All About Solids

So I am finding that there is a whole new world out there when it comes to solid foods. I thought I would share with you all what I am doing. I will write a separate post on how to make your own babyfood. It is SO easy!
So my original plan was to wait to start solids till Kyle was 6 months because I had read you could skip purees and go straight to soft foods. This is called Baby Led Weaning. The Dr. had given the go ahead to start rice cereal and then veggies and fruits at Kyle's 4 month appt. He also was on the small side 13lb 5 oz. about the 29th percentile. But at that point things were going fine and he was content so I saw no need to rush it. Breastmilk and/or formula is supposed to be the main source of nutrition for babies until 6 months.

2 weeks later Kyle started waking up multiple times at night and wouldn't be happy with his paci so I fed him. This was unlike him at this point. I attributed it to a growth spurt and possibly the 4 month wakeful period as well. So for about a week I got up and fed him when he woke up in the middle of the night. Well it kept happening and I was worried my supply had dropped or something because because he was eating 7 times a day which is more than normal for a baby his age.

On Thanksgiving we gave him some sweet potatoes just for fun; you saw the video. He did awesome! I wasn't sure what he would do with a spoon or eating, as alot of babies look at it like, "What the heck is this?" But not Kyle, he ate like he'd been doing it his whole life. So I decided a few days later to go ahead and start rice. He loved it, you couldn't feed him enough. I started off with just one meal of rice cereal in the morning after he nursed. I would pump the day before and add what I had pumped to the cereal plus whatever water I needed.

After a week I started him on two meals a day- cereal in the morning and squash in the afternoon. At first I started off with just 1 TBS of each and then increased it when he wanted more.

Week 3- I added 1 TBS prunes to his cereal because he was getting a little constipated. He was now up to 2 cubes (about 4 TBS) squash in the afternoon and 2 TBS cereal and 1 prune cube.

Week 4- Added 1 TBS oatmeal to 1TBS rice cereal (still a little constipated) 2 prune cubes for breakfast, 2 squash cubes lunch.

As you can see I only added a new thing every week. I read in Super Baby Food to wait at least 5 days but not more than 7 days to introduce new foods.

Veggies or fruits first? I have also read to introduce veggies first instead of fruits so they don't get used to the sweet foods first. But some veggies are pretty sweet- like sweet potatoes so I don't think it matters much. If you have a picky eater it might be more of a problem, but Kyle is not picky.

I also chose to alternate veggies and fruits, so that's why I wait a week inbetween to give his GI system a chance to get used to it. Some people introduce just veggies and the move to fruits. I felt Kyle needed the extra fiber from fruit so I alternate.

Here is a good blog post on how to start solids that I have gotten alot of good info from.