DD is a little over 5 months and we started giving her some baby food this weekend, (mashed bananas to be exact). She loved it. We initially started with rice cereal and she absolutely hated it.
We are completely clueless on how to start incorporating more food, what to incorporate, etc. Do we just do it at one meal, and then continue with the bottle? And then slowly start adding food to her other meals?
Does anybody have any good websites or books they can point me to?
Don't overthink it or stress too much. For now, just work up to doing solids 1x per day whenever it's convenient, and just try out different foods. No honey. If you want to avoid allergens, no nuts or shellfish. It helps if you feed solids at a time when your DD is neither full nor starving.
Once that's going well, work up to 2x per day, then 3x per day. I think my goal was 3x per day by 9 months. It's gradual process. DD didn't really reduce her milk intake at all until 10-11 months. We did BLW, so she wasn't getting a ton of food at first.
Post by sometimesrunner on Jan 2, 2013 14:20:10 GMT -5
We skipped cereal because of M's MSPI. We started with apples, and have since tried pears, squash, bananas, avocados, carrots, and peas. (with the occasional snack from our plate) I have the book Top 100 Baby Purees, which tells you which foods to introduce when. The website Wholesomebabyfood.com also gives recommendations on starting food. (both of these are geared toward making your own, but I would assume you would still introduce produce in the same order if you buy ready to eat)
Do several days of the same food before moving on so you can pinpoint allergies.
At first we'd just do oatmeal 1x/day when we had time. He was pissed at first because my hand doesn't move quickly to his mouth and he wanted the food NOW! We nurse before food. (And he gets cereal between bottles at daycare). I try to rotate between veges and fruit at home and sometimes mix with oatmeal and breastmilk.
He was not a fan of avocados the first few times but now loves them so keep offering if its not well received the first time. Also it is pretty easy to make food (and cheap!) and there are several blogs to read if you are interested.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Jan 2, 2013 14:47:39 GMT -5
I really liked Baby Led Weaning. We started with one meal at a time, then eventually 2, now 3. His breast milk intake has not changed yet. We just recently moved to 3x per day.
We skipped cereal as well and just went to BLW. He has been doing great with it and I have enjoyed it as well. Don't stress about how often to feed them because they will still be getting milk. DS is still usually only getting two solids meals a day, sometimes three but not usually.
I really liked Baby Led Weaning. We started with one meal at a time, then eventually 2, now 3. His breast milk intake has not changed yet. We just recently moved to 3x per day.
This was us too. We never did purees, DS is a very independent child there is no way he would let us feed him with a spoon. I bought the BLW cookbook as the reviews said the initial BLW book is redundant at times. We started solids at 6 months once he was ready (interested in our food and could sit up unassisted). We started giving him whatever was appropriate from our dinner, mostly vegetables. We did that for about 2 months, then added breakfast (mostly fruit). Now at 10 months I'm trying hard for 3 meals a day. Like A&S his breast milk intake has not changed. I am happy to answer more specific questions about BLW.
We did baby led weaning. I just started smashing/cutting up whatever we were eating and giving it to her, but she didn't start eating solids until about 6/6.5 months. Weelicious has some great recipes for babies.