Solid Food - Sacramento,CA

I would try maybe oatmeal too. My kids loved Oatmeal a lot better than rice cereal. You can start veggies anytime you want. I would start with the red veggies 1st and then greens and then the fruit. With my 1st child I waited the 5 days to test for allergies, but with my 2nd I tried things a lot sooner. I don't think you can really make any mistakes in this area.

please always pay close attention to food allergies. if rice is the first then wait a week or so to try oatmeal,than that for a week, after that if you want to try mixed cereal for a week you can. When you are giving a new food to babies you only give one new food at a time. It is easier to catch food allergies this way and some can cause extream reactions. god bless

I would check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have information on preparing homemade baby foods but also info on which are the best foods to start with for Stage 1, 2, etc (you can find this info under baby food recipes). My daughter started with yams and butternut squash and loved them. Good luck!

When my son was born, I also felt overwhelmed by all the decisions I had to make from what kind of diaper cream to use to which car seat was the safest. I breast fed my son and had a lot of support from other breast feeding moms regarding the introduction to solids. However, to answer your question, I stayed away from jar food, unless I was traveling and just mashed up whatever the family was eating (rice, potatoes, squash, chicken) and introduced each item one at a time so that if there was a negative reaction, it would be easier to target the source. I also came across a wonderful book called "Dr. Hoffer's ABC of Natural Nutrition for Children". I still have the book and it has become an invaluable resource. It is very informative and research based and addresses many issues as they relate to food and children.

Good luck, and trust your mama instincts. You and your baby will be just fine.

I waited till 6 months to introduce oatmeal then i started rice and apple wait a week to start rice and banana etc. baby food i started about 9 months and all finger food solids minus hot dogs at 1 year. no steak and such do like bananas , peanut butter sandwiches, chicken nuggets.(depending on the number of teeth also) french fries are great. your harder meat like pork chops and steak wait till they have multiple molars mine is 2 and still not on steak. wait one week to make sure there is no allergies before introducing the other foods. one food a week was my rule. I did this with both of my boys.

From Rice cereal I went onto different infant cereal "flavors" oatmeal for example. At 4 months I would advise going slow. Solids at that age is not so much about calories and nutrition (your baby would have to consume
alot of jars to meet the calories you get from breast milk or formula). It's more about the experience of learning how to eat from a spoon and the sensation of eating solids. Breastmilk and/or formula should still your babies main source of nutrition. After the cereal, we moved to stage 1 veggies then stage 1 fruits. Veggies like sweet potatoes, squash etc. Your baby will start to look a little orange after all the orange veggies :) I loved the book "Baby 411" written by 2 moms (one was a Dr. - sorry I can't think of their names). It was clear, concise and didn't scare me with horror stories! I would check your library for a copy. I think I got my copy at Barnes & Noble. Good luck and happy feeding!

I always fed my girls veggies first for at least a month or so. I didn't want them to immediately prefer the sweet taste of fruit to veggies. My oldest daughter as far as baby food went would eat every veggie except green beans. She would gag. So I recomend that at least. Try a new veggie but at least try them out for two or three days at a time. That would help pinpoint in case of an allergic reaction. It is so awesome when they start eating foods because they stay full longer and seem more fulfilled. Enjoy it.

I totally agree with Tara regarding using the recipes for homemade baby foods. You may want to wait slightly longer to introduce the fruits and veggies.. probably at around 6 to 7 months, but the food will taste so much better and you'll know exactly what's in each thing. The only veggie I don't recommend doing that with is carrots because the baby food companies control the soil in which their carrots are grown and the ones we buy in the stores for ourselves may have been grown in soils that allow the carrots to absorb things that aren't good for the small babies.
You don't really even need recipes, though I'm sure the website Tara mentioned will be helpful. We are caregivers for our grandson and I worked closely with his mother on making homemade foods for him. We started out with things like sweet potatoes, peas, and other veggies that we were serving for our own meals. He really loved sweet potatoes (and still does at 2.5 years of age). I simply boiled or (preferably) baked the potatoes until soft, then ran them through my blender to puree them for him to eat. As he grew and was able to handle them better I pureed them less and less allowing him to learn the new, more chunky textures until he was able to simply mash and eat them on his own. Same with other veggies and fruits. Applesauce is so easy too. Peel, cut and seed the apples, put them into a microwaveble dish with a bit of water and cook them just until they are soft, then run them through the blender. Some people prefer to start their children with vegetables (I am one of those) but some would rather start with fruits. I don't know that it makes a lot of difference, but would ask your childs doctor's opinion before starting either.

I completely understand. As a first time mom, I too was overwhelmed by everything and that is okay. This site and any freinds/family you have with kids of their own, are a great resource. I think 4 months old is a bit early for solids. No I did not try anything between rice cereal and jarred food. I would wait until 6 months and start with one type of jarred food to introduce the type/texture to baby. You can begin with either fruit or veggie. I tried fruit. Don't be surprised if at first baby doesn't like it. If that's the case, don't push it and try again 2 wks later. Always introduce only one food at a time waiting 3 days before you introduce a second or new food to determine if your child has any allergic reaction to a certain food.

I started after about a week of rice to give my son (then 5 months old) pureed fruit and vegetables. I found pear and carrot were good as these have a naturally sweet taste. He found apple a bit sour. I sometimes mixed the purees with the rice to gradually start to bulk it up a bit. Sweet potato and butternut squash were also great too. You could always do one day rice followed by a day with one puree, then back to rice and build it up like that. I don't think there's any hard and fast rules, but if he's enjoying it i say go for it!
I felt the same as you and was desperate to do everything by the book (Annabel Karmel does a good one!), but soon just started to follow my instincts. A mother's instinct is very strong!

funny thing about baby food.. it is not a big deal and it just doesnt matter.. your baby would be fine if he never had any of the baby food..

baby food is just pratce for eating later. to get teh baby used to tastes and textures..

For the first year.. all of athe baby's nutrition comes from breastmilk or formula.. there just isnt much nutrition in a jar of baby food.

so.. I waited about a month to start fruits and veggies.. it doesnt matter what order you go in frutis first veggies first.. I kept my kids on 1 meal a day till about 7 months.. then went to 2 meals a day at about 8 or 8 1/2 months.. then 3 meals a day after 9 or 9 1/2 months..

you do not want to fill their tummies with too much solid foods or they wont drink their formula..

relax.. you are doing fine.. your baby wll not care if he gets bananas or apples first..

It is unsafe to feed babies any form of food until 6 months of age - based on many doctors research collaberated by the American Academy of Pediatrics. There is a reason that the obesity and allergy rates among young children has sky-rocketed in the last few years. I don't know why people have started feeing their babies rice cereal before 6 months, AAP still warns against it (go over the research yourself, babies digestional tracts are not able to digest anything before then, some doctors even show research proving they cannot digest carbohydrates until 9 months!)
Since you have already started cereal I would not introduce anything else until 6 months, if your baby has no teeth by then I would suggest waiting until your baby has teeth (a physical sign that your baby's body is getting ready to be able to digest properly) but do your own research...

If he is doing well with the rice cereal, then you can try other cereals, one new item each 5-7 days to allow time to see if he has an allergic reaction. You don't have to use jar foods, you can make your own. For example, you can take a very ripe banana and smoosh it up, mix with a little cereal and you got fruit. You can use other fresh fruits that are ripe and soft too. He can have some mashed potato or carrots that are steamed and mashed. give it a try.

Hello,
I know every person does things a little different but I never did put my children on jar baby food. They were all eating young. From the cereal at about 3 months I began with steamed veggies in the blender and fruits slightly cooked and blended as well. I have 3 children and none of them have food allergies and love all fruits and veggies. I think this way they get the taste of natural foods instead of jarred altered foods. Best of luck,V