September 2008 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Starting Solids
Those in the email chain saw that the doctor said we could start rice cereal and solids with Eli. When did you guys start solids with your babies? (Or did your relatives for you aunties out there) I was excited about it until I started researching, and a lot of people/orgs recommend six months instead of four. I don't want to sound like a crazy person and call the pedi when Justin just spoke to her about it yesterday. 
Re: Starting Solids
We started cereal at 4 months and did that for a couple of weeks. He would have it at dinner time and we gradually started mixing a veggie or fruit in with it. He did not like when we made it "thin" like they suggested so he has always had it a little thicker. After about a month or so we started giving him straight fruit and veggies as well and by about 6 months he was having breakfast and dinner.
Lucas is 8 months now and I have made his food for the past few months. He loves it thicker and gets super mad at me if he doesn't have food on his tray that he can feed himself also.
I have read a lot of websites "suggested ages" as I have made his food and I have to admit I haven't always followed it. He tries new things as I have it for him and we haven't had any problems yet.
I should also add he has 3 meals a day now. He watches you like a hawk when you eat and you know he wants some.
Also, some people start out by adding cereal to their bottle. I know you were breastfeeding so I don't know if that would work for you. But some people find it helps them stay more full and sleep better at night before they chose to spoon feed them.
I started Brody on rice cereal at 4 months. He didn't like it thin, so I started adding it to veggies that I started him on a few weeks later. (As a personal choice, I started him with veggies so he wouldn't get used to the sweet taste of fruits first). Eventually he wanted nothing to do with other solids that had rice cereal mixed in, so we got rid of it all together.
By 6 months he was eating 3 meals a day of solids as well as starting on very basic finger foods.
I planned to wait until 6 months because I was EBF. Then my supply got messed up because I was teaching 3 hour classes and couldn't take the 20 minutes off to pump, and he was showing interest anyway. Ok, that's an understatement. He'd actually get really fussy when we were eating real food. We started with the cereal as a transition, but didn't use that very long.
We stuck to only 1 meal for at least 2 months, and then increased to 2 for a couple, then finally added 3rd when he was close to a year.
We also introduced finger foods pretty early, as he already had 2 teeth by the time he was 4.5 months old.
2012 Reading Challenge
I've been telling you this all along!
He is definitely interested in our food, but he pretty much will reach for and subsequently put anything and everything in his mouth.
2012 Reading Challenge
2012 Reading Challenge
I'm really interested in baby led weaning (i think Paige did this (?)). this is multi-part - I am cheap and I find purees pretty gross
From what I've read,they don't need anything beyond breast milk until 6 mo+, and I think LLL recommends not doing solids till they can sit unassisted for a few minutes. I don't know if I'd go that far since that can be a reach for some 6 mo olds, but I do like the idea of some trunk control and certainly some interest on their part. We're probably going to start with avocado unless the pedi has a compelling argument against it (soft, high fat, supposedly they like it). This is all subject to change obviously, but I'm thinking somewhere in the 4-6mo window depending on their interest. We also want to start with veggies and move into fruit.
That is what I did as well. Lukey still has only had BM, although I am offically down to 27 frozen bags. I don't know if we will make it the full year or not.
I agree with what Claire said as well about watching his signs. If he seems interested in your food, try it out. Some babies don't like it the first time and after a couple weeks you can try it again. But, if you think he is eating enough now you may want to wait. I am sure he will be hitting another growth spurt and that might be the perfect time to try some cereal to fill up that belly!
It also is funny to me about how different pedi's can be. I had asked about water and she said since he is getting exclusive BM he doesn't need it and we can talk more about it at his 9 month. Granted he has had some in a sippy because it seems like on really hot days he doesn't want to eat or drink much. Right now he likes "playing" with his sippy so at least I know he is getting some fluids!
I have made my own purees so I know exactly what they are. But they have only been fruits and veggies. I cannot bring myself to put meat in them. He has actually had chicken, burger and steak. But I only give those to him in pieces he can pick up and eat.
Lucas was sitting up in his bumbo and doing really well at 4 months. He could sit even before he ever rolled over really. And he LOVES avacado. Mix it with stuff, give him slices, freeze it and put chunks in front of him. He doesn't care. It was one of his first finger foods.
yeah, I think being able to sit up semi-assisted in a bumbo or similar is sufficient. We plan to make the purees too and skip the meat ones. The thought of liquid meat
awesome to know we're not nuts! how early did you start the meat bits? When can they pick things like that up anyway?
Personally, I wouldn't start my LO on solids at 4mo if they aren't showing clear signs that they are ready (no more tongue reflex, interested in what you're eating and trying to grab your food, sitting up unsupported, etc.). There is NO nutritional reason for starting solids so early and there is NO nutritional value to rice cereal besides the iron it's fortified with. Feeding baby solid foods in the early days is really just solely for practice and not nutrition. Just because your pedi said it's okay doesn't mean it's right for YOUR baby. I think as parents we need to do our own research, hear others opinions, but ultimately make the decision ourselves based on your LO and your specific situation.
That said, I did not start M on solid foods until a week shy of her turning 6mo. She never had rice cereal and her first food was avocado. After the avocado we tried sweet potato, and squash. We did purees in the beginning which I made myself and around 7 1/2 months switched to half purees/half BLW b/c M started to refuse to be spoon fed and wanted to do it herself. By 10mo she pretty much did not accept being spoon fed at all and since a year old I'm actually the only one out of my whole family that can spoon feed her at least yogurt and I have to let her have a spoon to help me do it and for her to practice self feeding with a spoon. This worked well for us and I plan on doing the same thing with our subsequent children. Only now as a toddler will she eat oatmeal and only the sweet kind my MIL makes...she's never been a big cereal lover and neither am I. Also, M was on only BM whether pumped or nursed until she was 14mo.
I highly recommend the site www.wholesomebabyfood.com and you should read the book, Baby Led Weaning by Gill Ripley (if you want to borrow mine let me know!) if you're interested in going that route. It's a very interesting read.
I think one of the first things we gave him was one of those Mum Mum crackers they have. Big for him to grasp and they dissolve pretty easily. That was around 6 months maybe, after he had been eating fruits and veggies for a little bit. Then I moved onto pieces of soft fruits and those puffs that Gerber has. After his 6 month appointment she had said we could cook an extra piece of what we were having (chicken, burger) and give him pieces. Just to make sure it was cooked thourouly for him.
So one time when we were having burgers I tried it and he loved it. If we are having something he could eat, I try a bit and if he likes it I let him eat it.
I actually found a recipe I want to try for baby meatballs. They are basically burger and mashed potatoes made into meatballs and cooked in the oven for 20 min at 350. I think it will be something easy to have frozen and pop in the oven to heat up for dinner for him. Another thing I found was sort of a baby french toast. He is trying that tonight because Mommy and Daddy are having breakfast for dinner. I don't remember exactly but it involves bananas, bread and some SM. Then you cook it in a pan or on a griddle like you would french toast!
If you do true BLW you can start meat at 6mo and just cut it long like french fries so they can hold and gnaw on it. They'll still get nutrients from just sucking on it. We didn't start M on meat until she was 8mo b/c I was scared of choking (even though I had no reason to be). She didn't get big on actually chewing and swallowing it fully until a couple of months later.
6 mo is the newer guideline.
Also obesity possibilities go down every month you wait up to 6 mo.
We did not start with rice/oatmeal cereal.
We started with Avocado at 6 mo, sweet potato, and then other veggies and then , prunes and other fruit.
She didn't even have oatmeal cereal until 8ish months. There isn't a whole lot of nutrition in there but it does have iron in it.
So since at close to 9 mo BF babies iron stores go down I wanted to make sure she was getting some.
Also I made Lucy's purees and she like them pretty thick so she went to more of a BLW approach as we went. She started finger foods at 7.5 mo
we also didn't do any meat purees but by about 8 mo she was nibbling on chicken/beef etc