Introducing Solid Foods to a 4 Month Old

I believe the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends you wait until 6 months to start solids. I would wait. Really why rush it?

That is a big boy! People are going to say you should wait until he's 6 mos, and AAP says this and that, blah blah blah, but you can start introducing anytime between 4-6 mos. As long as he isn't pushing the food out with his tongue, then he is ready. Not all babies are the same.
My 5 mo old loves banana, squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, pears...You can make your own food, just puree it down or mash it really good (and mix in a little formula if it's too thick). I made all the baby food for my son when he was a baby- he loved it!

Here is the reason why it is recommended that you wait till 6 months:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/early-solid-food-feeding...

We always hear that we should wait but never are told why. This explains it. Babies have an open gut system until around 6 months old.

When you do start solids try rice cereal first then move on to veggies like peas or green beans. THat way baby won't have a taste for the sweet stuff first.

I do not reccomend at all starting solids until 6 months ... rice ceral is fine but nothing else is what I suggest.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/t032000.asp
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

We put apple chucks in that feeder you described. My son loved it! Really, any fruit or veggie. Just make sure you cut the skin off first.

In my experience in the beginning they don't eat much at all. It is more like practice. I made baby food, I used just your regular old food processor and it worked like a charm. First foods that we did were: avocado, sweet potato, butternut squash, banana, apples, carrots, peas, green beans and peaches. I made a big batch and froze them in ice cube trays then transferred the cubes to zip lock bags. This way I didn't have to make it all the time.

I didn't start my kids on food till 6 months. In the beginning we did food once a day. Once they started to eat a cube or two at a sitting I increased to twice a day. They really do let you know when they are ready for more food - both with frequency and quantity.

Good luck mama.

I would suggest looking into Baby Led Feeding. It is a great resource, many good websites & you tube videos as well. We were introduced to it through friends and are so grateful such common sense & simplified way of feeding. It's the way things were done before Gerber started to tell us mama's how & what to feed our babies. Good Luck!

http://nourishedkitchen.com/baby-led-weaning/
http://www.baby-led.com/
http://www.rapleyweaning.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVBdMDl4RXo

Wow. He definitely is ready to eat. I've started all of my 4 children with veggies and wait a week to introduce another..just to make sure that they weren't allergic, gassy to any of the foods. After that..introduced some fruits. I think you can start with a small amount, just to see if he likes it...and it wouldn't be nice if he spit up or threw some up. Happy Eating!

The first foods I introduced, one at at time were: rice cereal, apple sauce, pear sauce, bananas, and sweet potatoes.

thats how my daughter was she is a big girl, now with her she had sever acid reflux and she was colic. she started solids at 1 month, yes i said one month. her ped. recommended it. she opened her mouth and everything, she didn't push it out or nothing, it was rice and formula, as she got older, i gave her veggies and meats first, they taste the worst so she got them, i did not give her fruit till she was like 4 months, because they will know that the fruit taste better than the veggies.

do a little in the morning, then at night, feed him solids, then when he is full, give him his bottle he will drink less formula.

my daughter is now 3, she weighs 45 pounds, and is about 40 inches tall. and she eats all her veggies and fruits i have not found one thing that she does not like.

Wow, your son sounds like a big guy : )

My DS was a big guy as well but I still waited until he was a few days shy of 6 months to give him any foods. We started with rice cereal and then the veggies. Once he got all the veggies covered we introduced a few fruits, no meats until he was 8 months (i'm pretty sure thats whats recommended)

You should try to do the veg first for the simple reason that once they get a taste of the good stuff( the fruits) they wont be so interested in the not so sweet stuff (the veg)

My DD is 5 months today and she is getting really interested in the food she see's us eating and her favorite thing right now is to attempt to drink out of a water bottle (of course she isn't really, the lid is on but she is just doing what she see's everyone else doing) I won't start her on food for another month and then I think I am going to start with avacado and move down the veggie list. Since I have now learned that rice cereal doesn't have to be the first food introduced.

Sometimes Google is a mom's best friend!! I am going to be making my DD food this time round, something I wish I had done all the way with my DS and just from looking around on the internet I have found so much helpful and useful information especially from wholesomebabyfood.com

Good Luck !! : )