How do I get my daughter to eat baby food more often! She is only 6 months old and my doc. said it was fine to start at 4 months, but only eats it if I put something with flavor in it. Fruit or vegetable.
Thank you for all the advice. I have been just introducing them to her and trying not to force it just letting her taste and see and all. Also I just use baby food, but may puree fruits or veggies as someone suggested, but I am trying to wait to introduce to much to her at once because she is sensitive. She loves green bean though eats them like crazy. I am currently trying apple sauce for something different. Thanks again.
B.
Just finished my nutrition class and have a 6mo old too so here is what I have
Aviod orange and citrus foods as they can be hard on the system
and jar baby food is GROSS you may want to taste it.
I always mix formula or breast milk with the cereal
I don't quite understand...she will eat the food, but only with flavor in it? Isn't that how most people are? Is it that she'll eat fruit or vegetable, but not the rice?
Hey B.!
Just wanted to share my experience as it might ease your concerns.
I started offering solids to my dd when she was 6 months. She would barely eat one tablespoon a day. At eight months, she was eating perhaps 2 tablespoons a day of solids - the rest was all breastmilk.
My pediatrician was totally unconcerned; she told me some babies just take longer to get into solids. As a first time mama, however, I was very concerned - I went online to a mama's chat room (not this one) and was amazed at the flood of replies I got from mothers whose babies didn't get into solids until much later than 6 months!
My dd didn't really start eating solids until 10 months.
So, don't worry if your lo just isn't that interested at this age. It's very normal - if you want, offer some solids once a day, just to see where her interest is. One of these days, she'll grab that spoon and start eating everything in sight!
Take care, M.
B.,
My son is almost 5 and would not touch the single grain cereals from Gerber with a 10 foot pole. It didn't matter what I mixed in or what I did to it he *Would. Not.* eat it. He'd take one bite and spit it out then refuse any other offerings.
My daughter is 17 months and would not touch Gerber pureed fruits with that 10 foot pole. Almost like magic on, or near, her first birthday she started accepting them, but they weren't her favorite by any means. She also had reactions to many of the fruits that we gave her. My son reacted to the sweet potatoes.
1) it takes at least 10 introductions of a "new" food before a baby/child will decide if they like it or not. Don't give up.
2) I think kids instinctively know what they are ready for/like/need. We as parents need to learn their signs and cues and go with them. We get so caught up in what society thinks we need to do that we forget to follow the lead of out precious little ones.
As long as your daughter is thriving, growing and getting enough nutrition elsewhere I wouldn't worry about the solids. Remember, baby's stomach is about the size of her fist.
Hope this helps,
Melissa
Your daughter is probably not ready for baby food yet. Not all 4-months old babies are. Let her lead the way. Don't force anything, food and eating should be an enjoyable thing for everyone involved. Good luck.
B.,
Milk/formula should be the primary source of nutrition for babies up until 1 year of age. 6 months is very young, and food at this point is just to "try"...
here is a website with a good reference for how much babies should "eat"
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/samplemenus.htm
Good luck,
A.
She doesn't need baby food. Just because they 'can' have some food starting at 4 months doesn't mean they 'need' it. Some babies have big appetites and want it then. Others are perfectly satisfied with breast milk. Breast milk is all they really 'need' until they are 12 months old (unless they are just starving). By the way, the longer you hold off on foods, the less likely she will be to have food allergies, which seem to be so rampant these days. Particulary hold off on all foods that are common allergens, such as wheat, eggs, dairy, peanuts, strawberries, raspberries, nuts, shellfish, etc. The baby food industry wants you to believe that she needs all these foods now, but even the government recognizes that that is not the case. I worked for a child care food program (federal monies that go to pay for healthy meals in home day cares), and the babysitters got fully reimbursed/paid for giving the babies just the mothers' breast milk - even if she came there and nursed the baby herself.
Are you mixing the cereal with formula or breastmilk instead of just water? Formula/breastmilk is the taste your baby is used to and they seem to gobble it up faster then if mixed with just water. Afer I gave them fruits and vegs, I usually gave a bite with half cereal and half veg or fruit. By 6 months mine were eating biter biscuits and toast and some mushy table foods.
Your daughter is still VERY young and she has plenty of time to work on solids. Some kids aren't crazy about solid food until they are a year old.
My best advice is to give it a rest and wait until she tells you that she wants solid food -- she's interested in what's on her plate, she can move the food from the front of her mouth to the bakc, her milk/formula don't seem to be enough for her, she's sitting up and happy to sit in a high chair.
Once she's ready, she'll chow. Just give her plenty of time to be ready. On the other hand, if she wants to eat fruits and veggies, that's fine too. There is no rule that says you have to start with rice cereal. It's just what people use because it's bland.
Drs. Sears (authors of The Baby Book) say not to force it. It is okay to start at 4 months, but it's not necessary. Solid foods aren't baby's source of nutrition yet, so just go with baby's flow.
B.,
My son never has liked rice cereal alone or any kid of plain grain cereal for that matter, it is very bland. Gerber, Beach Nut, and Earths Best make different kinds of cereals that come in jars that have fruit already mixed in with them. That is what I give to my son and he really likes it! Fruits and veggies are fine to give a 6 month old, just introduce one at a time. Giving it to her the way she likes it and she will eat more, if you try to force something they don't like they will be less willing to try new things. She is still young and really doesn't need solid foods to thrive. This is just the period where you start exposing your baby to a variety of solids so don't stress to much about it yet, she will guide you.
My son didn't eat baby food until he 12 months old, refused it and gaged when he ate it. Your daughter will tell she what she needs and the rest is formula/breast milk. The doctors cookie cutter food formula does not work for every baby. Listen to your baby.
At this age it's more about learning new textures more than nutrition. She's getting that from her bottle or breast. My son started to eat rice cereal at 4 months, my middle not until she was 7 months, she'd just spit it out. Don't worry, it will happen in time.
D.
It sounds to me like you have been given a lot of very good advice already. If you are introducing the rice cereal first you might want to add a little sugar to it to sweeten it a bit and that will give her the extra flavor. Remember that even we as adults like to have some flavor to our foods and rice cereal is rather bland with nothing in it. What ever you do only introduce one food at a time so as to see if your child has an allergy to that food. Go a few weeks with each new food before adding another new food whether it be a fruit or a vegetable so as to be sure you are able to see your babies reaction to the foods.
I often introduced foods that I was cooking for the rest of the family so as to save money on buying baby food. I didn't have a lot of money to spend at that time so... . All you have to do is mash the food up real fine or puree it in a blender. Even babies like to know that they are eating what the rest of the family is eating.
I'm 62 years old and have watched numerous children and did foster care as well as adopting 4. I started feeding my children at 1-3 weeks old. Cereal was always with fruit added. Rice cereal is the best. When I babysat for people I always feed there babies food even if they didn't. So go ahead an give your daughter fruit and vegies. Meat can be added after 1-2 weeks of doing that. Stop and think you wouldn't like eating the same thing for every meal with no spices or added flavor. Doctors have been changing when to start feeding them since I can remember. They go back and forth as to how soon to start. Good luck and enjoy that baby, because it isn't long and they're grown. God Bless
Most babies won't eat it if there is no flavor. What babyfood are you feeding her that has no flavor. My Doctor said to stick with veggies until a year and then start introducing fruits. He also said that as long as my son was still on formula then I didn't have to worry too much about babyfood until 8 months.
I used to mix half and half. Like one of the meal ones with half a jar of a veggie. Or I would even squirt some formula in with the baby food, and over time slowly reduce the amount of stuff I mixed in.
AS long as your daughter is gaining weight and doing well, you should follow your daughter's cues. My older daughter wasn't interested in solid foods at all until she was 7 months old. My younger daughter wasn't interested in solid foods until she was 8 months old. Both eat like crazy now (13 months and almost 3 years) and aren't picky at all! I also started off with soft whole foods (steamed veggies and avocado and bananas) and never really did purees. That way they got to experience all of the food and more varied textures from the beginning.
Solid food during the first year should be a fun thing, it's not really a major source of nutrition until they're a year old - especially if you're breastfeeding.
So: relax and know that your baby WILL eat solid foods when she's ready for them. Make them available for her (chunks of soft foods are easiest to do that with) and she'll eventually start putting them in her mouth. My children eat anything and (nearly) everything I put in front of them so waiting a few extra months certainly didn't hurt them any!
Best wishes!
~B.
My son didn't really catch on to solid foods until 13 mos! And that was after me trying diligenty until then. He nursed and was a happy nurser and never felt the need for much for than that. At 13 mos, he really started getting into food and hasn't stopped since. Hope this helps!
Take your time you do not want to feed her to much at this age due to if she is still getting milk (breast/ bottle) which will take up most of the space in her belly. Trust me they will feed more when they get older. I started out feeding him once in the morning and then at night, as he got older i would feed him at lunch and now he feeds 3 times a day maybe more on certain days. Also I tried the yobaby yogurt, try and see if she likes that, it is made for babyies/toddlers in mind, and my now 10mth old is loving it. I started him on the banana/vanilla one.
