Just curious on your reasons for waiting/not waiting to start solids, especially now that it's not true that waiting to introduce solids decrease the risk of allergies...I had initially wanted to wait as close to 6 months as possible but now I find that I'm itching to start solids because I think it'll be so fun to see LO's reaction to new foods. We'll probably wait til at least his 5 month appointment though (he's 4.5 months now) .
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I waited until 6 months. I had given her a taste of banana and avocado prior to that to see if she was interested and she was so I waited to get the go-ahead before I dove in. I just decided to wait because she was breastfeeding really well and gaining weight and was happy so I didn't feel the need to give her anything different. She still ended up developing a dairy allergy, though.
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We started at 5 months. I originally wanted to wait until 6 months but she was showing signs of being ready. I started off slow with just a few bites. We increased and added in foods over the past month. She loves it now!
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I waited until 6 months. The doctor said not to do it sooner, and I figured I'm in no rush. There's no reason I HAD to do it sooner, LO didn't need it for health reasons, so it didn't hurt us any to wait.
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We started at 6 months because she just started sitting well unassisted, and I didn't want mess with our breastfeeding relationship before 6 months since I'm a WOHM. She's doing great so far!
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@hilsy85: We started at 4 months because she was very interested in food and would cry when we ate in front of her. We waited till her pedi gave us the ok. We only give her a solid 2-3 times a week right now. She has had banana, avocado, and sweet potatos.
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We waited until she was 6 months because we did BLW and it's not recommended to start that before 6 months.
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We waited until 6.5 months. I wanted to make sure LO sittings will unassisted.
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@Rubies: ah that's too bad about her dairy allergy! Is it all dairy or just some kinds?
@Bao: what sort of signs was she showing? How come you initially wanted to wait til 6 months? I hope my LO loves food too!
@artbee: ah gotcha...my pedi said we could start anywhere between 4-6 months, but if she said wait til 6 I definitely would.
@yellowbird: is sitting well unassisted one of the signs that they're ready? We're struggling a bit with breastfeeding so I wouldn't want to mess it up further with solids...
@Mrs.B: aw! She really wanted to get into solids then!! Glad she's liking them
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We started at 4 months. DS showed all signs of being ready and pediatrician encouraged us to start since he was drinking so much formula. Started out slowly and been building since.
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@prettylizy: ah! interesting...I need to do research on BLW, I'm really intrigued by it. @littlek: ok so it sounds like sitting is a big thing...so when you say unassisted do you mean like could sit up indefinitely or for like 10 seconds?
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@buffalove: what is the association between drinking a lot of formula and needing to start solids?
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We just started at 6 and a half(ish) months. We're doing blw and they don't recommend starting before then. Plus they don't really need food for nutrition at this age anyway.
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At 3.5 months I let him smell everything we eat - he ended up with spaghetti sauce all over his shirt yesterday because I spilled it - and we let him "taste" fruit - basically just hold things like orange slices and grapes to his mouth and let him lick them. It's mostly for our amusement though. We'll probably wait until 6 months for him to actually eat anything.
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I waited until I could sit her up and she would stay upright for a minute or two without falling over or thrashing backward. I think that means they have better head control and will be able to swallow more easily.
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We started at 5.5 months. LO was able to sit in the high chair well and was showing signs of being ready.
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@Mrs. Tricycle: ha I have totally wanted to give him things like an apple slice just to see what he would do with it!
@yellowbird: ah ok, so not sitting up on their own indefinitely. I feel like LO is maaaybe not terribly far away from being able to sit on his own for a few seconds.
@Weagle: hm we need to get a high chair! That should maybe happen before we start solids, lol. -
LOs interest in food was so crazy that we couldnt not start, it has been super fun, and we are definitely not forcing anything on her or rushing through them, strictly for fun! It is neat she is totally learning the routine of going in the high chair and what that now means!
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@hilsy85: I wanted to wait because that's what seemed to be the best thing. I was EBF and it was going well but she was sitting up on her own, staring at us when we ate and would open her mouth if good was near her. She had awesome head control and when we first tried a purée she never spit it out, most went down. Of course now she spits out what she doesn't like
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@Bao: ah gotcha. Lo has just started watching us when we eat--so funny!
@Beebug: ha I love that video of C with the banana! So cute! -
@hilsy85: My pediatrician uses the amount of formula per day as one of the factors in being ready for solids. She thinks that 30oz per day is at the high end and can indicate baby is ready for solids. Lots of other factors too (like being a supported sitter, being interested in food, etc).
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We started at about 6 months. He was sitting mostly unassisted, watching us eat intently, and eventually grabbing at the food on our plates. We're half doing BLW so we weren't going to start any sooner anyway, we just followed his cues on when he was ready.
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@buffalove: hm interesting! I'm pretty sure my LO isn't taking in close to 30oz of breastmilk....I guess maybe the fear is that if they're not taking in enough milk/formula, they might fill up too much on solids?
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@hilsy85: He could sit indefinitely on his own before we started solids. I was in no rush to start solids because starting solids has been known to lead to childhood obesity.
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subscribing to this as I am interested in this as well...everyone is pushing us to start solids at 4 months, but i am leaning more towards 5/6 months....she is def interested in food, but she cannot really sit unassisted.
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@hilsy85: i think my pedi is kind of the opposite - that they are taking in so much liquid in that little body that they should probably be ready for solids. Of course, with using formula I knew exactly how much DS was eating, so it was easy for me to gauge. The balance between solids and liquid is still key though - she kind of mapped it out for me b/c he's still getting most of his nutrition from the formula. I'd say from months 4-6, the solids were mostly just about learning to eat from a spoon and sit in the highchair (for us at least!).
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around 4.5-5months because he was showing signs of being ready
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at 5.5mo i gave him fruit and oatmeal on the weekends in the morning. at 6mo we started a regular breakfast (puree and infant oatmeal) at daycare and at home we were giving BLW a go. Now at 8mo we are a mix of purees and BLW. He still has about 24-28oz of breastmilk per day.
One of the best things I ever heard was 'food before one is just for fun' it put the whole solids thing into perspective for me.
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@buffalove: ah gotcha! Yeah I would need to find out how much she recommends he actually be consuming vs just experimenting with.
@purrpletulips: what signs did you see?
@littlebittyhouse: I think ideally we would also do a mix of purees and BLW! -
We started at 4.5 months with giving 1-2 tablespoons once a day around lunch time (about an hour after a nursing session). He got the hang of eating off a spoon after two tries, so I knew he was ready. We slowly added more food every couple of weeks - so at 6.5 months he was eating about 2oz of a solid for breakfast and 2oz of something else for dinner. We always made sure to feed him solids an hour after nursing/or bottle so he filled up on milk first. Also followed his cues of when he was full (he'll turn his head away real quick and also make a sour face).
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@hilsy85: he was able to sit up pretty well supported and when at the table with us he would mouth his lips like he was chewing; we are not doing BLW so we started him on cereal that was runny and have been thickening it as he gets better with the chewing action
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@littlecasita1122: did you do oatmeal/cereal? or something else?
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@purrpletulips: ah gotcha. Ha that's so funny that he "chews"!
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@Hilsy85: it is funny to watch especially because it is pasty/mush that he's eating
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@hilsy85: my mom and MIL (daycare) were nervous to give him table food so up until recently he was 100% purees when he was away from me. Now they will give him table food if I send it but still prefer the purees.
To be fair, LO was a gagger when we first started with the BLW. It was hard for DH and I not to get freaked out. After a month or so of BLW there was no more gagging!
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@hilsy85: we started very slow....pretty much exactly what @littlecasita1122 described!
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@hilsy85: We started with fruit and veggie purees the first few weeks and then did oatmeal after that. He still eats oatmeal a few times a week for breakfast now (8.5 months old). I didn't see the need to start with the rice cereal or oatmeal first, so pears was his first food!
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We started a 5 months when I introduced the spoon. I would just put some breastmilk on a spoon and offer it to him but he didn't really get it. We also tried avocado, squashy sweet potato and oatmeal. He didn't start actually eating food until 2-3 weeks into it when he coincidentally started sitting independently (totally unassisted...not just in a highchair or bumbo).
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4 months because he was very interested in food/our food/watching us eat.
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Great topic @Hilsy85, I'm really interested in this too! My pedi said I should get his weight gain / liquid feeding stabilized before starting on solids, but I'm not sure why, since it seems like a lot of people start solids on the earlier side to bulk up their skinny babies a little! We'll probably start closer to 5.5 or 6 months since we're away on vacation in a couple weeks, and don't want to start something just to stop for a week and then pick it up again once we're back. As far as BLW vs. purees, I think I'm also leaning toward doing a combination.
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