Please help me start my baby on solids

studying_torah

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 12:54 pm

Interesting, I would think to increase the formula rather than start solids; he can't tolerate much solids in the beginning anyhow.
Perhaps clarify with your pediatrician.
In any case, start with a light rice baby cereal. You can thin it with extra formula or breast milk, to avoid gagging.
Some kids do prefer thicker textures, but watch him carefully to make sure he isn't choking.
Do not put the cereal into his bottle- choking hazard.
Give him a bit at a time on a baby spoon.
After a while, you can add in stage 1 baby jars.
Start with 1 food at a time and give a few days to make sure he has no allergic reactions. (In other words don't give mixed peach & apple baby jar, until you're sure he won't react to them separately).

amother

Amethyst

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 1:05 pm

studying_torah wrote:

He doesn't like bottles at all. I have to fight with him to get him to eat at all. If it was up to him he'd be taking in around 15 ounces a day which is half of what he needs based on his weight. He seems to be taking the cereal curiously. I want to give about a tablespoon in the morning and I added one feeding in the evening. Is that enough or should I try to give him more?

nchr

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 1:08 pm

amother wrote:

Try mixing breast milk or formula into the cereal.
My babies liked pureed sweet potatoes, pureed bananas, etc.. Don't try too many things at once. Good luck.

Last edited by nchr on Tue, Nov 06 2018, 10:59 am; edited 1 time in total

ggdm

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 5:40 pm

So interesting. In my country the recommendation is to start with vegetable purree (carrot, pumpkin, zucchini, potato, ...). And only the second step after a month or so is milk and cereal.

Anyway, start with one thing only, a few teaspoons, once a day. The first few times it will seem like nothing ends up in the child. But after a few tries he will get the hang of what to do with a spoon. Increase the amount every day. Stay with one thing for a few days (here they say 4 days minimum) to see if there are reactions, then try something else. At the beginning nurse after each such meal. Slowly he will eat more and nurse less until he only eats. Then start replacing another meal.

Each child is different. Some love eating and cannot go fast enough. Some are not ready at 5 months and need more time. Some need two weeks to figure out how to swallow food from a spoon, some two days. Take it at the pace you child needs. No need to hurry.

You can also try baby led weaning, but as I understand it there should be a minimum of hand-eye coordination to bring food to the mouth and he should be able to sit up straight. Which may not yet be there at 5 months. I might be wrong though, I have just read one article.

Edited to add: My doctor says you shouldn't convince a baby to eat. He knows what he needs. Some children just need less and as long as he is growing and gaining weight, it is fine. Even if the child is on a low percentile, as long as he gains steadily, my doctor would be fine it. But please trust your doctor.

nicole81

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 6:47 pm

Have you tried a sippy cup instead of a bottle? My first nursling refused bottles and was on a cup when needed by 2 months old.

I would definitely start by mixing the pumped milk or formula with cereal. The cereal container should give you a good ratio to start with.

I generally try the same food for two days and then add something else. Other foods I add early on are unsweetened applesauce (thickened with cereal), roughly mashed bananas (you can thin with milk or formula of your baby isn't good with texture), mashed avocado, and mashed veggies from chicken soup.

I generally don't use baby food aside from some whole grain organic cereals, and just try to find things to mash and give from the regular meals and then move onto small pieces and then whole foods. You can always thin a mash with milk or formula for extra nutrition and ease of swallowing if needed.

trixx

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 7:27 pm

Also a baby led weaning fan and also surprised a ped would recommend solids before 6m. Have another conversation and ask him why. My first was a small baby and the ped also told me I should start solids, I was nursing exclusively and pointed out that baby nursed to satiation and hit all other milestones so why start solids sooner than recommended?
I also don't like the standard cereals that have become the norm, how is that healthier than chicken and sweet potatoes?
This is not advice. Do more research and make a decision that works for you.

Ema of 5

Mon, Nov 05 2018, 9:42 pm

simcha2 wrote:

I'm a believer in baby led weaning. (It's a bad name because it's not really amother weaning). Basically it's self feeding and skipping the liquid food stage. There are a lot of articles on line.

This totally!!! It’s really such a logical, simple, concept, and very easy to do. Basically you just give the baby regular food, to chew on, to suck on, etc. oP I don’t know where you are, but if you are in NY (more specifically, if you are in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, Bayswater, five towns, West Hempstead, Long Beach) I have a book you can borrow.

nicole81

Tue, Nov 06 2018, 10:07 am

I'm a big fan of baby led weaning as well, but I want to say that I've changed my tune a bit with this past child. My youngest loves nursing, and showed no interest in eating at all. He dropped from the 50th to the 30th to the 10th percentile and has been holding steady there for two months. My pediatrician told me by 5 months to start feeding him and I didn't listen. But by 6 months he said I really need to consider feeding him, that he needs the extra calories.

I know that breastmilk has so many more nutrients and calories than food, and especially since my baby wasn't interested, it didn't make sense. But I figured what the heck, I'll try and see how it goes. After the first bite, my baby was in love. He ate over half a cup of food. The next evening, he ate half a cup of oatmeal with breastmilk, and 3/4 of a banana. And he's been staring at and trying to grab everyone's food and drink since. In four days of solids, he gained double the amount of weight as he did in a week of just nursing. He's much more content in the evenings, and he's now only waking up once at night (he woke up much more frequently before). And I get the benefit of pumping extra in the evening in place of his meal and building my freezer stash.

In the past I waited until my kids showed interest; one of my kids didn't eat anything until they were 8 months old and demanded some cholent! But I realized with this one, that sometimes you need to open their eyes to what's out there and prod them along a bit. I'm glad I listened to my pediatrician with this one, even though it completely went against my normal parenting style.

Ema of 5

Wed, Nov 07 2018, 9:37 am

nicole81 wrote:

I didn’t really do baby led weaning with any of my kids, but I heard about it with my youngest. She would take food from me at 5 months, but she didn’t eat solids until almost 11 months!! She would take the food from me and then throw it on the floor. Even at that age, when I DID offer her food, it was always only real food. She just wasn’t interested. At 11 months she was still nursing 5-6 times a day, and she was gaining nicely, so although I was SUPER frustrated that she wasn’t eating, I wasn’t concerned. (I actually ended up having her evaluated at that time, becasue I was concerned that she wouldn’t put ANYTHING in her mouth, which I thought was a typical baby thing. Turns out it’s not something to be concerned about!! She starting solids right after the eval, like that day she actually started eating.) With my other ones I didn’t do cereals, cuz they smell gross, and for most of my kids I didn’t do jars, I made my own stuff. The only difference was that for my first ones I puréed and smashed everything, for my last one I didn’t.

amother

Gray

Wed, Nov 07 2018, 10:15 am

FPIES stands for Food Protein Induced Enterocolotis Syndrome.

It presents as a delayed food reaction that causes severe vomiting and often extreme diarrhea -- meaning, like 30 full pampers in an hour (if the offending food was not completely vomited out). There is also rapid dehydration, a drop in blood sugar and fainting, which looks like baby falling asleep. It is very, very scary. My son almost died from a few bites of chicken soup when he was 9 months old. A severe reaction can lead to shock.

FPIES reactions can appear the first time a child eats a food, or even 10 days later.
The reaction is always delayed, generally at 2 hours, though I have heard of 1 hour post-ingestion.

Kids with FPIES will usually have negative skin and blood testing for allergies, because it is not an IgE reaction. It is believed to be T-cell moderated. There is not testing, other than actually giving the kid the food, which is scary.

Moms of kids with FPIES live with tremendous fear of food. The kids too. My son is now 6 and completely outgrown his FPIES for the last few years, but he still has major food aversion and texture issues.

amother

Amethyst

Wed, Nov 07 2018, 12:21 pm

amother wrote:

That is so scary. Which foods cause it? Or can it be any? What should I look out for?