Introducing Food to a Six Month Old

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

getting ready myself to start this! I read also what to expect the first year, it helps with everything.

i started with vegetables only for the first three months, 2-3 times a day. then added meats to the routine and finally fruits after another three months. i did it in this order for my son to develop a liking for meats and veggies before introducing sweets (fruit).
to this day he LOVES his veggies and meats and the only sweets he gets are his fruits so he loves them as well. my doctor suggested doing this and i couldn't be happier considering his dad has a ridiculous sweet tooth.

M.,

My daughter loves peas so she eats that with a serving of fruit and rice. I tried giving her rice with just water and she hated it so I began using breastmilk. She loved it! But it was difficult for me to pump and feed her because she is very impatient (like her mother) so I found a trick. I now use only water but I mix the peas into it. She will eat it great. She has tried green beans, squash, and carrots unfortunately I haven't found many veggies on the market; she's also tried prunes, pears, peaches, mango, pear and blueberry, apple and prunes, apricot and mixed fruit, and pear and pineapple. She has been eating solids for about 2 months now (I started her out at 5 months old) and she will drink from a sippy cup. Her pediatrician said give her a sippy cup with her meal so she gets used to drinking from one with a meal.

Good luck,
M. P

PS I got it in her nose for the first couple weeks because she would lunge at it and I'd try to get her to eat everything on the spoon so she had some funny boogies until we both got the hang of it. I enjoy feeding her; it's one of my favorite times with her!!

Think in terms of their little stomachs... a tablespoon is a lot for some babies, some will eat more. Also watch for their tongue reflex...if the baby is still pushing out with his/her tongue... then they may not be ready to "swallow" solids for example, yet.

Usually, feeding solids once a day in the beginning, then over say a month, build up to twice a day, then again work up to 3 meals a day. Keep in mind that the baby and their system is adjusting as well. This is per our Pediatricians recommendations.

In the beginning... yes, it's about "introducing" foods. Slowly, over time. Another reason for not rushing with giving more than one food type at a time, is so that you can watch for any allergenic reactions or what not. Per our Pediatrician... we introduced one food at a time... for 1 month, then introduced another. Process of elimination in terms of how the baby adjusted to it and/or any adverse reactions to it...then you will thereby build up a "menu" of foods that you know your baby handles fine.

For the 1st year of life, keep in mind that breastmilk/formula is the PRIMARY source of nutrition for a baby. Thus, always offer breast/formula FIRST, before solids. If giving solids "first" before breast/formula, this is to WEAN from breast, and also if giving solids first, the baby will be too full to drink breast/formula after that. So keep that in mind... or it can/may affect your breastmilk supply.

For me, I always breastfed first, then, after about 1/2 hour, gave the solids, for example. There is no rush.

For us, per Pediatrician, it was single grain rice cereal first...then, another type of cereal...then a "yellow/orange" food (ie: squash, carrots) then... a "green" food (ie: beans, peas). Beware that spinach should NOT be given to a young baby until about after 9 months old... because there are certain enzymes in it which is not good for them yet.

Ask your Pediatrician... and go by his/her guidelines. And yes, organic is great! Also, beware of soy milk (later on).. as too much soy milk has naturally occurring estrogen in it and it can negatively affect a child's hormone balance. My friend for example, fed her kids exclusively on soy milk after 1 year old... and it prematurely caused her girls to start menstruating and brought on early puberty. Luckily her doctor told her to stop with the soy milk and her daughter's system went back to normal after several months.

I'm not a doctor but this is what we did with our children.
Oh, kiwi fruit is also highly allergenic... (look it up online. It has very adverse reactions in those that are allergic to it. I learned this because my daughter is allergic to it). Just for future reference...

All the best, and take care,
~Susan

Hi there..I am also in the process of introducing my son to his first food other than Cereal, which for us will be butternut squash. With my daughter as well as this time with my son I am making my own baby food using organic fresh/ frozen vegetables. It's very easy and came highly reccomended by my Pediatrician. She even introduced us to the So Easy homemade baby food set, and Fresh Start Cworkbook.

Start by mixing the food into his cereal in a small quantity and start with only one at a time and use just the one for a week to make sure no allergies, sensitivites, or reactions occur as per our pediatricians advice. Also you may want to look into it but from what the books I have read says is that Carrots is one food you should wait till after 8-10 months to introduce due to the reactions possible. I know with my daughter I started carrots at about 6 months old and she had horrible diaper rash and acid reflux from the carrots. So I'd say look into it first. This is a listing out of the "Fresh Start Cworkbook" to help ya out.

~The recommended first foods (about 6months) are apples, Peas, Acorn and butternut squashes, Pears, and Sweet Potato/ yams.
~Second foods (6-8months) Apricots, Avocados, Nectarines, Peaches, Plums, Pumpkin, Tofu, Yellow Squash, and Zucchini
~3rd foods (8-10 months)Asparagus, Black Beans, Broccoli, Brussles Sprouts, Carrots, Cauliflower, Garbanzo beans, Mangos, Papayas, Pinto Beans, Snow Peas, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, White Beans, and White potatos.
~ 4th foods (10-12 months) Beets, Cantalope, Cherries, Corn, Dates, Eggplant, and Pineapple.
I hope that helps...I chose a few vegetables and fruits for my daughter that turned out to not always be such a smart choice, an we paid with allergies, rashes, reflux, etc... so I was happy to find the Cworkbook by Joan Ahlers and Cheryl Tallman. There is a lot of great info and such about nutrition, allergies, and sensitivites with babies and foods. Good luck to you and have a great day!

Hi M.,
I also have a 6 month old. Born 1-24. I have been giving her food for a couple months now. She was tired of watching big brother eat...she wanted some too!!!
I started with organice rice cereal for about a month, then went to organic carrots and rice cereal. She just had her 6 month check up and her ped said to feed her twice a day and she can have all fruits and veggies now. I still give her half rice cereal and half veggie or a fruit. Some great tips that her doc gave me....
*introduce a new food in the morning, in case of an allergic reaction, you won't end up in the ER in the middle of the night.
*do not introduce a new food on a Friday night or weekend for the same reason of ending up in the ER.
*stay with the same food for a few days so if she has an allergy you won't have to guess what she was allergic too.
She also said that by 7 months she should be eating her food 3 times a day.
Good luck and get ready for a mess!! :)

A good source for a recommendation would be your pediatrician. He/She will be able to give you some guidance on a healthy feeding schedule. My daughter's pediatrician recommended cereal & fruit in the morning, a fruit and a vegetable at lunch, and cereal & a vegetable in the evening. I found that schedule very easy to follow, and the structure helped me make sure she was eating a balanced, healthy diet. Best wishes!

Super Baby Food (you can rent it at your local library) has a great list of introductory foods, including their allergy level and the best ages to introduce them. We just started feeding our 6 month old solids as well. I plan on repeating the same routine I had with my older daughter, which was to introduce a new food every Monday - it was easy to watch for allergic reactions, and I didn't have to worry if enough time had passed to try the next food. By her first birthday she was eating just about everything (except the obvious things to avoid - nuts, honey, strawberries, etc). One of my favorite first foods was avocado. Easy to mash by hand, high in fiber, high in fat, and I would happily eat the leftovers :) Happy feeding!

Hi There M.,

This is former owner of Mama Jen's Organic Baby Food. I would wait for carrots until your little one is closer to 9 months old. Carrots are actually more difficult to digest. Banana, Avocado, Pears, and Peas are all great first foods and actually even better as a beginning, is rice ceral. All organic of course!! Happy Eating! You can start with whenever you are giving her rice ceral now and move into two and then 3 times a day. She will tell when she is hungry after that. Have fun!!

Jen

No homemade carrots or spinach. they are perfectly fine out of a jar. Something to do w/ nitrates. Bananas are a great 1st food, and so easy! remember apples can constipate.

Carrot are a great first food. You can also try pureed sweet potatoes, avocado, apples or squash. For fast, easy and fresh baby food recipes, feeding tips, allergy information and more check out www.weelicious.com

3 times per day, breakfast,lunch & dinner. Check out WHOLE FOODS for fresh organic purees. Best of luck to you. -K.

try changing from rice to oatmeal..rice constipates..i would start off slowly..did you ask your doc how many times she should eat a day? i think my doc said whenever my son seemed hungry.

Definitely buy the book "Super Baby Food", answers every possible question. Great resource!!

HI there. I've been feeding my daughter solids for about a month now. Our pediatrician recommended that we feed a "stage 1" food to our baby after her bottle 3 times a day, to consider the solids as appeatizers to the bottle if you will. Always feed one type of food for a few days to check for allergies. Currently my little angel gets cereal and solid food first thing in the morning, a bit after 1, and cereal and solid food after we eat dinner. Seems to be working so far.

Some advice: one, it's messy as all get out and you might wear quite a bit at first. Two, baby's BM will be more firm after a while and you may want to talk to your doctor about introducing water once a day to help. Third, don't let baby wear anything you want to save....sure as rain is wet, baby food stains are hard to get out.

i started with fruits (and i know a lot of moms will say that if you do that your baby wont want anything else). but start with what you want to carrots should be just fine. i do however suggest to mix it in with your babies rice cereal (because the cereal is a familar texture) and then lesson the amount of rice cereal over a week with each new food. also remember to only feed your baby one new food every 3-4 days so you can watch for an allergic reaction. i think 2 times a day is good to start out with. i started that way with my daughter she got a fruit in the morning and then a vegie before bed. i added the lunch meal in there after about a month i think. good luck and just take your time!

Get this book: "Super Baby Food" -- it was AWESOME! It told what foods a baby's stomach is able to handle in each new month, gave easy recipes and make-ahead strategies so that you can MAKE the baby's food (no food jars!) and taught a lot about nutrition.

One of the first foods it recommended was one of the following mixed with breast milk (enough to be drippy): sweet potatoes, avocados, or bananas.

Be sure to have a camera -- it's messy fun.

Hi M.-

I have two kids both under 2. I was told to start with green veggies first. Then introduce orange then move on to fruit. It was recommended to introduce one new food per week, to make sure no allergic reactions occur. I started with one meal per day. As they started to eat enough i up it to two then three times per day. Remember at 6 months there their primary source of nutrition is still there formula &/or breast milk. Hope this helps.

I gave avocados to both my children as their first food. They loved it, and it's super easy to mash.

Hi M.,
I started my 6 month old on vegetables a few weeks ago. We started with homemade green beans. I found it surprisingly easy to make his new foods (peas and squash also). They say not to make carrots because at home you cannot control the amount of nitrites--so I bought organic carrot baby food. It tasted terrible but at least for certain foods it is safer to buy. My little one loves the beans and the squash, some people say to start babies on more palatable foods that are sweeter, but I followed the advice that acquiring a taste for vegetables first will better, and he seems to like the vegetables just fine.
Good luck!

Sweet Potato and Avocado are great to introduce. Better than carrots. Both are soft and easy to mash for feeding.

Gerber has a great hotline (I think it's 800-4Gerber). I used to ask them everything! But you can start with fruits & vegetables (pureed of course)as long as you introduce one at a time for a few days each to make sure the baby's not allergic in any way. My daughter used to love to kind of grab onto a plum and just suck on it. You can start doing stuff like that - but watch every second.
M.

I agree with starting with the "green" foods first. With my first daughter, we gave her carrots first but because they are a bit on the sweet side, she wouldn't take the peas or string beans.

The book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron is an amazing resource for introducing solids to your baby. It has chapters for each month (6 month old, 7 month old, etc.) which give suggested foods for each month as well as information on how to prepare and serve each food. There is also a great chart with all the info compacted into a neat format for easy reference. This chart lived on my refrigerator door through two children! I can't recommend it highly enough! You can get it at any bookstore. Here is a link to Amazon so you can take a look at it. Good luck! http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/09652...

The Baby Book by Dr. Sears has a great step-by-step solids introduction plan.

Hi,

Sounds like you're doing everything right! Carrots are a great start. Try those for a few days- perhaps four, then move on to another vegetable. We did all vegetables first at the recommendation of our pediatrian- her point was that she will definitely like the sweetness of the fruit so try to get her to develop a taste for vegetables first. You can use anything: all kinds of potatos, green beans, squash, corn, beets, etc. We would boil everything, sometimes in organic chicken broth to give extra flavor (potatos work really well with this- green beans too), then puree them up for her.

We started with cereal for breakfast, then a veg for lunch and dinner. Of course, supplemented all with breast milk. Once you're done with the vegetables start in with fruits. Around 8 months is when we were told to do 3 full meals and also begin chicken (cooked and pureed the same way). Now she is turning one and she pretty much eats everything, mostly chopped up.

Good luck and have fun with it- be creative in combining things too- carrots and potatos, chicken and pasta or corn. She will grow to love it all.

Hi
BE CAREFUL with carrots. Dont cook and prepare these yourself - something about the nitrates!!!!!! I would try other fruits and veggies first. No strawberries, eggs, honey, peanuts etc either
Good luck