What Age Can I Start Solids

I was told by my son's doctor who by the way is 8 months now that babies will let you know when they are ready for solids and at first I thought how so but he did he was vey attentive when other people were eating and would squirm and even started opening his mouth to let us know he wanted food so first start with vegetables as I was told but didnt listen I started with fruits and then vegetables but stick with the same thing for 3 -5 days to verify any food allergies.

I started my son on solids when he was about 4 months old. I started with the simplest cereal (i believe it's rice). try that a little for at least 4 days, don't try new things more then one at a time. that way when you know that the one you tried for about 3 days gave him no reaction is safe, you can introduce one other thing for the next 3 - 4 days, and so on. This way if there is a reaction you will know exactly what caused it and to stay away from it. Though, they say that you should try that same food a while later to see if maybe, the allergic reaction might have gone away. hope that helps, it helped me. Bananas are good, plus they LOVE them, apples are acidic, he might also have a problem with oranges. ~ T.

You shouldn't start with a fruit . . . first is rice cereal (but if they can't have soy or milk) then try a veggie first. If apples made issues then you might want to think about food allergies too.

L.

Recent research shows that the risk of food allergies decrease the later that you start solids. Waiting for your child digestive track to be more developed is a really good idea. I would wait untill 6 months, but I know everyone is different. Why do you think that he isnt satisfied? He might just need to suck more. If you are botttle feeding he doesnt get to suck as much as if he were breastfeeding. My son was 18 lbs at 3 months and we held off on solids untill nine months. As long as your child is gaining weight fine I would wait. If you decide to start. Brown rice is a good start, however if your child is showing signs of allergies beware of wheat. A lot of the boxed cereal is produced on the same equipment that wheat products are. I didnt know that and my son got very ill the first time we tried cereal. If you would like some info on how to make homemade baby food, email me. Good luck, feeding the kiddos is fun.

I started my kids on solid between 4-6 mo. I, like your DR.(good for your DR!) think that moms know their babies best and instinct is a pretty strong thing that we moms should trust more-I'm still working on that even after 4!-but if your baby seems dissatisfied with formula alone, solids is the next step, no doubt. I started with cereal with my first two and with veggies with the two last. cereals are very constipating so I had a bit of a problem with that...Also since your son seems to be sensitive to diffrent foods, you might want to try the reliv products. Babies and older kids have had good results with allergies etc.
Good luck!
J.

Hi T.,
My daughter is 4 months.. and she's been on solids for almost 2 weeks now. All you have to do is When you start your son on solids...you just have to keep him on the same 1 for 3-4 days that way you can see if he's allergic to it. If you don't see a rash or anything by the 3rd day then you can start him on a different one. I'd ask his doctor tho cause all babys are different

I would absolutely wait! The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends waiting until at least 6 mo to introduce solids because of the huge increase in the rate of food allergies in children. And if you have a history of allergies (and your son already has allergies!) then they recommend waiting longer than that. Breastmilk and formula are NUTRITIONALLY complete until one year, so there's no nutritional reason to start solids early. It's simply to get your child used to increasingly thicker foods until they are ready to eat what you're eating. I know it may seem like your son is never satisfied, but there may be other things he's looking for. Does he need to simply suck for comfort? Before offering a bottle when he fusses, try a variety of other options- he may not be truly hungry. He may want interaction, a change of scenery or position, be tired, or a variety of other things. And remember something else- a pediatrician is highly trained in treating your child's HEALTH. They only need to take one or two classes in nutrition in med school. If you want an expert's opinion on your son's nutrition, ask your local WIC office, or a nutritionist trained in pediatrics. Another caution when you do start solids- Gerber (and others I believe) rice cereal conatains soy lecithin. Something to watch for due to your son's soy allergy.

I started my son on cereal a little before he was four months old because he was not satisfied with his formula. I started with Rice Cereal, the box says to start with a teaspoon of cereal mixed with his formula and gradually increase the amount as his appetite increases, he ate that for a little while but wasn't thrilled with Rice Cereal so I switched to Oatmeal Infant Cereal and he loves it. I started fruits and vegetables about 3 or 4 weeks before he turned 6 months(if you are going to start fruits and veggies my doctor said to try one type for 5 days straight to watch out for allergies) Hope this helps!!

Hi I started feeding my (full term)twins at 4 months they had no health issues but I think if I were u I would wait till 6 months. They recently changed the age of when infant should start solids and its now 6 months because they said they found any earlier than 6 months the intestinse and stuff is not ready to digest it yet.

Hi T.,

You may want to try a natural health food store if you haven't already to find cereal that is soy and lactose free or even the organic foods section of your local grocery store rather than the baby aisle. http://www.healthytimes.com/htbabycereal.htm - Go to this link if you don't have any luck. Healthy Times makes a barley, oatmeal, brown rice, and mixed grain cereals. I just did a little bit of investigating on the site and all the cereals are soy free and dairy free. The oatmeal is also wheat free and I believe it's the brown rice cereal that is gluten free. It is best to start with cereal (rice is what most doctors suggest, but it can cause severe constipation in certain instances - that's what happened with my son - so we used oats and barley), and then move to veggies, fruits, and then meats. If you're worried about allergies, then definitely wait. Better to be safe than have your child hospitalized because of a severe allergic reaction. Good luck!

Hi, also started my son on solids around 5 months (now 8 mo). He was breastfed and formula fed. He was so ready for food it wasnt funny. I do wish that I would have waited another month though, just for the fact of reducing his risk for future allergies. He ended up being allergic to rice cereal so we put him on oatmeal. Which he loves! I was watching Dr.Phil yesturday and they had like 4 Dr.s on there answering questions about that very question. They suggested waiting until 6-9 months for the allergy reason, and that there digestion system just isnt ready that young. They also said you should really start them on veggies and fruit(bananas) due to our society being overweight and addicted to carbs. Which does make sense. The veggies and fruit would be alot more nutritious! Go check it out on Dr Phils web site. But really its up to you, you know your son the best go with your gut.

My son started solids @ 4 month if he already has those allergies do 1 new food every few days to make sure he is ok with the food my son had to drink neocate also and he has many food allergies still and he is 5 although he has outgrown some of them

hope this is helpful

Hi
My son was not happy with the liquid diet either.. I started himn on solids at 3 months old. It is totally up to you as the parent when to start. I would suggest starting him fruits and veggies. I started mine on sweet potatoes and applesauce first.

i would say 4months and i ask alot of moms and they also say the same thing and if their stomach can take it then give it you might need to blender it up but my daughter eats it like nuthing

Hi T.,
My sister went through the same thing with her daughter. She is now 12 mos. old. She's allergic to soy and HIGHLY allergic to milk. Starting solids is not usually an issue at 4 mos. My pediatrician always said after 4 mos. was fine as long as you were not substituting solids for formula. The formula has all the nutrients they need in their first year, so essentially they could live off that with no problem. But most need more to satisfy them, so you introduce solids. You are going to run into some problems, though, with the soy allergy because it is in almost EVERYTHING! Usually you would start the baby on infant cereal, like oatmeal or rice, but be careful because most have soy in them. My sister had luck with the Gerber organics: some of those don't have soy. You would gradually introduce other foods, like fruits and veggies, just do it extra slow and don't get too creative due to the allergies again. If he is allergic to soy and milk, he's probably prone to alot of other food allergies, so you would want to stick to basics: apples, banana, pears, peaches - no strawberry, cherry, mango jubilee just yet!

I hope this helped. I know my sister has been struggling with this issue for a year now. She is also on the neocate and boy is it expensive! Let me know if you have any secrets as to how to cut the cost!

J.

I started my son on the baby cereal around four months and he did really well with it.

Hi T..
Baby's don't come with a manual, that's for sure:)
I think your son is the perfect age to introduce him to baby food, my children were on it much younger than that. When they get to the point where they are downing 4 or 5 bottles a day, their hunger just isn't being met. So, my advise is to buy stage 1 foods at the grocery store. Fruits for breakfast, and if he downs that really quick, you can add some baby cereal to it to make it a little thicker. I really don't think you will have to keep him on stage 1 for too long, just long enough to see how he is with it. I think you will find that it won't be too long at all before he's ready for stage2. I always gave my babies breakfast, lunch and dinner from baby jars...and when they really get into it..you will find that they are downing a dinner jar and a fruit jar at one feeding!! You will find that he drinks much less formula this way. I would also try adding some baby cereal to his bottle...but you will have to buy a cereal nipple for the bottle before you do this..and sometimes you have to make the hole in the nipple just a little bigger if he doesn't get enough out at a time. You can do that by heating up a needle and sticking it in the hole and wiggling it around...good luck!!!

Hi T.,
My daughter is also 4 months old and on neocate and i find that many of the fruits and vegetables don't bother her. The cereal that i ended up using is Beechnut because it is the only cereal that i found without milk or soy proteins. I started with rice cereal and now am up to oatmeal. The most important thing is to stay with one solid for about 3-5 days to make sure there is no allergy then you can introduce a different one. Hope that was helpful.

T.

HI T.,
For right now I would just try cereal. Then in another month or two start introducing solids. As to what kind of foods it's up to you, what ever you think he would like best.

HI, I also started my daughter on solids young. She was three months old. She was never satisfied.

the new research is showing no solids until 6 months, for the reasons that babies' digestive systems are not mature yet. if your son is alrerady allergic to soy and milk, i would maybe think twice about beginning solids before 6 months due to the fact he already has allergies. my son was "unsatisfied" w/ breastmilk, too, at 4 months, but my husband has food allergies. we held off until 5 months. also, is he physically ready-holding head up, holdling utensils, is his "tongue thrust" reflex gone? one thing i keep in mind w/ foods is this: you can't make a child un-allergic to something.

If the doctor gave you the go-ahead then I would say any time now. My son started eating solids at 4 months for the same reason. The formula just wasn't fulfilling to him. Since he has the allergies and all, maybe homeade baby food might be the best option for you. That way you know everything that you are making and he is eating and you know that he isn't getting any of the things he's allergic to. Good Luck!!

i would not start solids now if he is satisfied with his formula food is only to replace nutrients and such that he would need if he wasnt drinking on a regular basis 8 months is ok to start introducing maybe carrots or squash but until then i would stick to the formula also food now makes an over weight baby they are looking all the time to keep their little bellies full i hope this helps i am an older mom of 47 with five children and went thru all stages of opinions i breast fed all but started my older one who is now 27 on solids when he was 4 weeks because that is what you did to my 6 year old now who didnt have a solid until she was 10 months

According to the paperwork our peditrician gave me. Fortified cereal (rice) is fine at between 4-6 months. However, with my first child, I noticed that the rice cereal tened to "bind" my daughter up. When I gave her barley, she was fine. With my son, I have given him baby oatmeal first and he seems to be doing fine. He is almost 5 months.

To be honest, I have also started giving him veggies too (squash) so far. Our paperwork says we could start that at 5 months. I kind of just wing it and see how things so so my children are happy and well fed. Good luck.

Hi T.. My daughter was on soy formula too. She had no problem with solids though. I started with rice ceral mixed with formula, then the following week I added applesauce. I just did this for dinner. Then I added a new foor every 3-4 days. They say to start with veggie foods first becasue they mey be less likely to take to them after the sweet fruits, but I didnt have that problem!Good luck and make sure to have your camera handy-those faces to the food are a riot!

We started our daughter on solids when she was 4 1/2 months old. First we gave her baby cereal, which she didn't like. So, two days later we tried some watered down mashed banana but that made her constipated. So, we waited another few days and introduced her to watered down mashed sweet potato. She loved it and it worked well.

I used the book Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron as a guide to what foods to introduce when. The book has some extreme views that I took with a grain of salt but for the most part I found it useful. There's also a Web site for the book, http://www.superbabyfood.com/

Good Luck!

My pediatrician advised me to start between 4 and 6 mos. Taking a spoon is a skill that should be mastered before six months because they don't have as strong a gag reflex. I started my daughter at 3 and a half mos. on rice cereal. She is 5 and a half mos. now and she has cereal twice a day and tomorrow I'm going to try pureed green beans. Everything when really with the rice cereal she loved it!!! good luck

T., absolutly do not start solid food right now. your son allready has a tendnacy to be allergic so do not give him food. my son is 2 years old and is also on neocate because he is also allergic to milk, soy, eggs, wheat, chicken, pork, beef,rice, bananas, apples, nuts, treenuts, shellfish, fish, and a bunch of everything else. he has been taken off of solids and put just on neocate. i listened to his ped when he was and infant and she had told me to put rice cereal in his bottle cuz he was spitting up. big mistake. I should have pushed the issue and ask to see a GI doctor. or allergist. finally my mom insisted. thank GOD I listened to my mom ( for once I might add) If I had listened to my mom in the first place he would have been seen at childrens hospital as an infant about your sons age. but now like I said he will be 2 next month and he is allowed only neocate and its so hard cuz he was usto eating solid food and now I had to take it all away. so please dont push him, just continue neocate increase the amount or hours inbetween feedings. wait as long as possible becuz you dont want to be where I am right now. P.S. I got a new Ped. and he sees a great GI doctor out of MGH, and a derm in brockton. so let me know if you have any questions about food allergies or if you need allergy free receipes for your son. I have a greet receipe for an allergy free birthday cake for when he turns 1. Good luck also there are some great web sites for food allergies.

Hi T.. We started my 7 month old on solids when she was just about 4 months. She was going through so many bottles in a day...it was insane. We started with just cereal and then worked our way into other things. We started with veggies after that and she really loved the orange ones like sweet potatoes squash and carrots. GL and I hope everything goes well with him.

I am an advocate of waiting until as close to 6 months as possible. My son was ready at 4 months too, but we managed just fine, by waiting. It really is supposed to help with allergies if one waits until they are 6 months old. Everyone has their own feelings on this but I can say that my now 6 year old son has no allergies, and has one great digestive system. :) At 5 1/2 months I did give him a little rice and breast milk with a spoon, and he loved it. I did that until 6 months, then slowly added one veggie at a time, then one fruit, and watched closely for any signs of intolerance to the foods. Good luck!

I've been told (and thought it made a lot of sense) that it's best to wait at least until 6 months because it could better your child's chance of NOT having food allergies, especially since he's sensitive to some things now (my son is also sensitive to soy/dairy so we waited until 6 months).

Start now, ask DR. what foods are safe for his allergies. Rice ceral is normal, and first foods fruit. Applesause is a good one for the first try. Read the back of the ceral box, it tells you how to make it.

I started Brian at 4m with rice. With Branden, I started at 6m with oatmeal. :)

Hi T.- Sounds like your son is ready for solids, as many babies are around 4 months. Preferences for which foods to start with vary considerably among moms, along with pediatricians! (Always confusing when we are told it's a mothers choice!!)

Most recommend starting with traditional baby rice cereal, which is the least allergenic food. Mix two teaspoons of rice cereal in a small dish with your son's formula until it's a thick soup. Serve it at the same temperature as the formula you give your son.

After the rice cereal, here's the advice I've gathered from all the Moms I know: Add one pureed vegetable to your son's diet, then a pureed fruit, then add another rice cereal before more fruit and vegetables. Introduce yellow-colored fruit and vegetables first, then orange, then green, based on what most babies seem to prefer. Nothing like starting with bananas and working your way to peas! Favorite first foods: bananas, pears, avocados, peaches, applesauce, squash and sweet potatoes.

Also, introduce one solid food at a time in four-day intervals, so you can tell if your son has an allergic reaction to a particular food. Signs of allergy include gas, diarrhea, rash, hives, puffy eyes, which can show up immediately or up to a couple days later.

Hope this helps!!

I started both my kids on cereal at 3 months. I started with Rice cereal, then oatmeal. Sometimes I would mix a little applesauce witht the cereal.

Hi! Congrats on your soon. I have a 5 and a half month boy and we started him on rice cereal at around 4 months. After a couple of weeks we started giving him first stage fruits and veggies. When you do start a new food, use the same food for a week to see if your son has a reaction to it. My son now has solids for his second and last feeding of the day. We mix 1/2 rice cereal with a fruit or veggie. He eats the solids and sucks down 8 ounces of formula. My son is also on a special formula ... Enfamil Nutramigen and he has done fine with solids. Now, anytime my husband and I eat something out of bowl, our son goes crazy wanting his food.