https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 09 May 2026 21:47:49 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months/page/2#post-2777569 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 12:57:24 +0000 alphagam84 2777569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That advice sounds insane. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777371 Wed, 04 Oct 2017 02:14:21 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2777371@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: yes my pediatrician did too- add solids to gain weight. However, the weight gain can happen too with formula. If LO had a BM diet then we could have delayed solids and supplement with formula. One more benefit to BF is you can delay solids if you want to since formula can bridge the gap. Since LO was on a formula only diet and already drinking the max amount of formula allowed our only option was solids. Make sense? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777346 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 21:03:22 +0000 catomd00 2777346@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sounds outdated to me. We wait until 6 months and skip rice cereals and just go right to regular food. We do BLW, though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777323 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 19:42:52 +0000 MsBAM 2777323@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: He’s basically going to still be having quite a bit of BM then since he won’t be eating much of the solids at first. I didn’t realize how little they eat at first! I’m probably gonna start with cereal too, then prob introduce veggies/fruit gradually. Thanks for all the info! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777319 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 19:32:45 +0000 MsBAM 2777319@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: That seems like a good schedule. I’ll have to keep in mind spacing out solids and milk so it doesn’t impact milk intake. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777308 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 18:35:11 +0000 SweetiePie 2777308@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ok, once on 3 meals a day with 3 naps it looked like this:</p> <p>7am wakeup<br /> 7am Bottle<br /> 8-9:30am nap<br /> 10am solids<br /> 11am Bottle<br /> 11-12:30/1 nap<br /> 2pm solids<br /> 3pm Bottle<br /> 3-4:30pm nap<br /> 5pm solids<br /> 5:45/6pm start bedtime routine<br /> 6:30pm final bottle and bedtime </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777291 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 16:13:49 +0000 Mama Bird 2777291@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: if it smells bad, probably... and sometimes stashed milk develops a nasty metallic taste because of too much lipase enzyme. That doesn't mean it spoiled, just tastes bad, though I've heard some babies don't mind. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777270 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:59:59 +0000 MsBAM 2777270@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mama Bird: he told me he’s not concerned about his weight but he’s not a chubby baby by any means. He’s 13lbs at 4m. So just slightly double his birth weight. I have some stashed BM from July that I could put in his rice cereal. I know it’s good 3-6months but how can you tell if it’s actually spoiled? If it curdles? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777240 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 13:57:18 +0000 SweetiePie 2777240@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: yes, 3x but still prob relatively small.<br /> I didn’t focus too much on how much he ate except for the very beginning. Maybe first month? And then I would give as much or as little as he wanted. I’d pour half a jar of whatever into a bowl and if he finished it and seemed to want more I gave more. If he didn’t finish the first half I didn’t push. Some days he seemed to eat a ton and others barely anything.<br /> Again, as long as I spaced the bottles and food apart it didn’t seem to impact milk intake. Though I think around 8 months food intake ramps up a bit and, at least for formula fed babies, formula intake decreases. For my son he went from 8oz bottles to 6oz. </p> <p>For 3 meals a day, I’ll post what our schedule looked like just let me get to my laptop. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777231 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 13:35:43 +0000 gingerbebe 2777231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My boys both started solids young - around 4.5/5 months. In the beginning, it was really about learning to eat off a spoon, not nutrition. Like, I'd be shocked if my kiddos ate more than a tablespoon or two at a time.</p> <p>I found oatmeal cereal to be the least constipating and mix it with a little bit of prune baby food. I mix it up with breastmilk. They both took like 1-2 tablespoons of mush max.</p> <p>I think by 6-7 months, they were eating like half a jar, maybe 2/3 of a jar if they were hungry. </p> <p>I started with just 1 meal a day for a week or two. So we just did cereal for "breakfast" every morning. Then I added in "lunch" of a single veggie or fruit for about 2 more weeks. Then I added dinner. By that point I was comfortable giving combination foods and I knew what bothered my kids and what was fine. </p> <p>At 6-7 months, I added finger foods like puffs or banana, and yogurt. </p> <p>As to the timing of the milk, I gave half the normal portion of milk first, then fed solids, then offered milk again. That way if they were still hungry (which at the beginning they usually are since they're not really eating anything), they can fill up some more. This did make mealtimes/feedings longer, but its really a temporary thing.</p> <p>My kids were both on 28-30oz of milk a day when we started solids, and by the time they were on 3 solid meals of food around 6 months, they went right down to 24oz of milk and then it was just a slow and gradual reduction in milk volume until they turned 1 because the amount of food they ate ramped up. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777228 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 13:32:38 +0000 MsBAM 2777228@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: That is helpful.<br /> Now when he says he should be on three meals a day by 6m, does he mean eating solids 3X a day? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777202 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 12:32:20 +0000 Mama Bird 2777202@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: the weight thing really depends on what solids you give. I think cereal mixed with milk or formula does help with weight gain. Fruit and veggie purees, not so much. </p> <p>The recommendation sounds a bit early, but there are reasons a doctor might recommend that - like slow weight gain if you're nursing, or just the child showing signs of readiness. One of my kids was nursing and drinking formula, and the formula gave him some tummy problems. He felt much better once he could also have fruit purees to balance it out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777183 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 11:50:03 +0000 MsBAM 2777183@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: That’s funny you say that, he told me he would put on weight with solids! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777077 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 02:05:45 +0000 nana87 2777077@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In terms of age: same dr changed his rec on when to start from my older lo to my younger, so 3 years ago he said 6m, now he says 4: when my lo2 was able to sit supported and reach for things (he mentioned solids at our 4m well baby visit bc she was perched in my lap and trying to put his stethoscope in her mouth lol)</p> <p>His advice on what is also based on recent allergy advice-/ he says to give anything and everything except honey. Intro common allergens early. No need to wait between goods.</p> <p>I started w giving her just bites of my softer foods, like yogurt or avocado. Just off my plate if she was curious. At 7m now she basically gets something while/lo1 we sit at dining table; she ends up eating 1-2 pouches total per day. I nurse on demand around that— sometimes it’s before, sometimes after. I haven’t done any cereal or oatmeal, just things off my plate that I’m comfortable giving her or pouches (happy baby or plum are the brands I usually get). Lately as her pincher grasp improves I give her puffs, mum mums, or yogurt snacks to keep her busy too </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777068 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 23:16:39 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2777068@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That sounds early. My understanding is 6 months is the recommendation to start, although we followed a somewhat similar order- based on checking for allergies first. 3 meals a day at six months and doing before breast milk or formula is just counterintuitive to me, but as this thread shows there's a range of recommendations. If you don't feel comfortable with this keep looking though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777062 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 23:03:18 +0000 ALV91711 2777062@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started DS on solids at about 4.5 months. Started with cereals and then added in fruits and veggies. </p> <p>At our 4 month appointment our ped said to start any time as long as we tried by 6 months. We started when we did as DS was super interested. </p> <p>I'm backwards and started with a meal around dinner first and then lunch and breakfast last. It just felt easier to start this way as there was another adult home to help out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777058 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 22:42:25 +0000 bushelandapeck 2777058@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ocean81: I wish!! No, he didn’t STTN until 9 mos which is when he started walking. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777054 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 21:58:41 +0000 SweetiePie 2777054@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: If it helps, this is what our schedule for solids, formula and sleep looked like at that age (4/4.5 months):</p> <p>7am wakeup<br /> 7am Bottle<br /> 8-9:30am nap<br /> 10am solids<br /> 11am Bottle<br /> 11-12:30/1 nap<br /> 3pm Bottle<br /> 3-4:30pm nap<br /> 5:30-6pm catnap<br /> 6:30pm bedtime routine<br /> 7pm final bottle and bedtime</p> <p>As he got older and more familiar with solids we added in lunch and then finally dinner. But it is hard when they are napping so much and still drinking so much milk. And then nap schedule changes because one gets dropped or whatever. You have to be fluid in that respect. I knew bottles and sleep were nonnegotiable so if something had to give it was solids. That’s why I didn’t stress if I couldn’t fit a solid in at some point in the day, I knew he was getting the vast majority of his nutrients from the formula. </p> <p>Also I want to note that I did try to do any solids and bottles an hour apart from each other. I never noticed that he didn’t finish a bottle or refuse a solid because he was too full. I think just spacing them out as best you can helps regardless of which you want to do first. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777052 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 21:43:28 +0000 Pollywog 2777052@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, that doesn't sound evidence based at all. For a breastfed baby, you always want milk first until 9ish months. I'd nurse an hour before eating. We were told no food before 5 months and to do veggies, fruits, then grains. I believe we started at 2 meals a day around 6 months then around 9 he went up to three. </p> <p>At 6 months a meal was a tablespoon or two of applesauce with rice cereal (Mott's applesauce and beechnut cereal) and dinner was sweet potatoes or squash. Beechnut was our favorite </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777045 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 21:06:34 +0000 MenagerieMama 2777045@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You must have an old school doctor. The AAP recommendation is only breast milk until age 6 mo. And then with solids cereal doesn't (maybe even shouldn't) be first - I always rec veggies. And offer breast milk first because that is where all their nutrition should still come from at this age. Also no evidence for several days between each kind of food unless there is a family history of significant food allergies. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777044 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 21:01:03 +0000 ocean81 2777044@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bushelandapeck: please tell me when you started solids with your first he began sleeping through the night?! My son is 4 months and wakes up every 2 hours. I'm dying 😭 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777028 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:12:42 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2777028@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Just want to add my Pediatrician advised if my LO had been on a BM diet the next step to help him gain weight would have been to add formula not solids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2777008 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 19:00:23 +0000 SweetiePie 2777008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: i never made anything myself except like mashing a banana. I just looked for minimal ingredients (ingredients: pears and water. You might see citric acid added and that’s totally fine, it’s basically lemon juice as a natural preservative). Up to you if you care about organic. Beechnut was good for us to start single ingredient foods. When I wanted more complex mixtures I liked Earth’s Best and Sprout Organics but honestly pretty much anything is good these days.<br /> I think the only one I was iffy about was Plum Organics because their food names didn’t match the ingredients. Like they’d have a label on the front that said “spinach pear banana” making you think it had lots of spinach. And then you read the ingredient list and spinach is the very last ingredient which means it was the least prevalent in the mixture. But they got busted and I think they’ve since changed that.<br /> But, like, nothing is going to have BAD stuff in it these days because we’re all so hyper aware of it. </p> <p>Oh and this is just a random thing I didn’t know until my ped told me - even if you buy pouches, you should feed with a spoon until they are older. She wanted to make sure he learned how to use a spoon rather than continuing to just suck (like they already do with a bottle or boob). So get the little spoons and on the go you can squeeze it into the spoon and at home I just squeezed the pouch into a little bowl. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776996 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 17:54:40 +0000 MsBAM 2776996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Does anyone know what the best brand for baby food is if I’m not making it? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776995 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 17:53:44 +0000 MsBAM 2776995@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: Thanks for the link, very helpful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776964 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 15:36:15 +0000 mdf106 2776964@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The recommendations are trending towards earlier introduction, 4 months versus 6 months, to prevent food allergies, although recommendations for different organizations are very mixed, between right at 4 months, 4-6 months, or 6 months. My pediatrician recommended starting at 4 months, but not in any particular order. He recommend introducing high-likelihood of allergy foods earlier, and a variety early. He also recommended introducing the same new food three days in a row. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776961 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 15:27:56 +0000 hellobeeboston 2776961@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>With my first, we waited a long time to start solids and that worked well for everyone.</p> <p>With my second he was VERY stubborn and refused bottles while I was away at work during the day. So we introduced oatmeal mixed with the breastmilk and that was pretty much the only way he would eat while I was away... So we were forced into starting solids early but it was good. We introduced vegetables soon after and mixed that in with the oatmeal cereal as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776942 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:51:47 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2776942@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My pediatrician wasn’t that exacting, but yes when we started solids because my LO was at his max for formula and weight was a concern we followed something very similar. We started with whole wheat cereal mixed with formula then added veggies every two days. Soon our routine was cereal + prune purée and a veggie and fruit plus all the regular bottles in a day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776941 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:51:29 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2776941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p><a href="http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/123600/10_reasons_to_delay_solids" rel="nofollow">http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/123600/10_reasons_to_delay_solids</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/starting-solids-at-45-months#post-2776940 Mon, 02 Oct 2017 14:50:52 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2776940@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsBAM: A lot of new studies show to wait for solids until age 6 months which is when the gut starts to close. </p> <p><a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/complementary_feeding/en/" rel="nofollow">http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/complementary_feeding/en/</a> </p>