How did you start solids?

[kalyrra]

Okay experienced moms, I need some advice!

I am EBF my son, he's 6 1/2 months old. Hubby and I are TTC#2, as hubby is a bit older and doesn't want to wait too long. My cycles are trying to return. I've had 2 light bleeds, and I think I'm trying to ovulate at the moment!

Anyway... how did you start solids with your LO? Did you introduce cereal first? How did you go about doing this? Did you use a bottle, or go right to a bowl and spoon? How thick should it be?

I don't want to take it too fast, I'm not in a hurry to stop breastfeeding at all, but I want to start cutting back and giving him solids.

I've also read a little bit about baby led weaning, where you just give them super soft food within reach? Can anyone explain a little more of that to me?

Thanks!

 

[SarahBear]

Before you start with rice cereal, do some research. It's really like giving your kid junk food and has very little nutritional value. Some choose to use it, but make sure you're making an informed choice there.

My husband read that the native people in this area used to use salmon as a first food. He really liked the idea of Violet's first food being salmon. I didn't really care what was first so I went along with it. We baked the salmon and it was a really soft, moist texture. It also had a very mild flavor. We tried to do it BLW style, but she just didn't have the dexterity for self-feeding and I didn't see why she should have to develop it before eating, so I gave her small bites and she handled it great. She didn't even gag. She loved it! We also did banana and avocado. I played around with BLW stuff where I tried to make it so she could pick it up and self-feed, but I ended up hand feeding her instead. We've mostly fed her and have been giving her more and more opportunities to self-feed, but we didn't stick with strict BLW of her feeding herself. We've tried a few purees, but she's more interested in the spoon than the food.

I think a good way to start is to identify a couple foods you'd like to try and just experiment with how to feed your child. Maybe try puree if that's what you're comfortable with. Give your kid a chance to self-feed, and maybe help your kid along. See what works. See what your kid likes. See what you're comfortable with. Once you've identified what works and what you're comfortable with, do that. Then when it seems like a good time to move forward, tweak something. Maybe what you tweak is that you offer a new food. Maybe what you tweak is that you move from puree to actually solid. At this age, the puree is strictly about your comfort (and possibly child preference, not need) as kids this age are capable of handling foods that need chewing.

Good luck, introducing solids is a lot of fun!

 

[kalyrra]

I actually had bought some oatmeal cereal to try with him. But I am much more in favor of the idea of starting him with real food! Maybe I'll give some bananas or potatoes or something soft like that a try.

 

[JessPape]

At 6 months, we just sat her in the high chair and gave her steamed fruits and veggies that were soft, and went from there.. She loved it

We did not do cereal, she has actually never ate cereal. I feel like its a product that's waste of money and has no real need.

But she loves scrambled eggs! (We have no food allergies, so she got them at 6.5 months)

 

[Nervous_1]

I went down the semi BLW/semi traditional route. For lunch I'd make porridge (oatmeal) by blitzing regular porridge oats into more of a dust and then adding milk and heating it up. I'd spoon feed this to him, just so he got used to something different, which I believe is half the battle. As he got used to this I'd add a little fruit puree for variety of flavours.

Dinner time it was BLW. I'd cook pasta like fusilli, or cook baby sweet corn, or maybe carrot sticks slightly cooked to soften them a little bit. Basically anything that lil one could pick up easily and shove in his mouth to explore taste/texture. I learnt very early on that pasta was a favourite, so I started doing pasta bakes or added a sauce to the pasta and we went from there adding something new each time.

Hope this helps!

 

[phoenix333]

We started with baby led weaning right away and DD took to it like a duck to water. She basically just had what we had! Veg, Fruit, whatever as long as it was healthy and wasn't on the list of things to avoid (Nuts, Honey, certain types of fish etc). There are some amazing baby led weaning websites out there that give some really good advice if you're stuck on ideas, but for us it seemed intuitive and so easy. I never felt the need introduce puree or "baby foods" and there has been nothing she has refused to try.

Anything sloppy I just pre-loaded a spoon and handed it to her, she soon worked out where it went .Sure, it was messy in the beginning but I loved watching her explore new textures (she loved playing with stringy things like spaghetti and noodles).

Now everyone who sees her eat compliments me on how well she eats and how unfussy she is and I really put that down to BLW. I know everyone has their own opinions and preferences but I would recommend at least giving it a go. I am certainly going to do the same thing when I wean my next bub x

 

[kalyrra]

Thanks all! I really appreciate the advice! I didn't really want to do cereal in general, but that's what my pediatrician gave me for a feeding plan ... the plan looks like it was made in 1970. lol I just happened across an article about BLW, and I was super excited about finding out if it was a good way to go!

Now, I'm currently still breastfeeding him about 6 times a day. He's been STTN for 4 months. When I start him on a solid, do I still follow it with a nursing session? How did you eliminate nursing sessions as you went?

 

[phoenix333]

The things we looked at to know when she was ready were: she was over 6 months, she was sitting independently and she started showing real interest in food (trying to grab it off our plates ha ha!).

I always bf her first, that way there is less pressure over how much they eat/don't eat. Babies under 1 still get most of their nutrition from milk anyway and some days babies just don't feel like eating much food. I started off with breakfast, lunch and tea and gradually added snacks as well and introduced a sippy cup of water with her meals.

Although she still has some breastfeeds now, her need for them has naturally tapered off somewhat as she has started to eat more and more x

 

[armywife11]

Each baby is different so this is what worked for my daughter:

When we first started she only got solid food at lunch (we did BLW so she got whole food). She was one of those kids who would fill up on the boob and not save room for solids so I had to give her the solids first then let her nurse. I limited the amount of solids I gave her in the beginning. We then started adding snacks and branch that into breakfast and then dinner. She is now 10 months old and gets three solid meals a day but she still nurses 4 or 5 times a day. The big nurse is at bed time right before bed. Somedays she wants to nurse more than eat solids so somedays she nurses more than others.

We never did purees or cereal. She started out on sweet potato and other soft foods. We tried the spoon feeding for a week when we started and it was terrible. She hated it (always been an independent child) so I gave in and let her have finger foods.

 

[Nervous_1]

When babies first eat solids they don't realise that it fills their tummies, so I'd continue to nurse on demand, and gradually you'll notice they demand less milk as the food they eat starts to play a bigger part in filling them up.

 

[rose.]

We have only just started, but for a few days I let him play with a spoon, put it in his mouth, chew it etc to let him get familiar with it. I then gave him a little bit of baby rice mixed with breastmilk every day for a few days. When he seemed ok with that I gave him
A bit of banana mashed with bm for a couple of days. For the last 2 days I made some pear purée. Tomorrow I will do pear again, then apple for a few days, then avocado then sweet potato.

Alfie Seems to be doing well so far he looks like he is enjoying the food! I have found the best time to feed him is straight after a nap as he will be refreshed and only fed about an hour ago so isn't too hungry. I sit him in his high chair and put a bib on so he knows its food time.

Baby rice is very runny, it gives instructions on the packet - 1 spoonful of rice to 10 spoons of breast milk

Once I have gone through a variety of different fruits and veg I will start giving Alfie breakfast every day. Which will be baby porridge with fruit purée. I also plan to keep introducing new fruit and veg purees alongside this.

I know Alfie is young but he has shown all the signs he is ready to start eating, and I am letting him go at his own pace. He seems to be doing Very well so far

Good luck!

 

[JessPape]

When babies first eat solids they don't realise that it fills their tummies, so I'd continue to nurse on demand, and gradually you'll notice they demand less milk as the food they eat starts to play a bigger part in filling them up.

Food is really just for fun before a year, and as long as your breastfeeding it really ISNT needed. So nurse first, than offer food. If they eat they eat, if they don't they don't.

 

[SarahBear]

Thanks all! I really appreciate the advice! I didn't really want to do cereal in general, but that's what my pediatrician gave me for a feeding plan ... the plan looks like it was made in 1970. lol I just happened across an article about BLW, and I was super excited about finding out if it was a good way to go!

Now, I'm currently still breastfeeding him about 6 times a day. He's been STTN for 4 months. When I start him on a solid, do I still follow it with a nursing session? How did you eliminate nursing sessions as you went?

I didn't eliminate nursing session, Violet did! Actually, I never kept track of how much and when Violet nursed, but I know she certainly nurses less at night than she used to. You just give the food and offer the boob when they want it and eventually they'll want the boob less. Violet already prefers food to boob at certain points in the day.