How do I feed my baby solids?

[Girlo]

It seems silly....but I honestly have NO idea! I'm planning to start cereal in 2 weeks....on the day after Alex's 6 month bday.

My questions are:

- I believe I'm supposed to start with rice cereal....is there any reason to NOT give cereal at the start?
- How often do I feed solids....and for how long? Is it 1 serving of cereal per day for 1 month and increase from there?
- Is it an entire feeding of cereal....replacing a nursing session/bottle?
- Is it most of his feedings cereal during the day, with nursing at night and in the morning?
- Is it some cereal followed by a short nursing session or half a bottle?
- How do veggies/fruit factor in here? How long should I feed cereal before introducing veggies? Then...is it half cereal/half veggies?

I'm working PT and I pump so DH can give Alex bottles of EBM while I'm at work. I'm just wondering if I can ease up on the pumping once we start solids, because DH can just feed him cereal and/or veggies.

Sorry to be so vague, but I am truly lost here and need my hand held. Any help that any of you can offer will be appreciated.

Thanks.....

[Sam's Mom]

Rice cereal is a good place to start because it rarely causes allergic reactions. Plus, the cereal has nutritional value (iron, etc.).

How often you feed solids depends on you and your ped. Some people start with one meal a day, others two, still others three. I started with, and still give, two meals a day - breakfast and dinner. My ped. recommends adding a third feeding when DD starts meats at about 8 months.

To start it'll be a feeding of cereal, which you mix with formula or breastmilk. I did not replace a regular feeding...the cereal was extra, and I feed DD at times other than when she usually has a bottle. Nutrition still comes mainly from the bottles so you don't want to cut out any feedings just yet. DD did go from 8 ounces in each bottle to 7 when she started solids, and a small drop like that is ok. But according to my ped. if DD had given up her formula, it meant I was giving her too much food to start.

You'll add fruits and veggies as your ped. recommends, usually. For us, we did each new food for a week. So it went rice, oatmeal, barley, then mixed grain cereals. Then I started yellow veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots). When I added them, I still gave DD cereal along with about 2 oz. of veggies. We moved from there to fruits (pears, applesauce, peaches, bananas). Now I feed cereal and a fruit for breakfast and cereal and a veggie for dinner. We'll go on to the green veggies next, then finally meats.

My ped. was great about sitting down with me, explaining all of this, and giving me written instructions to take home. If you don't feel sure about something, definitely call...I'm sure they'll talk you through it.

One last piece of advice...have a video camera ready for that first bowl of cereal! It's priceless!

[Melissa]

When Katie turned 4 months we were given the go ahead for solids, we were told fruit, veggies, cereal, go for it.

- I believe I'm supposed to start with rice cereal....is there any reason to NOT give cereal at the start? I've read in some places that there is no reason for cereal, that its just a filler. But I think the iron and the zinc is good, plus you can alter the consistancy so its an easy solid to learn on. Also, it mixes really well with fruit and vegetables. You can start with rice cereal then go to oatmeal and barley or any combination of those once you know that your child doesn't have an allergy.

- How often do I feed solids....and for how long? Is it 1 serving of cereal per day for 1 month and increase from there? We started with twice a day, breakfast and dinner. Our pediatrician said to feed her until she turned her head away and showed that she was done.

- Is it an entire feeding of cereal....replacing a nursing session/bottle? No. When Katie first started cereal she would eat 1/2 a bottle an hour before the "meal" and 1/2 a half hour afterwards. Now, our schedule is this: wake up, bottle immediately (she'll take about 6oz), an hour after wake up is solid foods. She has a bottle around noon and I am starting to introduce lunch around 1p.m. For dinner, she'll take a bottle around 5p.m., eat solids at 6p.m. Her last bottle of the night is around 7:30p.m.

- How do veggies/fruit factor in here? How long should I feed cereal before introducing veggies? Then...is it half cereal/half veggies? Most pediatricians say wait 3 to 4 days before introducing something new. So offer rice cereal each day for 3 or 4 days before adding somehting new into the diet. My pediatrician told us we only had to wait one day before adding a new food (then again, we don't have any family allergies).

There are some pediatricians that give an order to introducing foods, yellow first, then green, etc... Other say veggies first then fruit. I liked the anything goes approach that my ped. had. I even asked about a specific order and he said it wasn't necessary. We actually started with pears since Katie had pear juice a few times when she was constipated. She didn't have a problem and then we moved to rice cereal with pears. We gradually added fruit and vegetables as we saw fit and watched her reaction.

We fell into a routine giving her cereal and a fruit for breakfast and for dinner two vegetables or a vegetable and a fruit.

After we sampled many of the single fruit and vegetables we started with combinations such as apple and sweet potato.

I hope this helps!

[Girlo]

Thanks guys!! You've given me some good insight and I'm printing out your suggestions to hang up until I get the hang of this. It was exactly the kind of help I was needing...

If anyone else has any further suggestions or comments, please post them. I can use all the help I can get!

[Karri]

Those are some good suggestions. My only added suggestion is that you dont do a feeding on an empty tummy. Sometimes babies get angry and then its not a pleasant feeding experience. So either offer 1/2 of a bottle or a short BF session ahead of time, and then finish later on, a bit after the feeding.

You just need to remember that BM is their main source of nutrition in the first year. So food is an addition, not a replacement.

[SarahK]

I found some helpful articles at this site...

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html