When should I start food for my 4 months old

Hi Nidhi
Actually breastmilk is quite sufficient for the baby till 6months, but i know as every worried mother, you are also concerned whether is the baby getting enough.
Believe me, even i was, i started with light cerelac thin consistency for my DS when he was 5mths old.

*cathy

 

Agree with Cathy. My son started solids at 7.5 months and started having reasonable amount o ffood only at 8 months. He was eating table food at 1 year (soft cooked). At 2.5 he eats everything we eat, even bitter gourd and keerai.
Resistance to food mainly happens when we as parents do not respond to signs of fullness and force feed or not respect their hunger instead try to feed to the clock.
You will always have enough milk to feed the child if you nurse on demand. So look out for signs of readiness for solids - sits up supported, no gag or thrust reflex, interest in table food as you eat, or if your child has upped the frequency of nursing consistently for at least a week.
FWIW, the WHO - on which all countries base their infant feeding practice advice - says an infant will be ready for solids between the fourth and sixth month, so starting solids around the 6th month is ideal, given that a child's intestine needs time to mature.
Do checkout this site, wholesomebabyfood.com for more information

 

I agree with Tikka, dont start solids now, my doc said the more early we start solids, there could be allergy and digestion problems, etc i dont remember correctly.
but the website mentioned by Tikka is very good. i even now follow some ideas/recipes from there for my toddler.
when he was a baby i tried most of the cereal recipes , one good habit my kid has is he eats oats ( not the instant ones) and i am glad abt it.
the kid being fussy could also be due to genetics, some kids are always picky no matter what u do.

 

Nidhi, it is not harmful.
Yes many give it to babies and they are convenient.
but if u can make fresh then the more better for your baby, ofcourse it is too much work, u can do combination too.
u can use cereal and gerber when u work and weekends cook fresh food.

i boil/steam veggies and puree them and freeze them in ice cube trays and then store it in freezer bags in freezer.
then when meal time i take out few cubes and thaw it and warm it and give it to my baby. so i always had a stock of baby food at home.
i also did the same for applesauce, pear sauce etc. i got ideas/ combinations of veggies from the gerber section and tried the same at home.

for cereal, i made fresh powder at home and cook the cereal fresh at home, it is time consuming, but it depends on ur schedule too. no point working too much and getting tired at the end of the day.

one good website for baby food is Make Homemade Baby Food Recipes, Homemade Baby Food Recipes, Solid Food Baby Tips, Baby Nutrition & more!.
i have tried many recipes from there and even the cereals.

when u are sick or travelling u can use gerber and cereals as they are easy.

 

ditto chaaral. wholesomebadyfoods.com actually shows you how easy it is to stay away from gerbers and cereals. Gerber adds a lot of stuff in their food that would be offensive to a vegetarian - not harmful. Some mom here was talking about how cod liver oil or something else I forget which is added and lotsa vegetarians were finding it out later. If you continue to breastfeed along with your weaning food introducion, you will be giving your child complete nutrition.
About how time consuming it is: we did not freeze food. Well, we cant assure we will have power supply everyday. So we spent the weekends prepping whole grain red rice powders during the weekends and adding it with the dal we were cooking for ourselves and veggies. I started with applesauce, you have to put a cored, peeled apple into the pressure cooker/ steamer. When we take out rest of the food, just puree it in the mixer or mash it with hands. Rambling here, but it is very, very easy even for those who have a cooking allergy like me.

 

I have not used turmeric in baby food, so dont know abt it. i read abt no need to add salt to baby puree, so i used to give it just like that, each vegetable pureed and no sugar too(applesauce or other fruits have natural sugar in it). but now dh feels that becos i gave bland food, my kid is not eating indian stuff and prefers less spicy, bland food.

Lets see what other moms did. i used to cook regular food like dhal, rasam etc with turmeric as we do for adults and mash that too with rice for him when he turned one.
i have heard pepper and jeera is also good after they turn one.