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Starting solids: 4-6 months

Discussion in 'Baby / Kids Foods' started by sonu_627, Dec 22, 2005.

  1. Traveller

    Traveller Gold IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Hi Raj, These are the 2 websites I had referred to for my son Wholesome Baby Foods from Scratch -- The Vegetarian Resource Group Baby Rice Cereal, Oatmeal Cereal Questions & Answers BABY FOOD - Baby Cereal Wholesome Homemade Whole Grain Natural Baby Cereal. Srama: thanks for your experience on skipping bottles for your kids. A friend of mine also did that but alas I didn't take up her cue. Now my boy is 3 yrs old and in 2 months our second one arrives. Even though he drinks milk, hot chocolate from cup in his nursery I'm struggling to get him off bottle at home. I think I'll follow your tip for the second one:) Latha
     
  2. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Traveler, I am sure it will work, I have not regretted it once. Good luck.

    Raj,

    both my kids refused bootle and since I was home I nursed them and when they turned 5months, my peadeatrician suggested, you have nursed them this long why do you want to introduce bottle now?

    Anyways when I say I nursed for a year, you are right that is along with the solids. Initially you start with solids for lunch and then nurse her the rest of the time. Then probably when you think she is enjoying and may be ready for dinner, then introduce dinner and similarly breakfast - so if you start solids at 6months, it is just one meal for 2-3 weeks and nurse rest of the time (I nursed on demand too initially), then apply the same principle to every meal and by the time the baby is 8-9 months, you would have come down to probably 3 feeds a day or may be even 2 and that way when you are ready to wean, you wean the morning feeds and then night ones. Remember the kids do get all the nutrition from other sources of food and don't feel guilty about reducing breast milk.

    About liquids, I really didnot introduce juices fresh or otherwise till they were a year old and stuck with water - but then that's me again. But your friend is right about introducing variety, it will help you in the long run if they get used to taste and texture and you can start with that when Riya is 7-8 months old.

    Hope this has helped you and remember what works for you at any point of time is the best solution and your instinct will kick in and you will know exactly what to do - you know and I know that there is no hard and fast rule - have fun with your little one.
     
  3. Aadhusmom

    Aadhusmom Gold IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Rama...couldnt have put it better myself! I'm doing practically the same thing you said (except I gave rice cereal first) for my son and its worked out very well so far. At 8 mnths he is on solids 3 times a day and 4/5 breastfeeds. He has started drinking from a regular cup - only little sips though.and hates his sippy. My question to you is (and sorry to hijack your thread Raj)..how do you get him to take enough liquid through a cup so in a couple of mnths I can start substituting breastmilk with cow's milk? He actually liked the sippy in the beginning, but then took a sudden dislike to it and now refuses it completely. I am aiming to get him on cow's milk 2-3 times a day by 1 year and then stop BFing completely. Any suggestions?
    Raj - even when you start solids (and you can certainly wait until 6 mnths to do that) Riya will need breastmilk for atleast a year. So you will be giving both. Also textures and variety can both be introduced between 6 - 10/12 mnths. No rush. The websites Latha suggested are my favourites too. Take a look.

    Vanathi.
     
  4. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Raj, I don't know how I could forget about rice cereal (my daughter is still 15months old!) - Thank you Aadhusmom, You are right! Almost always everyone starts with this - noone ever has been allergic to rice and I believe it is more easily digetsed than any other food. After a couple of weeks or a month of rice, you can try barley, oatmeal etc.

    Vanathi, that's awesome he is on solids on a regular schedule. As far as liquids, I would think that if he is refusing a sippy, don't force it on him even though it will be easier on you. Just keep giving him sips. The only thing I can tell you is my paed here asked me to introduce cow's milk once the baby turned 9months. So initially it was just a couple of sips a day and by the time she was weaned (at 13 months), she had graduated to a small glass - persistence pays off. So just give him some water after every meal, even if he sips and when you are ready to offer him milk (I use boost/complan etc and some people don't give flavored milk at all) He is also now getting enough water from milk. The idea now is to teach him to drink liquids so that even after you have weaned, he will drink enough liquids. The other thing is stomach is actually the size of one's fist - so imagine the size of his stomach and now he not only has graduated from just Bmilk to solids but also some liquids and any other food that you might offer him - so he might actually be taking exactly what he wants. But believe me, you are on the right track, keep offering and in a month or two, he will know how much to drink! because right now, teaching to drink water is the key. I really can only think of this. I hope it made a little sense atleast.
     
  5. Riyasmommy

    Riyasmommy Silver IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Latha, thank you for the websites. I took a quick look and it looks like it has a lot of valuable info.

    Vanathi, please don't think you are hijacking, you are not!! the more questions are asked, the more it will help other moms too. Also, I was under the impression that once you start solids you BF only once a day, which is not the case, thank you for clarifying that. I love BFing, and it's good to know that I still have a lot of time before I wean Riya off.

    Rama, thank you to you too. You explained a lot of things to me.

    When you guys say rice cereal, do you mean cerelac, or do you make it at home?

    [​IMG]

    Raj











    [​IMG]
     
  6. sowminivibu

    sowminivibu Silver IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    dear raj

    the thing tht i started for aarushi was ragi kanji..if ur lil one liks it then its such a wonderful and nutritious meal......

    vanathi- just check about shifting to cow's milk...i gave my daughter aavin milk diluted with water...cows milk though the elders say it would not set for the baby as early as 1 year..

    lov
    sowmi
     
  7. Riyasmommy

    Riyasmommy Silver IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Sowmi, what is raagi called in english? I don't know if I can find it here. I'll have to do some research.

    Raj
     
  8. Aadhusmom

    Aadhusmom Gold IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Rama...thank you...guess I just have to keep trying. Only its such a pain to have water over the floor, baby and me and not much actually into the baby! I've actually taken to giving him his water in the bathroom to minimize the clean-up afterwards! Let's see how it goes..

    Sowmi...cow's milk is supposed to be ok from 1 year onwards although I plan to start earlier. Actually we buy Aavin at home so maybe I'll just go with that instead.

    Raj...ragi doesnt have a proper english name as far as I know. Its one of the millets. As for the rice cereal - I used Cerelac but home-made is probably better. I think you dry-roast the rice and store and then add water to it and cook to make a paste (kanji) as and when you want. You can also add a bit of breastmilk to it for taste. Make it a bit runny to start with and gradually thicken as she gets used to it.

    Vanathi.
     
  9. Traveller

    Traveller Gold IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Hi Vanathi, Me too gave only breast-milk until he was 13 months old and then he himself stopped. But from 11th month I had started to give him formula milk during the day (basically to prepare him for our trip home for his 1st birthday). Here too doctors say that you can cook with cow's milk but not to give cow's milk as a substitute to mother's milk until 12 months. But I agree back home it's a different thing... everywhere I went I had to explain that he's not yet used to cow's milk and elderly relatives were puzzled that a 1 yr old baby was still on mother's milk:( RAJ: I started off with oats (in germany that's more widely available than rice cereal). In the beginning I bought something similar to cerelac but without added veg or fruit purees. It had to be mixed with hot water and any other taste according to our wish. One tip my doc gave was when you introduce solids to the baby not to mix up too many flavours. For example if you give cereal give only that without any puree. And then after a week mix just one vegetable or fruit puree (like apple, pear or sweet potato, potato). Vegetables like peas, green beans, spinach are recommended to be included only after 10th month. I never gave my boy juice until he was a year old but here I have seen mothers give diluted juice to babies as small as 4 months. I only gave him boiled and cooled water. Latha
     
  10. Riyasmommy

    Riyasmommy Silver IL'ite

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    Re: Starting Solids for a 4 1/2 month old baby: Suggestions please

    Latha, we get oats here (steel cut oats and the regular ones), I guess I can start on that too. It's just that I read that Raagi has more iron content and I also read that babies six months and after need more iron in their diet.

    Vanathi, I like the idea of dry-roasting the rice and making kanji. Good idea! Also what's barley? I have got some but I don't know if that's of any use as baby food.

    Gosh, you guys are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks you all!
     

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