LO is 4 months old (almost 19 weeks to be exact) and at his pediatrician visit today, she encouraged me to start him with some runny oatmeal cereal. She thinks he's ready because he has really good head/neck control, he's eating 6 oz bottles, and he watches us when we eat.
I know most people here start solids at 6 months or later, but I was curious if anyone did start around 4 months? What was your experience? I was surprised she recommended it!
pomegranate / 3438 posts
We started with oatmeal around 5 months. He was showing all the signs of being ready and our pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start any time after five months. We just did oatmeal once a day until he was 6 months and then we started to add in other purees.
The first couple of times he didn't quite get it but after that he was like a little baby bird and loved eating it!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Is your child formula or breastfed? I believe there are recommended limits on daily formula consumption, I am not sure what they are though. If they're breastfed, I am pretty certain they can't over eat/are no daily limits.
pomegranate / 3565 posts
We started right at 4 months and our pediatrician approved. We started with oatmeal and moved on to purées about a week later. DS had zero problems with it. He opened wide and made chewing motions from the start. I think it truly depends on each individual child.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@Pepper: our pedi said the same but we waited. I think @crisark has posted about starting around 4m you could wall her if she doesn't see this!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
We did, on our pediatrician a recommendation. We started out with soupy cereal, and slowly added in purées (fruit and veggies) once, then twice, a day a few weeks later. Chloe gobbled it up like a pro, and we started our version of BLW at 6-7 months.
pomegranate / 3003 posts
We're going to ask our ped this question at our four month appointment, which is coming up soon. We're keen on going straight to table foods (BLW), but we're going to see what he thinks. DD is only taking about 4oz per feeding, but has good head/neck control, and often watches us eat. I'm open to starting before 6 months, for sure.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
We did at the suggestion of our doctor, we had weight and stomach issues so they wanted to see if the solids would help pack on the pounds.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
At our 2 month appt, the pedi said we'd discuss solids at his 4 month appt. Not sure what to expect, but that appt is this month! I don't know why, but I'm excited to start solids. haha! Maybe it's because I'm partially hoping solids will fill him up a bit so he'll sleep longer/through the night. I'm dying from sleep deprivation!
apricot / 324 posts
We did. Our ped actually advised that we wait since DS had always been skinny (30somthing percentile). But, I went ahead and gave it a try. He has thrived on it. We started with runny rice cereal. Quickly discovered he preferred it a bit thicker. He was a champ after a few tries. We introduced fruit and veggie purees about 2 weeks after the initial introduction. Now, at 7 months, he's eating 3 "meals" a day in addition to his bottles. At his 6 month check up he was up in the 50something percentile for weight. I think it was the solids that did it for him.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@Pepper: the only reason why I even mentioned it is because my son was formula fed. He was on a staged formula by age, and at 5 months, he was drinking the maximum daily amount, about a liter or so. He was clearly hungry and draining the bottles and I couldn't increase the amount or switch him to the formulation for 6 months at the time, so we introduced food, namely oatmeal cereal, banana and orange vegetables.
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
We didn't but there was a study out at the beginning of October that found that there was an increased risk of Celiac Disease when (breastfed- they didn't study combo/ff) babies were introduced to gluten after making 6 months of age. My take-away from that was...start when your baby is ready. So I guess it could be possible yours is!
grapefruit / 4823 posts
we did. we started with runny rice cereal, and a couple weeks later purees. at 5 months-ish we started to mix in some BLW. DS loved(and still loves!) food right from the start. we followed his cues, and he was so ready. DD just turned 3 months today, and we are going to follow her cues as well, and see when she is ready(obviously in a month+)
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6581 posts
@deerylou: Same! Our 4 mo is on Tuesday and I plan on asking her recommendation at that time. G's got great neck control, is sitting up pretty well (assisted), is on 5oz bottles (ACK! so much!!) and has started to stare intently at anything we're eating...so who knows?! She also grins like crazy when chomping on my finger...but that could be because she's a goober 
honeydew / 7811 posts
We waited until 6 months. Our ped said we could start at 4 months if we wanted to, but we didn't have any reason to. We started a few days before 6 months actually because LO was showing tons of readiness signs and interest by then. We also asked what our pediatrician did with his four children and he waited until 6 months also.
We are doing BLW so we skipped cereals and started with banana!
cantaloupe / 6206 posts
At our 4 month appt the ped said we could start 'soon', but LO didn't really take to it or like it until just before she was 6 months.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@Alivoo01: for us it was the opposite! His tummy had trouble adjusting and he woke up more with dirty dipes for a while. So don't pin any hopes on that 
grapefruit / 4923 posts
our pediatrician said we could start at 4 months, but LO couldn't sit up on his own at that point and i was lazy. otherwise, why not? how exciting!
honeydew / 7586 posts
At our 4 month appointment our pedi said we could start cereal at any time. I think we are gonna start introducing oatmeal at 5 months.
apricot / 429 posts
We started the day of her 4 month appointment. Our ped said she was ready to start if we were, and I got so excited I made my husband buy a highchair on the way home. Our daughter was okay with food (we skipped cereal because it has absolutely no nutritional value, so her first food was a sweet potato, apple and chicken mix.. yeah yeah, one food at a time). She started teething shortly thereafter, so we stopped with food for a bit since she wasn't into it, but once she hit 5 months she was a machine! Good luck!
pomelo / 5093 posts
No. I started at six months, and noticed a huge uptick in diaper rash. With any future babies I'll probably wait a bit even after that.
nectarine / 2019 posts
@Alivoo01: solids caused major issues at our house. He went from waking up 3 times per night, to 6! I don't think his tummy was ready, even though we did baby led weaning
pomegranate / 3212 posts
We did! We started w banana , followed by sweet potato then banana and we are currently trying apple!
persimmon / 1026 posts
Started at 4.5 months with fruit purees (offering 1-2 tablespoons once a day). Never did rice cereal, but offered oatmeal to him a couple weeks after starting the purees and he loved it.
pomelo / 5621 posts
I started with DS about a week after he turned 4 months and he loved it. We did cereals once a day for about a month then started fruits and veggies and started two meals a day. At 7.5 months I think he is almost ready for a third meal.
pomegranate / 3577 posts
@looch: What is the maximum daily amount?
I wonder if E is ready. He loves watching us eat. I'm just worried that he'll get too roly poly before he learns to crawl. (And has a need for more calories.)
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
One of our girls wasn't ready until 6 months and the other was very ready at 5 months. Just depends on the baby.
eggplant / 11716 posts
@googly-eyes: I heard of that study, too. Posted something recently about it. Any Swedish bees here? Apparently there they recommend introducing wheat before 6 months for that reason and solids in general at 4 months.
I've heard new recommendations will be coming out in the US soon that will move the solids recommendations to 4 months. I'll definitely introduce wheat before 6 months-- maybe in the form of pastina, the Italian way? Not sure.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Our pedi told us we could start with cereal at 4 months, but we wanted to do BLW and he wasn't ready for that until 6 months.
pomegranate / 3393 posts
Our pediatrician said we could start him on rice cereals at 4 months, and just see if he would swallow or spit it out, and of he spit to wait a week and try again. We haven't done it yet, though. He will be 5 months old next week, and I'm keen on waiting until 6 months per the AAP recommendations. He's gaining weight just fine, doesn't sit up yet, has no teeth, and I'm afraid solids well mess with my milk supply. Plus I've heard stories about their poops after solids and I'm in no hurry, ha!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@Espion: it was a liter, but we were in Europe at the time.
My son loves pastina, he started it at 8 months, just a cooked teaspoon at a time.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
@junebugmama: oh no! DS is always gassy so I'm curious how solids will affect him...
@MoonMoon: LOL!! Didn't think about that, but good point about the poop!
pomelo / 5720 posts
We did for the same reasons you are being reccommended to. LO had no problem eating them and loved it, but I don't think his digestive system was ready. He had a lot of problems digesting solids and this led to a lot of gassy, tearful nights with DS. If I could do it again, I would have waited longer. It did not help his sleep (which his Ped said it would) and we were EBF, so it didn't make much of a difference there either.
pomelo / 5720 posts
@Alivoo01: oh, I don't want to make you sad! Honestly, LO could not have loved solids more than he did. I probably would've had to give in sooner than 4 mos anyway becuase he was just so interested in everything we were eating. He will be 15 mos on Friday and he still has tummy issues, so starting solids early may not have made much of a difference at all for him.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
@bushelandapeck: Thanks for the follow up! Makes me a feel a lil better!
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
We got the go-ahead from our pediatrician at 4 months. We gave her a couple tiny spoonfuls of oatmeal cereal when she was almost 5 months old, just for fun She didn't seem overly thrilled. We didn't try again until she was 6 months old.
pomegranate / 3398 posts
I missed this before but I did start solids at 4 months and now at 7 months (Friday) she's going amazing!
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