Introducing solids has been a bit of a mini research project.. what to do first, second, third, for how long, how much, at what age. It’s a bit stressful. Here’s my recap on how we started solids..
Who: Our sweet boy and mom or dad. Our plan is to wait as long as we can before asking his teachers at daycare to start feeding him solids. I want to see what he eats, how long it takes him and how much. I’m not ready to turn over the process yet.
What: Starting with organic oatmeal before adding fruits and veggies. From what I can tell it doesn’t matter what order however there are recommended fruits and veggies for each age. We skipped rice because of the zero nutritional value associated with rice and honestly we are just ready to get this party started.
When: After he takes a full bottle we are giving him first solids after his first morning feeding (7 am). Once we need to add feedings (goal is 2-3 per day) we will probably try a mid evening feeding (5:30?) or I’ll send his food with him to daycare for after his 11am and 3pm feedings. He is way too sleepy at his 7pm feeding for anything but his bottle. Also we decided to wait until he was only 6 months old at the recommendation of our pediatrician.
Where: In his high chair in the kitchen- consistency matters.
Why: Cuz he needs to start learning textures and how to eat something other than milk! 🙂 (otherwise I think i’d prefer to skip the whole process!)
So here we go..
- Day 1: 1 tablespoon of oatmeal mixed with about 3 oz milk
- This amount was based on the recommendation of the baby oatmeal box
- This made WAY to much food- especially for his first meal which hardly any of it made it into his mouth because he cried the whole time (as noted by the picture to the right.)
- Regroup and get ready for day 2.
- Day 2: 1 teaspoon of oatmeal with enough milk to make it liquidy
- Much more successful – no tears- still trying to figure things out!
- Rewarding him with a little more from his bottle after the oatmeal
- Day 3-6: 1 teaspoon of oatmeal with enough milk to make it liquidy
- Still getting used to it… and still doesn’t really like it..and he still cries most of the time. Maybe he will like fruits and veggies better.. we can only hope!
* Pediatrician recommends 2-3 TBS cereal twice a day in addition to breastmilk or formula (up to 36 oz). Introduce one thing at a day every 5 days. Cereal first, fruits, yellow and orange veggies, green veggies then meats. At 6 months can increase to half to one jar which translates to 2-4 oz per day.
** Our boy continued to cry and refuse solids until day 9.. so 6 days of oatmeal and then 3 days of bananas and then he finally ate the bananas, without crying.. wow. What an accomplishment! We gave him 3oz of his bottle followed by bananas and then the remaining 3 oz of his bottle. So don’t worry if they don’t LOVE solids right away, if they scream and cry and act like you are doing the worst thing ever to them by feeing them solids- eventually, they will get it, and it will be worth it!