Starting Solids...

MsStackhouse

When did you start LO's  on solids?  The pedi gave us the okay to start rice ceral ( although we tried it last week) and other foods.

I was originally going to wait until 6 months to start solids but E wants to do it sooner, so while we have sometime to discuss I was wondering what your kids liked/loved/dispised? What brands did you like better then other?

Should I buy a baby bullet, beabo ( that thing from babies r us) or maybe use baby food making ot get a a new fancy schmancy food processer?

I wanted to start him on peas, however his father already let him munch on some watermelon.

H is 17.7 lbs and 22.5 inches.

egpitt22

We started Jake around 5 or 5.5 months, he started to show signs of readiness at that time. I started Liam right at 4 months with the hope that it would improve his acid reflux.

I just used a simple food processor that I already had for making baby food, froze them in ice cube trays, then popped them out into ziploc baggies to store in the freezer.

AmandaJLewis

It is more about readiness than age really.  Being able to sit without support, the tongue thrust reflex going away (or else all the food ends up back on his face), and finally just general interest in food. 

I made food, just in my food processor although a blender could work too.  I think the tools specifically made to make baby food are dumb, cause after the kid is done with purees it is essentially useless.  EJ only ate purees for a few months before moving into small soft fingerfoods. 

Trust H to know when he is done eating too. Once he stops accepting the spoon in his mouth he is done. No reason to force the rest of the jar/serving. Also, I don't think it matters what they start on.  EJ had bananas first and hated them until she was nearly 2. she liked peas way better. And now the opposite is true!

rona118

we started with cereal also once we go the ok. She hated it at first. I soon realized that was because I was making to thick! We did veggies first also.

I really think it is up to you what to do when it comes to store bought or make your own. I just got store bought and DD was fine. lol. I think I stuck with gerber but we tried other brands too. What was on sale even.  I noticed since DD was that age that Sam's even makes a variety pack. He will quickly let you know what works and what he doesn't like.

I was so paranoid about choking that I would have died if DH gave DD watermelon right off the bat. My I was just so hyper sensitive about that stuff. Looking back it is probably why she is a tad bit of a picky eater!!

jessiegirl10.18

We started C about 1 week prior to 6 months.  I wanted to wait to as close to 6 months and she really didn't show any interest in our food until that point.

I skipped the cereals on their own, but I did use them to thicken up purees I made early on. I noticed C got really constipated with the brown rice though so we cut that and only used oatmeal. We started with sweet potatoes which were honestly a success from bite one and are still one of her favorites.  I just used our regular food processor to make all of her food.

MandyMilller

We started L at 5 months on cereal and W at 4 months (in an attempt to combat his reflux). However, neither took to them so it was very limited.

I waited till 6 months to start L on purees and 5 w/ Wes. Again, they were sort of into it, but they never lapped it up like I see some babies do. I threw away lots of leftovers.

Neither of them really enjoyed eating until they could self feed, so we definitely skewed more twoard the baby led weaning method. I never got hung up on the order I introduced things... just avoided the ones you were supposed to avoid and made sure to leave a few days between each new one.

lala5507

We did baby oatmeal at about 4 1/2  months but didn't do anything else until 6 months.  Our pedi advised a very slow transition to solids.  We didn't do any sort of meat until 10 or 11 months.

LNFbride05

We started Seyi at 4 months and she loved them. Kayode acts like we are trying to poison him when we try solids. He just turned 5 months, so we keep trying a couple times a week. I have a bunch of delicious purees waiting for him!

JNK71083

We started right after their 4 month appointment.  We skipped rice cereal per our dr and did oatmeal instead since both boys have some constipation issues.  But they sorta hate it.  They do love sweat potatoes and apparently squash which we started last night.

MrsAmers

We did a mixture of home made chunky purees and baby led weaning starting at 6 months. Both my kids started daycare at 4 months, so I was not ready to add solids into the mix until we were used to the new daycare routine and neither showed a ton of interest or could sit up well until 6 months.

Heather was interested in eating by 7 months and was mostly self-feeding by 9 months. Todd barely ingested anything until he was 10 months old. I made very few purees for T since he refused the spoon completely and ate so little. He learned almost entirely to eat by BLW.

I made the home made chunky purees for Heather with a small food processor after steaming or baking the fruits and veggies, or to chop up what we were eating for dinner. Although I just bought an immersion blender and wish I would have had it back then.

bride2003

6 months due to readiness issues, potential allergies & the fact that solids IMO are a pain in the butt and I didn't want to start down that path if I didn't have to.

With Eamon we did cereal for a bit (oatmeal) and then I either made purees or bought them for daycare.  We always did veggies first (either stage 1 or 2) and then fruits.  He wasn't thrilled right away and that was ok.  Probably after a month or two when he figured out out the pincher grasp and when he started doing that I just fed him what we ate with some purees. 

By 11 mos he was off purees mostly and just eating reg food and he will eat everything at this point.  It helped that he got his 4 upper teeth all at once. 

At 4 mos I'd only give watermelon in a mesh feeder or the juice of it.  Definitely not the solid pieces. 

I got a ninja smoothie maker that has a small blender and would make my purees from that.  I did get some of the small containers online with the ice cube tray that I could put in the freezer and send to school.  I made alot of applesauce in crock pot &  sweet potatoes.

 Do not buy a big expensive blender baby food maker.  Believe me I was enticed and researched them to no end but at the end of the day the time for purees is so short and you can make do with a regular blender, smoothie maker, immersion blender - anything really!  Don't go crazy b/c its not worth it.