When to Start 1St Foods

Starting him on foods is fine. I would try to feed him more ceareal from a sppon 3 times a day (like meals) before starting him on other stuff.

I started both my kids on food around 4-5 months. I did cereal for about a month and then quickly advanced to jarred baby food. I let them eat as much as they wanted, believe me, they will let you know when they are done.

Hi, J.!

I am also a first-time mommy and it is daunting to figure out what to put in another little person's tummy. I am fortunate, however, to have MANY friends with babies, Mommy & Me group at my local hospital led by an experienced nurse/mommy who will answer feeding questions, and a pediatrician who simply and clearly spelled it out for me. Here is the "course of action" recommended by the nurse, the doctor, most books I've read, and about a dozen mommy friends of mine:

WEEK 1 - Rice cereal or baby oatmeal, 1-2 Tbsp., 1-3 times per day. Let him play with the spoon, the cereal, the bowl, etc. to get used to the texture and items he'll be using the rest of his life!

WEEK 2 - Once he's opening his mouth and doing okay with the cereal, add a "Stage 1" yellow vegetable to ONE of the feedings. (Squash, sweet potatoes, or carrots) He should eat all of the cereal because that has the highest nutrient value per bite, and then eat about 1/2 of a jar of the veggie.

WEEKS 3-6 - Keep doing your cereal 2-3 times a day, increasing the number of Tablespoons if needed. In week three, add another yellow veggie. Week four, another yellow veggie. Week five, green beans and week six, peas.

WEEKS 7-11 - Keep going with the rice cereal and baby oatmeal and now for each of the next 5 weeks you're going to add applesauce, then pears, then peaches, bananas, and prunes. So now each day you're giving him one cereal/fruit feeding and one cereal/veggie feeding, cycling through the veggies you've already established are okay for him.

After this, you can have fun designing a menu for your baby! He'll be about 8 months old and you will know without a doubt that none of these foods, added one at a time, caused any allergic reactions. What a great feeling! At this point you can also start adding in the Gerber "puffs" or Mum-Mum rice rusks or Cheerios, plus the fun of a sippy cup!

If you have any doubts about keeping track of all of this and taking the time to do it, just re-read "Amber L's" post about the milk allergy. It is worth the 10-12 weeks of work to give your baby a lifetime without allergies!!

One other note: There is never any need for your baby to have cereal in his bottle. His bottle is for his milk/formula and the bowl and spoon time are for his cereal. The sooner he gets that figured out, the better for everyone involved!

Good luck! I hope I haven't bogged you down with information!!

You're doing great! Start one new thing at a time. Like sweet potatoes the first week, pears the second, ect. That way you will be able to know what he is allergic to if he has a reaction at all. And I would alternate veggies and fruit like that. Once he has tried all different kinds and everything has all gone well then you can mix it up a bit. I would also make sure he is getting all the gas out after the bottle. I confused gas with hunger with my first born. They act the same way when they have a tummy ache as when they are hungry. I gave my kids cereal once a day to begin with at night about an hour before bed so that I had plenty of time to bath and nurse them afterwards and then put them down. Here's a guideline I found online at earthfamily.com I just typed in a search for baby's first foods and a bunch of different sites poped up. Hope this answers some of your questions. You can also go to the gerber website or I just logged into Gerber and they have a sixteen page downloadable pamphlet you can read about starting solids. Everywhere I looked it says to start with just plain iron fortified rice cereal, then every 2-4 days you can add a new food. They say pears are the best fruit to start with and sweet potatoes are a good veggie to start with. best of luck!

Guidelines for food introduction:
The ages to give certain foods will vary depending on when you start solids. The order is more important than the age of the baby.

The recommendations below assume baby gets most of her calories from breast milk for the first 12 months. If baby is formula fed then you will want baby to get more calories from food and introduce protein foods like egg yolks and legumes between 8-10 months.

First foods: Vegetables (squash, sweet potato, potato, green beans) and avocado. Carrots, spinach, beets, turnips or collards are too rich in nitrates for baby until he is 9 months old.

Second: About a month after giving vegetables, add fruits (applesauce, peaches, apricots, pears, nectarines, & plums). Start with cooked fruit. Once cooked fruit is accepted try raw mashed fruit.

Third: Assuming baby is at least 9 months old, add more vegetables (zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, kale, tomatoes, spinach, beets, turnips, carrots, collard greens)

Fourth: Somewhere between 9-12 months add grains. Try to use whole grains versus refined baby cereals, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, barley, millet. Buy commercial whole grain cereals or make your own by toasting the grains and grinding in a mill.

Fifth: Between 10-12 months, add nuts (except peanuts which are allergenic) and legumes and egg yolks (egg whites are highly allergenic)

Sixth: After 12 months add meat, poultry, beans, egg whites.

Once all foods are tolerated, add foods from the allergenic list and any other fruits and vegetables.

What about dairy? We do not recommend that you ever give your children cow’s milk (whether they show signs of intolerance or not). Yogurt can be beneficial and can be added to the diet between 10-12 months.

What about supplements? We do not believe that breastfed babies need Vitamin D supplements or iron-fortified foods as long as the nursing mother has a healthy, iron rich diet and the baby isexposed to at least 5 minutes of sun per day. After 10 months add flaxseed oil (1 tsp per day) or cod liver oil (1/4 tsp per day). After 12 months you may want to add a multi-vitamin supplement and beneficial bacteria to your child’s diet.

Foods to avoid: Avoid sugar, salt, refined flours, processed foods, foods with additives, preservatives, colors, and hydrogenated fats. Prepared fruit juices (especially concentrated) should be limited or not given as they overly high in natural sugars and are proportionally low in nutrients compared to total calories.

Additional Feeding Tips:

Introduce one food at a time and wait at least 4 days before introducing another. Monitor your baby for any adverse or allergic reactions (see list below). If an allergy is suspected, discontinue the food and try again after at least one week. If symptoms reappear then discontinue that food until baby is at least two years old. We recommend keeping a food and symptom diary.
Wait to introduce all highly allergenic foods until baby is at least 12 months old.
Choose organic, homemade foods as much as possible.
Common signs of food allergies:
Respiratory Passages:
Runny nose, sneezing, wheezing, stuffy nose, watery eyes, bronchitis, recurring ear infections, persistent cough, congestion, rattling chest

Skin:
Red sand paper like facial rash, hives, swelling in hands and feet, dry, scaly, itchy skin (mostly on face), dark circles under eyes, puffy eyelids, lip swelling, tongue soreness and cracks.

Intestines:
Mucousy diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gassiness, excessive spitting up, vomiting, intestinal bleeding, poor weight gain, burn like rash around anus, abdominal discomfort.

Specific to Infants:
Redness around mouth usually within 1-2 hours or around the anus within 12-24 hours,
Abdominal bloating, gas and distension
Constipation, diarrheaa or foul odour to stools
Vomiting or frequent spitting-up
Nasal and/or chest congestion and runny nose, chronic middle ear infections, asthma
Red, chapped eczema-like skin on face, groin, bottom or anywhere on the body.
Colic, fussiness, difficult sleeping
Failure to thrive, loss of appetite
*Allergic symptoms can occur within minutes or within days after the food is ingested.

Most-Allergenic Foods

• berries
• buckwheat
• chocolate
• cinnamon
• citrus fruits
• coconut
• corn
• dairy products
• egg whites
• food additives
• mustard
• nuts
• peas
• peanuts
• pork
• shellfish
• soy
• sugar • tree nuts
• tomatoes
• wheat
• yeast Least-Allergenic Foods
• apples
• apricots
• asparagus
• avocados
• barley
• beets
• broccoli
• carrots
• cauliflower
• chicken
• cranberries
• dates
• grapes
• honey • lamb
• lettuce
• mangoes
• oats
• papayas
• peaches
• pears
• poi
• turkey
• veal
• raisins
• rice
• rye
• safflower oil
• salmon
• squash
• sunflower oil
• sweet potatoes

We started first foods at 6 months per our son's pediatrician. We were told to introduce one new food every 3 days to watch for allergic reactions. I would recommend starting with veggies first- if they get used to the sweet stuff- they will prefer it! If they don't like something, keep trying! Sometimes it takes awhile before they will accept a new food. Good luck!

Hi J....I would stick to just formula and cereal for now if I were you...but OUR pediatrician would definitely recommend not putting the cereal in his bottle, and feeding it out of a spoon,instead. You can mix formula with the cereal, but spoon feed it. And I would probably not put cereal in every bottle..he really doesn't need that much. As for fruits and veggies...You can start those after 6 mos, according to my pediatrician. We actually waited until 6 mos. to feed ANY solids because our oldest son is allergic to all dairy. We found out when he was 8 mos. old and stopped breathing..twice. It was terribly scary and we didn't figure it out right away. I noticed he was power puking and getting really phlegmy after just beginning to eat certain Gerber foods..Hawaiian delight, mac and cheese, blueberry buckle, the teething cookies and a few others. Come to find out, he is allergic to dairy. HE is now 4, and still allergic to dairy. We don't really have any immediate family members with food allergies..my husband does have an uncle or something with a shellfish allergy but nothing like this. So...my advice is to make SURRE you only introduce one food every 3 days...2 new foods a week at most. If I could go back, I would have waited as long as possible with my first son before he got to have solids at all (we started RIGHT at 4 months), and I would make SURE that none of the Gerber products I fed him before age 1 had ANY dairy in them. I don't necessarily know that this CAUSED his allergy, but if it could have possibly prevented it, I would do anything. So this is a lot of the reason the pediatricians have rules and regulations in place about when to feed your baby what like they do. It required a HUGE lifestyle change in our eating habits. NO cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream, pudding...at least none with milk in it. Good luck!!

It is a perfect time to start him on some food. Both of my children were really constipated on just rice cereal, so we started with vegetables. My mother in law does daycare and says she starts with the orange ones. I'm not sure why, but I did find that if you start with vegetables instead of the fruit they don't develop a sweet tooth. Give your son the same thing for a few days. We did between three and five days that way it he is allergic to any of them you will know which one it is. As far as the amount see how he is acting. I think we tryed half of the jar at first, but soon they were eating a whole 1st foods jar.

Hi J.,

Check with your Pediatrician. It's not recommended to put rice in the bottle as it doesnt' do any good. First foods are good - try the vegetables first - Fruits shouldn't be introduced until later because most kids won't eat vegetables after fruits and fruits have natural sugars where vegetables don't. I think the amount depends on the child - my daughter is 5.5 months old and she's still trying to understand the concept of the spoon and doesn't like the cereal. I give her 1/2 the jar of vegetables in the evening but it's taking some time to have a feel of when she's most hungry. It's really trial and error and gets frustrating but I am sure soon you'll have a routine but check with your Pediatrician for the best course of action!! Good Luck!

I recommend the book Babywise II by Gary Ezzo. It answers all of your questions on when to start feeding solids what to give them and when. It is a great book! In a nutshell they suggest giving rice cereal first (from a spoon though, not added in a bottle) after they are used to having 3 rice meals a day for 2 weeks they tell you to add in yellow veggies (squash, carrotts, sweet potatoes) adding one at a time and a few days apart before trying a new veggie (so you can look for signs of allergies) once they've mastered all their yellow veggies you can add in fruits and other veggies.
Then they recommed giving cereal and fruit at breakfast, veggies at lunch, and all three at dinner.
As far as how much...my 6 month old daughter still doesn't eat a full jar, she is probably eating about half of one. You just have to watch them, my daughter starts to spit the food out when she's had enough and I notice if she gets too much she will uurp about 30min after eating.

Good luck

Once he starts sitting up, putting soft foods in front of him will tell you if he wants them. He will grab them and eat them up if he is hungry, or just mush them up if he is not. "Solid" foods such as cooked carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes, bananas and pears are easily gummed and swallowed.

Even if he doesn't eat them, playing with food is stimulating to a baby's brain. Giving him different colored food to explore will give him something to do, keeping him busy for a few minutes, and giving you time to rest while he is busy.

Both of my girls loved whole food when they were 5-6 months old.

Hi J.,
It's good to start solids between 4 and 6 months of age. Rice cereal is a good start, but I would feel him with a bowl and baby spoon, not the bottle. It's sometimes good to put some formula in the cereal bowl to make it soupier and easier to eat. Start with half the jar and he'll let you know when he's full--just spoon it into a bowl so that you don't leave germs in the jar by using the spoon and putting it back into the jar. After a while, you can mix fruit into the cereal too. Give him solids every time you eat and give him bottles in between.
Good luck and he'll be eating pizza before you know it!! :o)

I was advised not to put rise in bottles by the doctor because they think it causes obesity. I started foods with both kids at 5 months but 6 months was a better age. I started with watered down rice cereal and for flavor added in some baby fruit. Never buy dessert it's a waste in my opinion. I'd feed breastmilk/formula first then gave the solids with a spoon. It's advised that you introduce one new food each week or two just in case there is a reaction. I always fed what they could eat but they never finished a whole jar at one sitting. Mixing it with the cereal is a good staple to the watered down baby foods. My doctor told me to feed table foods at 6 months and I seriously couldn't do that out of fear that my child would choke. When they were closer to a year they were eating some of the foods we were eating.

The best thing to do is what you think is right for your baby, not what other people tell you - including your pediatrician.

Research, ask advice and opinion, and then you decide what's best. You know your baby better than anyone therefore you have all the information and are best suited to make decisions.

The general rule of thumb for infants is that they should take in approximately 50calories for each pound of body weight. So how much baby food to give him really depends on his weight and how much he wants to eat at any given time.

My 3 month old eats rice cereal and sweet potatoes at this point. He knows how to open his mouth to indicate he wants more, and how to turn aside when he's finished. He'll generally eat everything given to him, but on occasion he just doesn't want anything solid - he wants his formula, so that's what he gets. I watch his caloric intake to make sure he's getting enough to eat and not getting too much, but generally speaking if he's hungry - he's eating something. At this age worries over obesity are simply unfounded. Once they hit the toddler years they'll even out, if for no other reason than they can become picky, sporadic eaters and have to live off what they've built up some days.

So do what you think is best. "Good for baby" is a matter of opinion and babies survived just fine in the past eating solids much earlier than we think is "best" for them. And "good for baby" is based on averages, not the individual. What's good for my baby may not be good for yours, and vice-versa. Like you said, you just "feel" he's still hungry and you're addressing that need. That's important in the bonding and attachment process - that your son trusts that you will meet his needs. If you're doing that, you're doing it right.

I started my 2nd daughter at about 5 months. Usually you should start with veggies otherwise you could end up with a picky eater since the fruit is sweet. Your baby should show you when he is full. He may eat the whole jar, he might not. Prunes and pears would be good if he is constipated, It'll clear him out. I would save the prunes in case of emergency. Also it's good to stick with the same veggie for a whole week. That way in case your baby is allergic it's easier to pinpoint. Good luck:-)

J.~
I too am a first time mom! We started Macy (who is going to be 9mo on the 11th) when she was about 5mo. We started with runnier cereal then moved on to the 'ones'. Don't start him on fruit or sweets because it will be harder to get him to eat the meats and veggies. My husband and I just mixed what we thought was a good amount to start with- we didn't want to be wasteful if she got full before she finished. You can always make more. After about 1 week of being consistant with just cereal we introduced meats with her cereal and then veggies about 2 weeks later. It worked great for us, Macy is an awesome eater! Just make sure you don't feed him from the jar, use a little bowl because if you don't use all the food at one sitting it will get bacteria in it from your little guy's saliva and break down the food and make it very watery! One more bit of advice, don't wait until he is starving to feed him. Not being use to the spoon will get him frustrated because he doesn't quite know how to use it! I hope this helps and good luck!
~T. T. :)

He sounds hungry to me. What does his doctor say?

Formula has all the nutrients he needs right now for the extremely rapid brain growth and development that goes on in the first year of life. If you feed him additional foods, just make sure he's getting the full recommended amount of formula each day so he gets the nutrition he needs.

With both my kids, (Daughter is 4 years and son is 6 months)their doctors started cereal at 4 months and baby food after 3 weeks of cereal. We worked our way through stage one foods from 4 months to 6 months at the schedule of cereal once a day and a fruit or veggie once until 5 1/2 months. Then went to cereal twice and fruits/veggies twice. We fed half the container (in a seperate bowl for germs) until 6 months. Then at 6 months we are at cereal twice and fruits/veggies 3 times a day, and we were told to feed him the whole container because he is wanting to eat it all.
That's just what my kids did because their doctors (when my daughter was a baby we lived in Madison and had a different doctor) told me too start at 4 months.

I had a hungry baby too. We followed our Dr's advice - continued to "breastula" feed him (combo of breast milk & formula b/c I couldn't keep up with him!) until he was about 5 months old, and then started with rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. I was astonished at how much he could eat at just 5 months old!! He has continued to amaze people with the quantity of food he will eat ... we started on "real" food around 6 months - with avocados (a great first food - lots of healthy fats needed for brain development, very mild flavor, soft food that was easily mushed to proper consistency). We started with veggies after that - squash, sweet potatoes - he loved everything! We followed the plan from The Super Baby Food Book - gave 3 days for each food so we could watch for any reactions. We then moved on to fruits & other veggies (regular tatoes, peas, beans, apples, pears, mango, etc). Good luck!

My son (now almost 3) started eating rice cereal (spoon) at about 8 weeks because he was always hungry, too. One thing I have learned about being a mom is that you can take cues from your child. If he tolerates peaches and prunes just fine, then continue to give them to him. As long as he is otherwise healthy, take your cues from him and not a predetermined timeline.

For some unknown reason, all the books try to scare us into not feeding our babies until the magic age of 6 months, as if some switch turns on at that age... If he's hungry, feed him! I've not known a baby yet that can wait until 6 months to start eating cereal, fruit, and veggies.

My sons ped MD told me to start feeding him if he was interested and that it is recommended to start once they have doubled their birth weught- so this can be different ages. Also start with rice cereal or oatmeal cereal and then add other single flavor food into the diet. The reading and advice I've choosen to take say to give the same food for several days to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction from each foods. Good luck!

there are no reasons why rice cereal has to be the first foods. you could start with anything else.. especially pears which are supposed to be the most un-allergic food!

he might be interested in the spoon. give him a baby spoon while you are eating. if he plays with the spoon and stops paying attention to you, then he is just interested in the spoon. however, i started my son at 5 1/2 months, so chances are he is ready.

www.askdrsears.com is a fantastic resource. they have a very good detailed article about starting solids. just go to feeding infants and toddlers and they should have a list of subjects and choose starting solids.

i discourage putting cereal in the bottle as it can clump up the nipple and stuff, and he will have to get used to eating it anyway instead of drinking it... so keep the food out of the bottle. you can always mix formula into the cereal of course, but it should be fed by spoon to get the eating motions down.

theres nothing wrong with starting now if you think he is developmentally ready. he sounds like he may be. check out that website though because there are other signs he may not be. i have "the baby book" by william sears and i check that on things before i call the doctor!! so its a fantastic resource!!

a couple other moms have asked this same question in the past few days . check out their responses too.

My doctor recommended starting rice cereal by spoon at 4 months. Your son is 5 months and should no longer have the tongue thrust reflex that makes it hard to feed a younger baby. At 6 months you can start introducing other foods. My son is 6 months old today, so our adventure into more solid foods is about to begin!! My doctor and most the other resources I read recommend starting with the yellow veggies first (sweet potatos and carrots) and then introducing green. It is good to start with veggies first, because as soon as babies get a taste for sweet yummy fruits, you can kiss those veggies goodbye! You can also start other single grain cereals like oatmeal and barley. Remember to introduce foods one at a time and wait 3-5 days before introducing a new one. This will help you figure out if your baby has allergies or not. When you feed your little one start with about a 1/2 jar. The first feeding may only be a tablespoon or so, just til baby gets used to it. Remember to not feed your son out of the jar, as that introduces bacteria from his mouth into the remaining food, use a bowl or plate instead. Your son is probably ready to eat his cereal by spoon...the rice cereal has iron which is important for your little one! Good luck and I hope it helped a little...it's all so confusing I know!