Starting solids
Show your support
@Shazia my baby is not sitting yet either 😐😥
They don’t need teeth in order to chew. Keep in mind they only get their front teeth in the first year. They chew with their gums. As for the time it’s mostly suggested to offer solids after a milk feed (20-30 min later), as it’s for exploring, not so much for nutrition and filling. A little down the line you would switch to offering solids first and milk after
@Shazia so we just had our 6 month appointment yesterday and his pediatrician told me she recommends veggie purées to start out to avoid pickiness. But then she gave me this handout at the end of the appointment that recommends cereal which she didn’t talk to me about at all! Definitely gonna be trying single ingredient homemade purées to start out to watch for allergies. Thank you!
@Eileen thank you!
@Shazia also, I asked my pediatrician about the sitting up and she said that “rule” is more to make sure you’re waiting until 6 months and as long as baby can sit up with some support and are interested in food then they are good to start. Just thought I’d mention what I was told :) because I didn’t want to give him any either until he was sitting up on his own!
She has no teeth whatsoever. But I feed before bottle. Solids, bath then bottle. I realize her daycare also does the same thing. Their gums are strong enough tbh and in reality they don’t actually eat anything from what I notice 😭 or maybe just a little bit but not much
@Jody this is soooo precious!
@Karen My infant nurse practitioner who visits my child care center once a month informed me that babies do not need to be sitting up to begin solids. As long as their backs and necks are strong enough you can place towels or recline them in a chair to help keep them in place.
@Celecia thank you! We’ve been a bit confused with whole situation because one Dr told us to feed until he can sit and other that we can start like you said. We tried but he seems so uncomfortable and fuzzy every time.
@Karen no worries! I was confused at first too! And was surprised when she told me this! But she stated that it’s really important for babies to be comfortable with eating by 8 months so the window is pretty small.. my son doesn’t sit on his own but he began in a sit me up chair by fisher price and now moved him to a hight chair, he still doesn’t sit up on his own quite yet but he does well in those chairs.
@Celecia Thank you again. Since we’re here how are you feeding Him? Purees or the slices/chunks (BLISS)?
@Karen mainly purées, infant oatmeal, rice cereal. I just started introducing potatoes to him as well as fruits for him to self feed.. I’m a huge fan of baby led weaning so I want to start that soon even though many doctors are against it lol
@Celecia Lol! Well let’s see how it goes for us!
I just wanted to double check, no one is meaning cereal like the kind we eat because I agree, that seems difficult cult for them to eat! It’s all infant cereal like instant dissolvable oatmeal or rice cereal. I would wait until he is sitting un-slouched. It’s okay if he still needs help to make sure he doesn’t dump over but if he’s not able to sit tall and upright like 85% of the time I would say it’s too soon. You need that strong core otherwise it could be dangerous. To work on that, I love to sit in front of a mirror on the floor with my baby in front of me and we just chit chat. Or we’ll have toys there too. It is a lot so I’d recommend downloading the Solid Starts app. It helps to know what you can serve and how to serve it.
to connect with women at a similar stage in life.
Trusted by 5M+ women
to connect with women at a similar stage in life.
Trusted by 5M+ women
@Allison not saying ur wrong but I don’t think sitting is a factor anymore. At least not with my baby’s doctor. She approved my daughter at 4 months purely based on her neck strength. When she started she wasn’t able to sit at all (not even assisted cause she would get excited and fall over). She would lean to one side too in her high chair but I only fed her purées and one time egg and she never choked whatsoever. I also agree with the solid starts app. It helped a lot when I’m feeding solids to know how to cut the sizes for her etc.
My pediatrician gave us the okay to start feeding our baby girl purées at 4 months as long as she was showing interest in foods and had strong neck & back. She wasn’t sitting up independently. He also emphasized making sure she knew how to push the food to the back of her throat to swallow. We did tiny amounts of puréed veggies after a bottle then transitioned to steamed veggies that she could feed herself around 5 months. She wasn’t eating much but was figuring out textures and how to get the food to her mouth. She’s 6 months now and she eats with us. Still not a large amount but she is doing so much better with self feeding
@Jody she eats good, I wish my baby boy would eat like this. He throws everything up after.
@Terica lol it’s okay. My daughter had bad reflux w her formula so like literally after ever feed she throws it out. Only occasionally she doesn’t. I’ve yet to see her throw up the solids though so idk
With the cereal we do it with warmed formula to soften it up. Lil dude loves it. He gets a bottle right when he wakes up and then purees breakfast lunch dinner and depending how much he ate depends how much bottle he gets afterwards.
My best friends son is a month older than mine, she’s starting with purées ONLYY, no cereal nothing like that yet. And I would ask your pediatrician regarding cereal. My friend said that the purées she only gives it for now maybe 2x a day. Purées aren’t the main form of nutrition for babies it’s more for texture and taste. I’m not starting solids yet because baby boy is not sitting up on his own yet. Be careful and have something on hand in case your baby has an allergic reaction. My friends son had a reaction to kiwis and he broke out in hives!