best first solids?

feeding solids help

On my doctors advice I started introducing solids when my baby was about 20 weeks. We've been going about three weeks now. We tried rice cereal and that went down ok. Since then we've added pumpkin and carrot, waiting 3-4 days between introducing new foods. In the last couple of days we've noticed he has had a little more gas than usual, sometimes making him a little restless when sleeping. It is then solved by giving him some gripe water. He is also not drinking as much milk.

My gut instinct says lay off the solids for a bit but I think that he will still want them as he is enjoying the extra sustenance. I know that he should be sustained by just milk until 6 months but..?
 
I'd say trust your instincts. My daughter is 6 months old and I started her with some solids 2 weeks ago. One should start with runny cereal with a spoon. Some babies may not like using a spoon because they are not used to it but it is a good idea to introduce the spoon when introducing solids. Introduce one type of solids at a time for about 3 days. Keep an eye out on vomitting, diarreah and rashes. If all seems well, then move on to another food.
 
mine's starting to wake up screaming/crying sometimes in the night... i think he's teething. either that or he REALLY doesn't like peas puree.
 
I've been following the right process and he really likes his solids, I think it perhaps is just the change for his system, I think we'll slow it down for a couple of days and just stick with rice cereal and see how he gets on.

Not sure how I'd feel about peas puree myself:haha::haha:
 
mnight

Try pureed pears, they are much easier for young digestive systems to digest and better than apples in this regard. The carrot and pumpkin might be a bit rough on his system. Another good vegetable is courgette/zuchini. Just peel, steam and puree. Rice cereal, pears, courgette and avocado were the first foods I gave my son.
 
hmm maybe that's what happening with mine... too much for his young digestive system.

i'm going to try banana next (to ease his poopooing) as apples and pears = constipation (according to Chinese?)
 
solidstars said:
i'm going to try banana next (to ease his poopooing) as apples and pears = constipation (according to Chinese?)
Click to expand...

thats interesting because all the western baby books I've read say banana can cause constipation! If your baby has constipation try pureed apricot, just buy dried apricots, soak overnight and then cook with water till soft and puree. You can mix this in with rice cereal.
 
Certain types of bananas you can get from wet market fruit stalls (the shorter really fat variety) are supposed to help with constipation......Try papaya for constipation.
 
thanks! i'll try papaya and dried apricots too then!

dried apricots -> the ones in the packages in the supermarkets are fine right?
 
Thanks Karmah. We've gone back to just baby rice to see how that goes and not as large a quantity as he was having before and he seems to be getting better.

Lots of books I read said to steer clear of fruit and start them with veggies as fruit is sweeter and when you give them that first then they don't want to have the veggies - what is the reality?
 
i read that too. at this point (our point) in time, i'll give him anything he'll actually eat/like! my 'start with veggies' routine isn't working very well.
 
I started with rice cereal for a few weeks, then gave veggies and then soon after fruits. Now my 7.5 month old son eats both veggies and fruits everday. Though he clearly likes fruit more. Two weeks ago I started giving him some lean chicken and pork too, but just a very little bit each day in his congee. I was worried about him liking fruit more than veggies too, but then after a week or two of veggies said what the heck and gave him fruit for variety. So now he has veggie and meat congee for his main meal at lunch and then some fruit for dessert. In the afternoon, he still has a meal of rice cereal. There are also certain veggies that he likes more than others...for example he likes carrot more than his green veggies. Oh well, kids will be kids....
 
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Hi,

What about juice? Can we introduce juice to them too? My little one will be 5 months old next week. I am told she can be given juice at 5 months and solids at 6 months old.

Is that so??
 
I started giving my son water at around 4 or 5 months and he hated drinking it so I delayed introducing juice to him because I didn't want him to refuse water even more in favour of juice which is sweet. So I only recently, when my son was 7 months, started giving him juice. But he doesn't like juice! So now he barely drinks water or juice! I have to be constantly giving him a bottle of water for him to take a little bit at a time.

I would think though that juice at five months would be ok. Make sure you dilute the juice though! Solids can be started at earlier than 6 months if you think your little one is ready for it. I started solids with my little one when he was 5.5 months.
 
Dear Miriam228,

We find that with our first one, being introduced to juice at 5/6 months discouraged him from drinking water. He's only just developed a taste for water at age 4! As a result, we resolved not to introduce juice until very late for the second one and he just receive his first sip at 18 months. He's great with his water, though, which I think is better for him anyway. We prefer them to get their hydration from water and vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables as opposed to juice. Too much juice is associated with "toddler's diarrhea" - fairly harmless, but messy. :)

Regards
Yonge
 
I agree with yonge, juice is too sweet especially when they start teething and you can't really clean their teeth properly. My son is nearly 1 and he only gets milk and water. I won't be introducing juice until he is 2 and then it will be very diluted and only offered at breakfast time.
 
Ic!!! Thanks! Thanks for your advise! Will not introduce juice to her until at a later stage.

Another question:

I see home made cooked purees/food are also stored into ice cubes for the freezer. What about rice cereals?
 
Do you mean rice cereal out of a box? If so, you wouldn't need to freeze it - just make it up fresh when you want to feed it to your baby. Just spoon out the rice cereal and mix with breastmilk, formula or water. It's like adults eating cereal.

The reason that cooked foods are pureed and then frozen is for convenience since your baby will only eat a little bit at a time, for some people, it is easier to cook up a big batch, puree and freeze at one time. I actually don't freeze my food, I make my baby fresh veggies everyday with congee and after it is cooked, I will puree some of the veggies cooked with the congee and then mix the puree into a bowl of congee for my son. My nanny or I will eat the rest of the congee and non-pureed veggies that are cooked so we don't end up wasting much.
 
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