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We skipped cereal and gave him pureed pears as his first solid (we did not do BLW). Our doctor recommended not to put cereal in bottles, so you may want to check on that with your doctor. We started with offering 1 tablespoon about an hour after he had an afternoon bottle or nursing session. That way I knew he was full with milk before offering him solids. We viewed solids as extras or "dessert" until he was closer to a year. We stuck with one food for 3-4 days before introducing something new. Every few weeks we'd offer another tablespoon and by the time he reached 7 months, he was eating solids twice a day. Biggest tip is start slow, don't rush, and don't put pressure on either of you if your LO doesn't get the idea of it right away. Hope that helps to start!

Following! I think we're skipping cereals as well and will do a mix of purees and blw.

I felt really overwhelmed to start solids too but I think the best piece of advice I can give is to not overthink it. We opted to skip cereal and did avocado first (smushed up). We did it about 30 mins after a nursing session so they would still get plenty of BM. After 3 days, we then tried carrot and then pear and then just kept trying different fruit/veggie purées for the next month or so. Mine kept trying to grab the spoon and it became clear to me that thy wanted to feed themselves so I started giving them hunks of food to gnaw on around 6 months, plus puffs and mum mums to practice with. Now at 8.5 months, we do a mix of real food they feed themselves plus purées. Its fun to watch them try different foods and become interested in food, now I can't eat anything in front of them without sharing!

@marionberry: as a former type A control freak, I recommend you check out the book 'fearless feeding'. It is really helpful!

@marionberry: We just started this weekend! LO is 6 months old. I agree with @scg00387: not to rush it. It seems exciting but it's kind of a pain, especially when nursing is so easy. Here's what her ped recommended. Each ped will be different, but here's where we are:

1. Our ped recommended a week of either rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with BM as she's EBF and he said it would be gentler on her tummy. We've been using Earth's Best oatmeal. We mix 1 tbsp of oatmeal with 3 tbsp breastmilk (she has yet to come anywhere near finishing it, though!).

He said definitely not to give her anything in her bottle.

2. After the week is up he said to start her on vegetable purees and do all veggies first (the same veggie for 3 days in a row to make sure there aren't any allergies), then move onto fruits. He said if you do fruits first the baby may reject veggies as the fruits are so much sweeter. You could also forego all of this and do BLW if that is your preference (I am too paranoid about choking so purees is our preference for now).

We give her oatmeal about an hour after I nurse so that she doesn't fill up on it before nursing.

@marionberry: I'm following this thread and glad you asked because the World of solid food seems a little daunting right now!

@lawbee11: interesting point you make about the veggies before fruits--I wouldn't have thought of that!

@marionberry: Right now we're doing oatmeal for breakfast and dinner (if you can even call it that...most of it ends up on her chin or her bib). Next week we'll introduce veggies at dinner instead of oatmeal but keep oatmeal in the mornings. Not sure how long we'll do oatmeal...she doesn't seem to like it very much (but it may just be because it's new and not like anything she's ever had).

1. We skipped cereal as I didn't find it to have any nutritional value.

2. We started with banana at around 5.5 months. I wanted to wait until 6 months, but she was sitting up well and showing extreme interest in food. It worked out well and I didn't think those 2 weeks really made a difference. We started with one meal per and gradually increased it over time.

3. Have fun and try not to stress! She did hit some serious constipation issues in the beginning, so I learned to always keep prunes + prune juice on hand.

ETA: I altered introducing her fruit/veggie/fruit/veggie and it didn't impact her preference for either. At 13 months, she loves both!

@lawbee11: Try and make it thicker. R liked oatmeal better when it was thicker, then thinner.
@daniellemybelle: We started with one meal a day. Then after a month or so, moved to 2, and then 3 meals by 7.5-8 months.

we did a combo of purees and BLW. we started with a mixture of cereal and formula for a couple of days and then switched to cereal and purees. i know lots of people these days like to skip cereal, but i liked that the oatmeal cereal gave the food a bit of bulk and fiber. i think i started by just offering twice a day, after bottles. the first week (or weeks?) he really didn't eat much, maybe a teaspoon or so?

also early on i offered soft finger foods. it goes slow and you wonder how this baby of yours will ever learn how to eat solids but it progresses infinitesimally every day until bam! your LO is chowing down.

@marionberry: I'm debating my no cereal stance now lol. I may start with oatmeal. Its one of my favorite foods lol

When y'all say oatmeal is it like the kind adults eat? Like Quaker oatmeal or a special kid/baby brand or kind?

@singingbee: @jetsa: We use this kind (it's made for babies). And I also attached a pic of what it looks like dry. When mixed with breastmilk it sorta looks like applesauce.

@pmerr: @marionberry: @illumina: I just found this website and really like it, it even has some 'recipes' for ages etc. I thought y'all might be interested as well: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

@singingbee: awesome! Its really interesting and seems focused on real wholesome food.

@marionberry: so glad you asked because I was just about to post the same question!
@jetsa: I can't wait to click on that link as soon as I'm done with this comment!

I was going to start with vegs but decided to do oat cereal first. We just started a few days ago. My plan is to introduce sweet potato next. For breakfast I'll do a combo of oat cereal and a fruit or veg and dinner a mix of fruit and veg once I have more on her menu. My reasoning for introducing a cereal is to make sure she was getting iron and protein because I wanted to go through all the recommended fruits and vegs before trying meats/alternatives.

Bump!

We wanted to do blw but it didn't work for us. LO did great with purees. We started easy with mushed avo then squash, banana, sweet potato, steamed apple and pear, would make something every three days and then something new. I tried egg yolk (hard boiled) but that gave her gas.

So, we got an Oxo food mill and ground quinoa and made her cereal with that. Quinoa is a complete protein with iron. Now we do a lot of smoothies with kale and greek yogurt.

Babies need iron so we give her a supplement and I put kale in her smoothies for vitamin c (and iron). She loves blueberry, kale (or spinach), greek yogurt, banana, avocado smoothie. I make her hemp milk (just put hemp hearts and water in the blender and strain!) because it is another complete protein and has healthy fats. She drinks herself with the lollacup.

Eta: I guess I recommented, oops! With more detail at least!