The Great Solids Debate

Lynn0514 · May 2014

From lurking on my BMB, I've seen this topic discussed a lot - when to start solids, and which foods to start first. But I'm curious to get opinions over here, especially since a lot of you have LOs older than mine and more experience. Anyway, Zoey had her 4-month appointment yesterday, and we got the go-ahead to start solids whenever we feel ready. The pedi recommended starting with cereal, either rice or oatmeal, and then moving on to green veggies, orange/yellow veggies, and fruits, in that order. So a fairly traditional approach, from what I've read.

For those of you who didn't do BLW, what sort of schedule did you follow? Did you skip the cereal altogether?

(I know this might have been discussed here before, but when I searched, I didn't see anything recent. Feel free to point me to a previous thread, if there is one. But I also figured it's been quiet lately anyway!)

alexisanna44 · May 2014

Lucy started solids at 6 months. We skipped cereal and started with avocado. Pedi had no opinion on order, just to intro one food at a time and watch for adverse reactions. And to avoid common allergens until a year (strawberries, honey, peanut butter, etc).

caseyandlizzie · May 2014

We started with rice cereal mixed with breastmilk a few weeks after his 4 month checkup, but that caused some constipation issues, so we switched to Oatmeal, and he did much better on that. I talked to his pedi, and they didn't really have any real issues with what we gave him, when, just to wait a few days in between before introducing something new to watch for signs of allergies. We started with sweet potatoes, then peas, and now have a really wide range of fruits and veggies that he loves to eat. We tried BLW, but he hated everything about it, so purees were just fine for us.

lindsayandjamie · May 2014

Its interesting because in Canada no one does solids before 6 months (at least in my experience, in my circle, and based on our doctor's opinion). We started casually at 6 months and skipped cereal. Right to avocado, banana, apple sauce etc. He was a big fan of mushed carrots. We just tried to keep a new food to once a week so we could target any allergens and like @alexisanna44 we avoided nuts, honey and egg white until a year.

We did a combo of purees and BLW (nothing like a cucumber spear to suck on when teething!). He was a better eater from 6-12 months than he is now. Now, at 2, all he wants is cheerios, oatmeal, pasta and melon!

waterfall213 · May 2014

We skipped cereal and oatmeal and started introducing purees around 5.5 months. We started with veggies- sweet potatoes first then carrots. She was never a big fan of purees though so we moved to BLW at 6 months and she absolutely loved it. She still got purees occasionally, especially pouches because she could "do it herself".

cinderin · May 2014

We tried oatmeal every couple days around 5.5 months. DS wasn't that into it. We used organic baby oatmeal. I highly recommend it.

Around 6 months we started purées. We make our own food for DS. We did avocado first, but DS wasn't a huge fan but he will eat it.

DS has some favorite purées. He loves pears, sweet potatoes and carrots. We have tried lots of different fruits and veggies. We like to mix the baby oatmeal into his pears.

His abosulte favorite is yogurt. He loooooves organic yo baby yogurt.

We also give DS crackers and Cheerios to eat while we are giving the purées and yogurt. We also cut up whatever we are eating and let him try it.

It seems that the first couple times DS tried something he doesn't like it, but we just keep offering it.

We also offer water in a sippy cut with meals.

carcrashheart · May 2014

We also skipped cereal after I did my research. I couldn't do that to DS. We didn't do any solids a day before 6 months, also per my research.

NotMrsSmith11 · May 2014

We started with smashed banana mixed with formula. We started him the week before he turned six months because it was Thanksgiving and we were both home all week. We did a mix of purees and finger foods. It took him a couple of weeks to figure all out, but once he did there was no stopping him. Now he eats anything and everything, mostly finger foods although we still give him some things on a spoon occasionally (like yogurt and applesauce). He is starting to get the hang of using the spoon himself though. The first finger foods that he did well with were strips of steamed carrot and puffs.

MRads · May 2014

We started with full fat Greek plain Greek yogurt and baby oatmeal. I wanted the yogurt for the probiotics and protein and oatmeal for iron. Plus, my breakfast is oatmeal and yogurt.

I did some finger foods and purées. We did avocado, sweet potatoes, and peppers to start with finger foods.

Now he eats anything. I do try to push protein in his diet.

BackseatDriver · May 2014

I started with oatmeal and then sweet potato. If you are BF iron fortified cereals are good because they can get iron deficient. I think that becomes more of a concern around 6 months. I did introduce foods that have a higher chance to be allergenic a big early based on the newer guidelines. I discussed this with the pediatrician. Wheat was one that I wanted to get in early. My son really didn't take to food and for a long time I didn't push it. He did a little better once he had pincer grasp and could pick up pieces on his own, but even then he didn't really eat a significant amount of food. It was until I cut back his time BF at 13 months that his eating really took off. I have a special snowflake though.

Lynn0514 · May 2014

Thanks for sharing your experiences, everyone. I think we're going to wait a bit longer before starting, and jury's still out on what food we'll start with. We have some time to figure it out

bobcee · May 2014

A little late to this, but we also waited until 6 mo and skipped oatmeal and cereal and started with avocado. Both kids were gaining just fine so the doc didn't see the need to start solids before 6 mo, plus it gets a lot harder IMO once you start solids so I was in no rush.

With Delilah we did mostly purées and with Zack we did a combo of purées and sort of a modified BLW, basically just giving him bits of whatever we were eating. He seems to be doing well with that approach.

liall09 · May 2014

Late to this too, but we started with sweet potato and only gave rice cereal a couple of times. We've tried to do finger foods along with purées so that she would learn self-feeding sooner. Her pincher grasp developed pretty early. At 9 months, we're trying to move to full meals of what we're eating (minus oils, salty things, etc.).

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