Starting on Baby Foods

I started at 7 1/2 months.

When the 8 oz. bottle of formula does not last them 3-4 hours they are ready for baby food. My kids got mashed potato off my finger when they were two months!

Could start...or SHOULD start? The distinction could be important.

You also didn't mention if you were breastfeeding. A breastfed baby may be less tolerant of solid foods right now. I exclusively breastfed for 9 months and my 16 month old still nurses at night.

Good rules of thumb are:
1-baby should be able to sit up straight while supported
2-show interest in whst you are eating
3-showing signs of a diminishing thrust reflex...stop pushing everything out with their tongue

The most recent AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommendation is 6 months--not that I need them to tell me what the right thing is. Keep in mind that unless your baby is REALLY interested in solid foods right now, they will mainly just getting tastes of the foods and you will likely waste a lot of jars. It will be a while before they are really eating enough to take away from the breast or bottle.

I never did rice cereal. I just waited until she was old enough to take something with some substance. I started with mashed avocado and fresh banana and make my own oatmeal that I pureed to a good consistency. You aren't going to hurt him by lating him taste food right now. Just be smart about size and consistency...and allergies (citrus, strawberries, honey, eggs, peanuts, etc.) until he is at least a year.

We started the baby food at 4 months, start out slowly and feed him the same baby food for the week because you never know if the food will cause an allergic reaction, that way you know what kind of food did it.

My pediatrician said we could start at 4 months, also. And we did. But my babies were both 10-pounders at birth, so by four months, well, they were pretty big, and hungry too. Also, mine were not breastfed (for personal medical reasons), so that didn't factor in. They did both have reflux, though, and while they were on medicine to help that, I noticed that the food seemed to help some too (e.g., mixing small amount of rice cereal in with the formula). We started with rice cereal, and went from there to fruits & veggies. I think the first fruit we tried was prunes ... it helps "unclog" as cereal sometimes "clogs". :-)

Really, I think it depends on the baby, as another poster said, and also on the comfort level of the mommy! I have a friend who waited until 6 months for her baby; my mom, with the advice of her pediatrician, started me on rice cereal at 3 weeks (of course, that was the 1970s!). Oh and let me tell you, with my first baby, I got all kinds of grief from my mom for not starting my daughter on cereal right away "because that's what she did and I turned out okay"! :-)

I didn’t start my babies on solids until they were closer to 6 month b/c they didn’t seem ready. They weren’t acting interested in what I was eating or sitting up well until that point. Also, the longer you wait the less of a chance they will develop food allergies. When you do decide that your son is ready to start solids, you don’t have to pay for over priced jars that he will only take a bite or two of, you can start with simple foods (bananas, avocados, apples, plums, pears, peas, carrots) and mush them up with a fork or food processor. I did actually start out with homemade rice cereal b/c it’s one of the easiest foods to digest. Here’s a great website for making your own food if you interested. It also gives good advice of determine your childs readiness for solids. www.wholesomebabyfood.com
I’m not judging if you aren’t interested in making your own, just trying to offer a money saving suggestion. Best of luck to you with you little guy.

Hi Crystal,
I didn't start my son on anything until he was almost 6 mos & we started him on organic cereal 1st. It was a big runny mess. :) But it was really more for practice than a nutrition source. Once he was use to it, I started making baby food. I bought organic veggies & cooked & puréed them & froze them. 1 night of making baby food & I had food for a month. It was less expensive than buying jars, but I'm a SAHM, so if you're working & don't have time, no biggie. When you start food (other than cereal) I suggest doing veggies before fruit so he doesn't get too use to the sweet taste of fruit & then refuse veggies. Get ready for some funny faces & remember, if he doesn't like something the 1st time, try it again later & he might like it. Don't feel the need to rush it because his primary source of nutrition is still breastmilk or formula for a long time & he has to be ready 1st. Best of luck!