stayed away from processed foods like packaged cheese, luncheon meats and canned/jarred food.
It is just as easy to cook vegatables (buy variety packs), blend your own baby food or find something fresh. The trick is getting all the nutrients in a meal. I would not worry so much about when to start, but more about what. My kids started solids at 5 months (mushed carrots) 9 months (chicken off the bone, she had a bunch of teeth) and #3 is only 3 months---plan to wait until 8 months.

At 8 months my daughter was on 3 meals/day. It really helped her sleep to have a nice full belly and to learn to eat at these meals (she was a grazer before and was crankier). She was having either rice, barley or wheat cereal at that point, along with yogurt (great source of protein). I think she was on Stage 3 foods at that point too and she loved those puffs. Pretty soon you can do Cheerios, if not now. In the next couple of months, he'll be trying all sort of foods. Schedule: She slept from 730pm-730 or 800am. Breakfast was around 845 after her first bottle; lunch around 100pm and dinner was around 630. Sippy cup....she's now a little over 12 months and just getting the hand of it.

Both my kids perfered finger foods around 9 months or so. My 16 month old rarely eats things like purees off a spoon anymore (unless she is distracted or really hungry). I just cut everything up into tiny bite size pieces. Peas, corn and other frozen cut up vegetables are a convenient finger food. It also depends a bit on how many teeth your baby has. My daughter can eat a lot more variety now that she has her 1st set of molars. The sippy cup is not a huge deal either, it may take a while (months) for your baby to get used to it. Keep them around and eventually it will take.