6 Month Old Starting Solids

Hi M.,

O.K. this is long one.

I just went through this and had the same exact question. If you can look up my name. I think you can view what people suggested to me.

After sitting day after day and reading all my responses, this is what we came up with. My daughter will be 6 mos Friday. We started her at 4.5 mos. I will say...she is gaining weight and very happy, so I must be doing this right.

Milk/formula is the main source of iron and nutrients until they are year old. You will try different ways of doing things. Milk 1st, then food, veggies 1st the fruit, etc. Here it is.

For 1st few days: started rice cereal (3 T. dry-add formula/b.milk) for breakfast followed with a 6 oz bottle 20 minutes later. She didn't like rice so we give her oatmeal. It still takes her a good 30 minutes to eat. We went througha battle where she wanted to feed herself. We give her herown spoon to hold.

Then we added cereal to her dinner for few days.

Then added a veggie to breakfast (gradually added this to dinner as well). We gave her the same veggie, etc for 3 days to make sure she was not allergic. Once we got through the veggies, we added the fruits. This will take a while. She now has a variety of foods and starting stage 2.

We gave her a bottle first to make sure she wasn't too hungry when eating and get frustrated. That didn't work for us. She was never hungry enough to eat after her bottle.

Here shcedule is below:
bottle at 6 a.m. (she goes back to sleep at this time until about 8:30)
solids at 9 or so; then a bottle 15 - 20 minutes later
lunch: solids then a bottle
mid afternoon (a snack and or small bottle)
dinner around 5:30, then a bottle at 6:30 or 7. She always eats more solids at night to tie her over until 7. She then goes down for the night....most of the time ;-)

Good luck...hopefully you can see my files. If not, e-mail me and I can send them to you.

Milk/formula should remain their primary source of nourishment for the first year so you always want to give them that first, then top them off with the solids. I would try just once a day at first and once that seems to be going well, try 2x, and then 3x, etc. Also, other than maybe a little iron the cereal is nutriously useless so there is no reason you have to start with that. Anything is fine really. Just as first you want to just give them one new food at a time in order to make it easier to determine if any food allergies come up. Some people think you should do veggies first, some fruits, but it doesn't really matter. You know your child best....try something you think they will like. Mashed banana or avocado are easy first starters.

Hi M.,
I also recently started my 5 month old on solids and am starting with rice cereal. I feed her the cereal/small bottle in the morning and then also at her last feeding before bedtime which is usually around 730 or 800. Surprisingly and I dont know if the feeding of the cereal right before she goes to bed has anything to do with it but for the past 3 nights I havent had to get up in the middle of the night for a feeding. She even went a whole 12 hours a couple of nights ago!!!!

M.,
I thought this was complicated, also.
I would start gradually with solids, but still give your baby enough so he won't be hungry, of course. Other than that, I would follow his cues, rather than follow a feeding schedule. Bowel patterns will change. This might be obvious advice, but it worked well for us twice.
PS Although almost everyone begins with grains, our allergist suggests introduction in this order: veggies, fruit, meats, grains. I was surprised to learn this, but this, too, worked very well for us.
Just pay close attention--your baby will tell you what, when and how much he wants.
Bon Appetit, Baby!
Amy

I remember being so confused about this too! We did a bottle, waited an hour or so and then did solids. They could never take a bottle then eat right away or eat and then take a bottle, they would be too full. This pushed back their next bottle by an hour or so and this was also when we cut back to 4 bottles a day. I only started with once a day solids for a week or two. Once they got the hang of eating, I started twice a day, breakfast and dinner. I also alternated fruits and veggies so they got the taste of both and didn't start to prefer one over the other. We did cereal and fruit for breakfast and cereal and veggies for dinner. It took about a month to get through all the stage 1 fruits and veggies because we waited 3 days before starting something new. Once we got through all the stage 1 foods, I dropped the dinner cereal and did fruit and veggie instead. When we added lunch, we also did fruit and veggie for a while. Now, at 10 months, they are getting cereal and fruit for breakfast, yogurt and veggies for lunch and meat/veggies for dinner (finger foods usually). Good luck!

Our doctor recommends bottle first then cereal/food. This is because you want your baby to get all their essential nutrients and not fill up on cereal. We seperate it by 30min to 1 hour. That way his little tummy won't get stuffed. Don't expect him to eat too much at first. I had a late bloomer when it came to eating...he didn't eat "meals" until 9 months. Prior to that it was just a teaspoon or two here and there.

Hi M.
I think the general rule when you start solids is to try and incoporate to solid feedings a day, so it sounds like your on the right track with your schedule. My first son who is 2 now could eat cereal and then a 6oz bottle at every feedings if we let him he was always so hungry. Now my second son who is 8months now didnt really start getting into his ceral or baby food until the past month an half now he can get enough of it. I guess every baby is different they will let you know in thier own way. With both boys though I would always try to aim for one solid in the am and one in the pm so I would say your are off to a good star with your timings. Oh and is usually best to give bottle first so they ar not that hungry when first starting to spoon feed.

Good Luck!
S.

A little about me: Mom of two boys ages 2 and 8mths. Also do Home Day Care and Foster Care.

Hi! I got this super helpful feeding plan guideline from Seedlings when I was checking into their facility for daycare, here's what it suggests for Month 6:

30-48 oz formula/breast milk per 24 hours

7am: 5-8oz bottle and 2-3T baby cereal (mix w/formula or breast milk)
9am: 5-8oz bottle
12 Noon: 5-8oz bottle, dry toast or crackers
3pm: 5-8oz bottle
6pm: 5-8oz bottle and 2-3T baby cereal
9pm: 5-8oz bottle

Of course I adjust the times to fit with my little one i.e. she doesn't eat at 9pm, it's 3am!

Hi M.. This is my daughter's current schedule, in case it is of help to you:
Wakes up about 7:30am - bottle, then cereal and fruit
Wakes up about 11:30am from morning nap - bottle, then yogurt and fruit or veg
Wakes up about 4pm from afternoon nap - bottle
5pm - jar of step 3 food
6pm - bottle

When we first introduced solids, we started with 1/4 cup of rice cereal mixed with 1/4 cup of liquid (we used water, but I know most people use formula or breast milk) in the morning about one hour after her bottle. Once she was consistently eating that, we added 1/4 cup of cereal with liquid at dinner time between her afternoon and night time bottles. Once she was eating that consistently, we added a fruit in the morning. The next thing we added was a veggie at night and then lunch after that. Lunch started as a fruit or veggie and just recently moved to yogurt. Somewhere in there we also introduced cereal and Gerber puffs.

This type of thing has worked great with all three of the kids.

My biggest piece of advice is to continue feeding all different kinds of foods even if he rejects it at first. I did not do this with the first two, and I believe it's increased their finicky nature with foods. WIth my third, I just keep giving her the same food if she rejects it at first, and eventually she eats it!

Good luck to you, and if there's any other way I can help you, please let me know. Enjoy. Pretty soon you're going to be buying kids' meals at restaurants, believe it or not!!

Hi M.,
I'm on baby #3, so I've done this a few times :-) You always give breastmilk/formula first, then once a day when you have the most time offer cereal after a feeding. It'll take awhile to get him used to it and won't get much the first week or so. Good Luck, it's kinda frustuating at first for both of you :-)& messy too!