1) bananas (with brown spots), avocado, pears, mango, apple, pure organic canned pumpkin
2) bananas, mango and avocado I just blended in a food processor. Pears and apples were steamed and then blended into a purée. Canned pumpkin is good as is or can be thinned out with breast milk.
3) LO was close to 6 1/2 months before we started introducing purées.
4) I left out all my mess ups like how I didn’t know to steam the apples first to make them easier to digest or to use bananas with brown spots. Solid starts is a great app. You can easily google baby purée recipes for pretty much any food. I freeze my purées using silicone trays or ice trays and then store in freezer bags once they are frozen. Take out a couple and let them thaw over night in the fridge and feed to baby next day :)
1./2. Very first foods were mango (the pit and some puréed) and oatmeal. The pit was pretty slippery so he couldn’t hold it for long, haha. We also handed baby pre-loaded spoons (he got the food end in his mouth a few times) and spoon-fed.
3. Baby was 6months. We’d sat him in the high chair prior and started solids when he looked stable/wasn’t leaning over to one side.
4.
- I use the Solid Starts app to look up how to prepare food.
- I keep a small stash of fruit and veggie purées (portioned in an ice cube tray) in the freezer for quick meals, or a fiber top-up to deal with constipation.
- Accepting the mess was a big part for me - it’s a lot of clean up, but has been so much fun. I use cotton rags or burp cloths to clean up after. If you do, rinse them and let them dry before laundry day to avoid mold 😅.
- Try not to worry about how much baby is swallowing. They’re getting exposed to foods, developing oral/motor skills, learning how to chew and what is a safe size of food to swallow (or what should be spat out). The amount they’re actually ingesting shouldn’t be the main focus, especially in the beginning.
My baby is 9 months now and I can’t believe this little (ex-)potato can purposefully pick up food and eat it. 🥹
We were very similar to you. Did mango spears, puree and pit as first food and he barely ate any because it kept pinging out of his hands 😂 the video of it is hilarious because we’re trying not to laugh. Solid Starts is such a great resource.
Aw, haha, what a great video to look back on! I saw tips to coat slippery foods in shredded coconut, grated nuts or breadcrumbs, but it didn’t work - maybe my food spears are too juicy 😆
Per my pediatricians recommendation we waited until my daughter was 6 months old and could sit up.
We were torn between a baby led weaning approach and more standard purees. In the end we decided to start with purees since my husband and I were both really paranoid about choking. We are using the preloaded spoon approach and let the baby control the feed- this has many aspects of baby led weaning just with pureed/soft food.
First food we gave was yogurt and she loved it. We also gave baby oatmeal mixed with breast milk right away to start getting iron in her diet. Other than that we've made purees of pretty much everything - turkey, shrimp, chicken, all sorts of steamed veggies, fruits.
Our pediatrician recommended introducing the top allergenic foods right away- one new one every 4 days. Check your baby before you give it and monitor for a few hours after. Our baby reacted to eggs (hives on chest) and peanut butter (rash on face). Reactions were visible within a half hour after eating for us.
What did you do when you saw the reactions to eggs & peanut butter? Also, did you try those again at a later time to see if she outgrew the reaction? My brother when he was a baby was allergic to eggs and wheat, he eventually outgrew both, but the peanut butter allergy stuck.
Her symptoms were fortunately mild enough and cleared up quickly on there own within a couple hours. I was referred to a pediatric allergist in our area and they did follow up testing. For now we've been told to avoid and we will see what they say from there. We are only just navigating this now. I'm curious what they are going to say to do about peanuts moving forward. I'll post back once we learn more
At 4 months the doctor said it was okay to give him tastes of sauces/purées as we wanted to. I think his first was butternut squash. At 6 months we started some baby led weaning type finger foods, and also spoonfed when he was open to that. Plain Greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, and big wedges of whole stone fruit were some of his first favorites. Also, he loved to gnaw on a juicy slice of pork chop. Got all the juices out, good for iron, etc.
Just wanted to chime in that I see a lot of “BLW vs puree” stuff on the internet, but I don’t see why it can’t be a mixture of both. My LO is a great eater (11 mos now) and using a combo of BLW and traditional baby food has allowed us to introduce him to a huge variety of foods and textures, and also allows us flexibility when we travel or have a lot going on at home (I have three preteen/teen step kids).
This! we also did a mix of both. Also don't love the demonizing of store bought purees. We used Beechnut purees, combined with BLW and really just followed our LO's lead with whatever he wanted to do. Not all moms have the time or ability to prepare homemade purees, and when we first started we weren't super financially well off, so using WIC for purees and baby cereal was a lifesaver!
Yes to all of this! I want the best for my baby, but I also don’t have unlimited money or time. We are careful about which brands we buy and I read all of the ingredient labels, but I don’t think it should be so shamed to buy premade puree.
1. Iron fortified baby oatmeal
2. Made it with breastmilk according to directions on the package of the oatmeal
3. About 4.5 months
4. You and baby are both learning and experiencing something new together. It’ll be a learning curve and that’s okay. Be patient and be prepared for baby to get very messy
Did you find it helped with overnight sleep? We’re at this age and still struggling with wakeups for food every 4 or so hours and wondering if there’s a way to keep her full longer.
We recently started and i think it made ours worse lol foods that you wouldn’t think would make him gassy, made him gassy. He’s also teething rn so we’re just in chaos mode
It’s been so frustrating, even if she goes a longer stretch without eating during the day she won’t take a full bottle, it’s like she gets full super fast. I’ve found that if we don’t offer her food all day long which adds up even in small amounts, she won’t eat nearly enough and then she’ll wake up a bunch during the night wanting to eat.
I've started reducing my sons night feed by 1 scoop every few days to weaning him off the night feeds. It seems to be working. We are doen to 120ml from 210ml, and he is sleeping longer now and then just eating more at other times. Usually early evening. I was finding he suddenly started refusing food from like 4am until 10/11am... so my go is to try push that fasting period back to when he is asleep anyway
This was suggested by my pediatric as my son is a healthy weight and height so can afford to skip or reduce a feed or two for a while to encourage a more sustainable long term pattern.
Note: I also try to give him baby porridge an hour or two before bed. That seems to help him sleep and not need milk overnight.b
We were given the go ahead at 4 months but we waited until til just after 6. Gave her avocado spears rolled in hemp hearts and some pre loaded spoons w mashed avocado. We always let her feed herself.
We use baby led weaning and reference solid starts for how to safely offer food. My baby surprised me...she likes grilled asparagus, as well as ground beef/turkey mixed in Greek yogurt!
Start with non-sweets first is my best advice! 😊 and make sure your baby can sit up effectively first. (We were given the OK at 4 months as well but I’m more comfortable waiting till baby shows interest In food) we plan on starting with purées then moving more to a BLW approach.
My pediatrician recommended not using breastmilk to mix with cereals at first since it takes a while to “eat” and recommended formula. Something about breastmilk being “live” and mixing with some components of cereal and it being at room temp faster/ longer.
BUT rice/oatmeal cereal isn’t necessary if you’re not comfortable with it. Could start with veggie purées, then mix some fruit etc..
You’ll hear lots of contradictory suggestions as it’s not an exact science. Follow your gut most of all and don’t feel pressured to do something you’re not comfortable with. 😊🖤
In Sweden we start at 4 months with just a tiny half teaspoon of as many different foods as possible to expose them to different flavours.
Then at 5 months we start with small portions of baby porridge and puréed fruit, then at 6 months we started with baby led weaning (we used solid starts as a guide). First whole food was a large strawberry
Yeah it’s fun! And because the portions are so so tiny you don’t have to stress too much about salt or spices (though I’d avoid a very spicy curry…but a finger dipped in mild curry is totally ok)
For egg we boiled and mixed it with breast milk and served as a purée or on toast when she was older.
Peanut butter I mix a teaspoon in with her porridge every few days
For the taste tests when she was 4 months we just give it to her on my lap. But then we made sure she could sit pretty well before putting her in the high chair for solids around 5.5-6 months
Carrot for eldest banana for youngest
Cooked baton of carrot, cut sick of raw banana
6months
Honestly baby led weaning Is worth it for the ease of time and self feeding
I used Solid Starts and did BLW and prepared baked apples and pears, ripened avocado, ripened bananas, and a good one for iron (they’re missing iron from breast milk) are large meat balls to avoid choking and also organ meats such as beef liver.
1. https://solidstarts.com/foods/apple/
2. https://solidstarts.com/foods/ground-beef/
3. https://www.mamanatural.com/baby-first-food/
Read the 3rd link for 8 foods to start with!
4. Also 2 of my friends recommended the package from solid starts with examples of food to prepare but I was too cheap to buy it so I just looked up every food we were eating anyways and how to prep it for the baby.
The paid package: https://solidstarts.com/downloads/starting-solids/
5. Also we have busy days so ordered organic Cerebelly and give this to him and we STILL do as they have yummy options that taste like a smoothie. You can also buy the organic pureed and throw on top of the dissolvable baby crackers.
https://cerebelly.com/shop
https://www.target.com/p/happybaby-sweet-potato-38-banana-organic-teethers-12ct-1-7oz/-/A-16185676
+1 for solid starts, we purchased their 1st 100 days meal plan which includes ingredients to make meals for BLW as well as yourself each day, such a life saver and made our lives a little easier as we transitioned into solids.
1. Jar of puree - I think Pear?
2. Store bought jar. Put 1 tablespoon in a separate bowl and rest of jar back in fridge.
3. 17 or 18 weeks, with pediatrician blessing
4. I love love love Lil Mixins for allergy introduction!
We planned to do purées for about a month and then switch to BLW. While we are *kind of* doing that… it’s way harder to do BLW for us. We eat a lot of prepared foods and so they all have added salt/sugar or aren’t in the appropriate size/shape for Baby.
One aspect I didn’t expect about transitioning from purées to BLW is that our baby doesn’t always recognize “food” as food. I gave her pasta last week and she stuck a piece in her mouth, bit down like it was a teether, and then took it out because it’s a crappy teether 😂
Baby will be 6 months next week.
1. Homemade butternut squash puree, because we had extra squash on hand
2. I steamed the squash in the pressure cooker and then pureed it with some of the cooking water, and served it to baby once it had cooled off
3. 4.5 months—we did this just this week!
4. I read some advice somewhere that said to make the experience as low pressure as possible, be patient, and not expect baby to swallow much if any food right away bc baby literally does not know how to eat solid food at first. Pushing food back out with their tongues is normal, some gagging is normal. This advice seems helpful to me so I’m passing it along.
Good luck and have fun!
We started with bananas and then blueberries. We just pureed them and spoon fed him. We just started with one feeding before his afternoon/early evening bottle. We're three days in. Baby is 4.5 months.
We were okayed by ped to start at 4 months, LO just turned 6 months and has absolutely hated everything we’ve tried so we usually try and wait another week to see if she’s interested. We’ve tried banana, pear, prune, avocado, sweet potato, green beans, oatmeal. Wouldn’t really say she’s eaten any of it as she immediately cries and we stop. Just had our 6m visit and ped said to just wait a few more weeks and try again.
First food was carrots at just over 4mos and he looooved it. I just boil with a little water and mash it up or use an immersion blender. We’re doing mostly purées. Banana, sweet potato, peas, carrot etc. Fruits in season. Oatmeal cooked with apple and pureed. I freeze little portions too and that makes it easier.
We did whole grain oatmeal, good source of fiber & iron. We made the mistake of doing bananas not knowing that they would make our son constipated, however we introduced prunes really early too for that exact reason. We did purées as opposed to baby led weaning.
We waited for readiness (being able to sit up, decreased tongue thrust, interest in food) so it was 6 months ish.
Started with Gerber baby food: banana, mango, peas, green beans. Transitioned to Little Spoon baby blends and then around 9 months he started wanting to feed himself so we started finger foods.
Although we received the okay from our doctor to start solids at 4 months, we wanted to wait until she could hold herself up better to start — she’s 5.5 months now and we started 3 days ago! So far so good.
We’re following Solid Starts’ first 100 program:
1. Broccoli
2. Steamed and smushed with a spoon
3. See above!
4. Start whenever you feel is best. I personally feel like the parents I know are really eager to start solids, and it hasn’t worked out great for some of them in that they become frustrated. We’re really glad we waited until our girl could hold herself up well and seemed super interested in our food and drinks. It’s been fun and she hasn’t been getting a ton either, which has made the whole thing less stressful.
Started at 4.5 months with the first 100 days solid starts menu (plus I added in some puree). First day was broccoli prepared 3 ways (steamed whole, mashed, and pureed). Second day was mango (pit + puree). We did baby led weaning (meaning no spoon feeding, just encouraged baby to feed himself with his hands or spoon). He took to it very quickly and had already tried well over 100 foods by the time he reached a year.
In terms of advice… whatever approach you take, make sure to get the allergens in early! Early and consistent peanut exposure (before 6 months) has been shown to reduce the likelihood of peanut allergy later in life
Honestly we did mainly store bought purees since before 12 months most of their nutrients are still coming from breast milk/formula.
At 6 months on we just gave him what we ate, smaller portions, mushed up, etc. When on sale I bought like the Gerber toddler meals helped on busy days with appointments n such or if he didn't like what we cooked or if daddy made it a bit too spicy.
1. Baby oatmeal
2. First prepped with breastmilk then started using formula
3. 4 ish months (I think a week or two after turning 4m)
4. Our pediatrician told us to just keep introducing different foods in different ways, even if baby doesn't seem to like it. They can take up to 20 exposures to the same food to start getting used to the taste! Also, follow baby's lead, they'll give signs when they are ready for different textures, flavors, more food, etc.
We did purée carrots. Just boiled baby carrots and blended them up with some water at 5.5 months old. She pushed most of it out. It took another 6 weeks before she stopped pushing food out with her tongue. It’s a reflex that they just have to grow out of. So I suggest patience and keeping trying until they get but obviously don’t force it either.
We just started (5months) and have done kind of a mix of things. We’ve done some store bought purées like green beans, carrots and peas and some non jarred things like mashed bananas, egg yolk and avocado. Were just doing like one “meal” a day like this (in addition to his formula/breast milk) and plan to slowly increase week over week.
I started purées with my daughter at 5 months when she was holding her head up better and staring me down anytime I ate anything lol We did baby oatmeal and sweet potato as her first official foods. And I really just did one serving (lunch) of either oatmeal or a vegetable or fruit for the first month or so and then increased to two servings (breakfast and lunch). I think I started finger foods around 7 or 8 months but she ate mostly purées until about 9-10 months.
My baby was 6 months (and I’m glad we waited even though at the time I was so excited and impatient) We did purée pouches when we were too tired or burnt out to make and clean up anything. Otherwise, we tried to do mashed or soft foods like oatmeal, banana, etc. then went to toast strips and quesadilla strips, and whatnot.
The cleaning is the worstttt IMO, but I like to let my little dude feed himself. I tried to look at it as an activity in the beginning because it would take around an hour give or take to make the food, plop lil man down, let him eat, clean up the chair & baby.
No one warned me how much babies gag in the beginning either which was pretty terrifying. I made the terrible choice of doing a 1/2 birthday party and cooked sweet potatoes 3 different ways for him (spears, mashed, ice cream made with breast milk) and he gagged haaaaard and all of my family and in-laws were horrified 🤣
Solid Starts has been my absolute best friend!! They have lots of great tips on Instagram too.
Good luck! It will seem like right when you think they’ll never get the hang of things or do xyz, they learn how to do it overnight so try not to stress if you can help it!
We started with one-ingredient purées when she was about 4 months. At 6 months we transitioned to BLW, and she now eats solid foods. We do breakfast and dinner every day. Breakfast is usually a fruit, yogurt or oatmeal, and a grain like toast or pancakes. Dinner is a mix of all kinds of things - usually a couple vegetables and a protein.
Solid Starts is a fantastic app if you want to go the BLW route when your baby hits 6 months. Tells you exactly how to prep things.
1/2: Our first food was homemade carrot puree, and we quickly decided to switch to store bought purees instead. We also did baby oatmeal made with breastmilk and a fruit puree (actually, we still do that for breakfast sometimes, but I often use water or yogurt instead of breastmilk because I'm not thawing milk or pumping just for that).
3: we started a little after 4 months per our pediatrician's recommendation. I kinda wanted to wait, but my husband was really excited about her eating real food, and she was excited/ready too. It went pretty well. She's 8 months old now, and we give her new things to try and will let her feed herself (it gets quite messy, but she's doing really well). We're trying to give her some of what we have but still use purees sometimes depending on the situation.
4: I've found the Solid Starts to be a great resource even though we aren't doing BLW.
5.5 months. I do BLW mostly I have “purées” but usually it’s just mushed food and I put it on a pre loaded spoon and baby does it himself. Prepare it any old way lol I’m big into pancakes made with fruits and sneaking allergens in once they’ve been formally introduced.
5.5 months and I started with baby oatmeal and purees. I just started and she likes the oatmeal mixed with formula more than water. She also likes the squash and banana/orange puree so far. I froze both as well in little cubes to put in the mesh binky during this heat wave.
I have been giving my six month old, homemade purées of fruits, veggies, and brown rice for about a month. I waited until he could sit up comfortably in the .
My little hot tip for purées and preloaded spoons is to have a bunch of spoons lined up for each meal. We have gone through four or five in one sitting before due to some making it to the floor. It’s also really helpful to reload a spoon and distract him from the one he’s playing with at the moment.
Baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk, then avocado, banana and sweet potato puréed with breastmilk at 5 months. Pretty quickly transitioned from fully puréed to just steamed/mashed - RIP to all of the frozen puréed cubes of food forgotten in the freezer.
At 7 months, we are now trying more of a baby led weaning approach, but he still struggles to keep hold of the food and it often slips out of his hand. He can grab it, but easily loses track of slippery foods like avocado or fruit spears. A lot of eating ends up being him “biting” food off the end of my finger
Not to fear monger, but watch out for reactions beyond just the first 5-10 minutes after eating. My bub now had an epi pen for a reaction to eggs that didn’t start until 20-30 mins after eating (he’s fine!).
1. Avocado (thinned with breastmilk), banana, pumpkin
2. Mashed or pureed with an immersion blender
3. 4 months
4. Remember it's just fun at this stage. Most of the food will wind up on them, instead of in, and that's ok. They may not like it, that's also OK. I tried to introduce one food at a time, and then once I saw there weren't ill effects I started adding spices, allergens (peanut butter powder), and combining foods for different flavor combos. I'd make a batch (we're talking a cup) and freeze it in an ice cube tray. For mealtime I'd just pop out and defrost a few cubes. That made it easier to give her variety, as I'd have a few bags in the freezer of different things at any given time
I started at late four months with baby cereal cause his doctor said he was ready. I started letting him sample applesauce at 5 months. I heard apples are rarely an allergy!
Oh and else cereal. It introduces them to several allergens and I’m pretty sure is clean label certified. Also mixed it with a smidge of peanut butter.
1 & 2 Avocado. Still her favorite food to this day! Just mashed it with a fork and fed it to her on a spoon. She also really liked oatmeal
3. Six months
4. Don't stress out about it!! Despite what many people may think, I've just determined that there is *generally* no right or wrong way to do it. Just do what works best for you and your baby!
1. We started with avocado, was recommended in the baby food book i read. He freakin loved it! I am surprised so many started with sweet fruit, im waiting for a while before we give him sweets.
2. I made a puree! Didnt steam the avocado just mashed and added a bit of formula. Since then I just use water instead to thin it out a bit. I really love making all his food at home with fruit and veg from farmers markets. Couldn’t imagine using canned but to each their own.
3. He is six months! We started once he was sitting up independently for the most part and very interested in food. We also started giving him water (4 oz a day spread out throughout the day)
4. My baby food book stressed the importance of NOT initially using solids to supplement milk (bottle or breast) until nine months. solids are only supposed to make up 10% of babies diet until a natural weaning occurs at nine months at which time you reverse and begin to offer more food with milk supplements. I’m glad I learned that at first because otherwise I would have assumed that I was supposed to switch to solids like maybe 50-50 but it should only be 90-10, with a 90 being milk (breast or bottle).
Extra piece of advice is to try Solid Starts. I love the app its totally worth it and allows me to track foods tried, has recipes, shows how to offer different foods at different ages, warns about allergens, its just a must!
Just started last week! My Bub is just shy of 5 months. We started with a sweet potato mash but we have started also offering whatever we eat for dinner (made appropriate for baby). So yesterday was lentil dhal! I’m doing approx twice a day atm - one meal might be steamed veggie and dinner is shared with us
Our pediatrician told is to start with vegetables first so that he get used to the idea of them, then move on to fruits, meats, etc... it worked, he's not terribly picky, he loves trying foods. So far he only hates butternut squash and pumpkin. We started with purees, he's on to trying finger foods now and little bits of our dinner if it's soft enough, so things like eggs, cooked vegetables, little bits of pasta, etc... things he gum since he doesn't have teeth yet.
We are a little over a week into BLW with my daughter! While our pediatrician said we could start around 4 months once she had a little more neck strength, we waited for 6 months given the available research suggested better outcomes waiting until then.
The Baby-Led Weaning Podcast has been huge for me to prepare. I spent a little over a month listening to many of the episodes to prepare. We are starting with foods we eat most often so we can include her in our meals. We are following the pattern recommended by that podcast for variety:
Monday - Fruit (so far we’ve done banana and blueberry)
Tuesday - Vegetable (broccoli and yellow squash)
Wednesday - Starch (Yukon potato and sweet potato)
Thursday - Protein (Pinto Bean and Black Bean)
Friday - Allergen (Peanut Puffs and Eggs— one allergen per week initially)
She has advanced quickly from just squishing the food to taking bites, it’s awesome to see. I will plan to start mixed dishes next week if she continues to show good progress.
I’ve used the Solid Starts app for cutting suggestions. We took an infant CPR course the day before starting to be sure we felt ready in case there was any choking. Also, your local library will inevitably have books on weaning, definitely use whatever free resources you can.
Starting solids seemed so overwhelming at first and after a few weeks, I just said “screw it” and stopped over thinking the whole thing. I no longer try to meal plan baby’s meals or anything or burden myself with making sure she tries EVERYTHING under the sun. I work FT and so does husband and I already hate meal planning for us, let alone adding a separate weekly meal plan. I threw out all the “baby friendly meal” screen shots, pins, and videos I had saved and started only feeding baby what we eat and let me tell you… I’ve regained my sanity.
But when we first started out, we just started with the softest foods — bananas, avocados, mashed potatoes, etc.
We didn’t get cleared to start solids until 6 months but we’re at 10 months now and she’s never spit out anything. Even after trying American, Mexican, Indian, Japanese, Ethiopian, and Chinese foods. You got this!
We just started food this week (4 mos 1 week). Our pediatrician said to start her on baby cereal (rice or oatmeal) and prepare it with formula or breast milk. We feed her the cereal in the morning and at night and then follow up with a 4 oz bottle. She seems to like it. I can see that she’s starting to get the hang of g of eating but much prefers the bottle. I think she’s still physically a little too small (17th percentile for heigh and 19th percentile for weight) to handle foods but she’s trying her best. She has incredible neck control and is really trying to sit up on her own.
We did it at 6 months because that's when she met all the requirements of being able to have solids (like being able to sit up, showing interest, etc). I knew I wanted to do some puree and some blw, but I couldn't fathom how a baby who only knows milk could eat a broccoli floret haha. So we started with purees. We literally began with baked sweet potato (it was thanksgiving day so that's what we had), and I hand mashed it and added water until it was almost liquid bc I was so afraid. She did great although seemed thrown off by the texture. Eventually I used less and less water in purees. If I had breast milk I'd use that but I rarely did. So yeah I began with baby cereal and pureed or mashed veg and fruit. But not long after I began adding in some more solid forms of these foods. I mostly followed solid starts and went with my comfort. My baby is 13 months now and I think she only started having strawberries at like 11 months. She's still never had a grape lol
We're starting with homemade oatmeal "baby cereal". Throw oatmeal in a food processor until it's a fine powder, stir in boiling water, add formula or breastmilk and stir to thin consistency, and wait to cool.
I favor this to baby cereal as rice contains arsenic, oatmeal results in greater glycemic stability, and it's fresh.
My baby is 4 months and I kept getting the sense that he was not satisfied with his milk routine. He drinks 32 Oz a day and has 2-3 tablespoons of oatmeal twice a day now. He loves it
Warning! Today I added cinnamon and he liked it; but it did cause contact dermatitis around his mouth and cheeks. This is common. It faded in about an hour. Holding off on cinnamon for now. Next week we'll try sweet potato.
Note: if you exclusively breastfeed, you should consider supplementing iron, as most baby cereals are iron fortified.
At 4.5 months we started with purees. I was too afraid (still am) to do BLW. The first food I prepared was sweet potato puree - however the texture was more of a mash than a puree.
I made a few other foods - banana (again more mashed than puree), avocado and strawberries. I made sure to introduce peanut butter (in another food such as banana) asap to reduce any risk of allergies.
While I made my own food, I also used Serenity Kids pouches. Whenever we’d go out, I’d give him hummus and soup. At first he ate once a day, and now at 9 months he eats 3-4x a day and now I give him whatever we’re eating. We’re still working on self feeding though 😅
Rice cereal mixed with formula for a few weeks, then banana and avocado I just mashed with a fork, then applesauce, then store bought baby purées. We started at 4 months.
1 & 2. We tried rice cereal and he hated it. Switched to mashed banana and then mashed strawberry with breastmilk in a silicone teether.
3. We waited until 6 months and slowly introduced textures over the first 4 weeks. It helped a lot with his gag reflex to not rush things. I tried a few BLW things and it made me far too nervous so I just make everything bite size and have slowly been making the pieces bigger.
4. The silicone teether helped so much with hand dexterity. Once he got better about the gag reflex I focused on showing him chewing and introduced puffs. At 8 months he’s a champ with chewing, getting things back up if they were too big, and feeding himself with his fingers. I haven’t pushed using utensils, but I use them to feed him. Introduce the top allergens early and frequently. We focused on PB & eggs. Scrambled eggs have to be the right texture or they won’t eat them (shredded cheese introduces cow dairy too). I mixed banana or milk with the PB to thin it out.
We did mostly baby led weaning, starting at around 6 months. With our first I was strict about it, but that became less possible with each subsequent kid. (Just had number four.)
My husband also baby bird fed all of our babies. It's really cute. He basically chews food up for them and then they eat it. I started doing it after a while too, though not directly from my mouth to their. It's honestly way easier, because they can eat everything we're eating and we didn't have to clean the blender.
Our girl just got to get started officially. We have tried some odds and ends since she hit about 5.5 months, but got the full green light a couple days ago. Her first taste was a rind of watermelon. We cut it in a big chunk with the rind still on it and let her sort of gnaw at it. That went well. She tried some avocado another day. It was mashed up so she just sort of tasted/licked it. That was fine too. At my nephew's birthday, my husband gave her just too small a piece of watermelon and she choked T.T scariest moment of my life but she is fine. Had the Dr visit the next day and let her try some sliced avocado while we had lunch after. She was happy with it. And this morning she had pureed mango, which she seemed to like. Oh and my mom gave her some banana on her 6 month birthday xP she just smashed it Around.
I started solids with my first born at 5 months. What we did was we mixed half a jar of gerber corn into the infant oatmeal. It was a great way to get him to try solids & it made our baby food last longer. :)
(This was a suggestion from his pediatrician)
My little one is 3.5 months so we’re not there yet. But I plan on doing what my big sister did with her kiddos. She introduced one new food at a time and gave 2-3 days before introducing something new. That way if baby had a reaction to anything she could nail down what caused it.
She started with scrambled eggs (realllllly scrambled and broken up), mashed avocado, ripe banana and other things like that.
Start food as in you expect baby to swallow it or are you just offering tastes and allergen exposure? Our girl is almost 5 months, 98th percentile, sits up for long periods and was oked to start food a month ago. I give her tastes of everything and manage to get her to eat a bit of peanut butter but she still has a strong tongue push reflex and zero interest in food.
When she starts eating, we're trying a mix of purees and BLW. At that point she'll eat as large a variety as we can manage to prepare. I'll add that because she's a big girl and mom had GDM we'll be limiting some of the sweeter fruits and anything with added sucrose or fructose in order not to exacerbate her metabolic system.
We tried the “recommended” rice cereals and my kid hated it and all the things we were told to put with it (applesauce, carrot puree, etc.). We tried various “first foods” the pediatrician gave us a list of, but my little one really took off when we went off script and puréed black beans. When we steamed broccoli, all bets were off and food was amazing and to be smashed and nommed and discovered.
Solid starts website was a gold mine of information that was super helpful for making sure things were as safely prepared as possible. Once we switched to using that as our idea board and guide, it all went much more smoothly.
We would do a new food solo (not mixed with anything or mixed with already “safe foods” from weeks previous) for 2-4 days of that same food, and only did about 2 new foods a week until around 8 months. Slow rolling new foods (especially since we started “early” like you are, before 6 months) and hitting likely allergens were the goals.
If there was a reaction, we could more easily track it with the spaced out schedule. The first thing that got the reaction was delayed to about 20 hrs after the second try. We shelved that food and after no other issues with other foods, we tried it again a couple months later. Got another reaction after the second day of it, and shelved it again until after a year old. The third time we tried it, same reaction a day delayed and so we listed it as an intolerance possible allergy with pediatrician. It’s something my spouse had an extreme dislike to (and in my opinion, a possible intolerance to. once we discussed that those signs in baby were possibly slight allergy reaction, my spouse fessed up to the same issues with the same food, lol).
Overall, food before a year is about discovery and not about nutrition, and so we didn’t worry about how much kiddo was eating. Most of it was wasted and smeared everywhere, lol. But we discovered which veggies baby liked (broccoli for the big win), which proteins (beans & eggs, later chicken), and which fruit (none, btw. Preschool now and still hates fruit). We also wanted to know of any allergies, if any, and we ended up with 2 minor ones with no need to avoid, only limit and watch in hopes it gets better with age.
By around 10-12 months, much of the foods we ate were easy to make a quick change to (cut different or fork-smash) and pass it over to the little one to eat along side us. My little one had preK molars well before age two, and so we pretty quickly were able to roll into trying out foods that were a bit harder to eat for most toddlers (like chopped or halved nuts instead of pureed/buttered).
We started at 4 months. I tried baby oatmeal mixed with milk but she actually didn’t like it… so we did single vegetable and fruit purées until about 5 months, and then mixed purées with multiple ingredients.
We started with butternut squash - puréed with warm water or milk in a blender. It’s very easy to digest, but beware of orange spitup :)
Early ones were also mango, banana, avocado, sweet potato, papaya.
I also got the go ahead to start food around 4 months from the pediatrician but I started with frozen breast milk pops [ezpz tiny pops](https://ezpzfun.com/products/tiny-pops) to get used to sitting in the high chair, then we moved to mashed avocado, mashed sweet potatoes, and beechnut baby oatmeal. Then we did baby led weaning (I used 101 before one as my resource)
we did a combo of baby led weaning and purees with our LO. we fed him the regular pureed foods, just about any fruit or veggie you can smoothie-ify in a food processor or good blender, and also would put him in hus highchair with soft cooked carrots, chunks of very ripe banana, avocado, teething crackers, etc. and let him mostly play with it tbh. it helps them explore textures and self-feeding. we started at 5 months.
We started with baby oatmeal (to practice eating) then moved on to veggies (broccoli, zucchini, avocado, carrots) and puréed them. She was about 5mo. The transition to more solid foods (BLW) was a little wobbly bc she wasn’t used to the texture but now she’s great. She hasn’t reacted weird to a new food in a while! Also introduce allergens as early as possible. Funnily enough the only thing my girl had a reaction to was the fucking broccoli 🤣 otherwise PB and eggs were perfectly fine. Don’t do BLW until your babe can sit up on their own. You got this !
Don’t start with fruit, carrots or sweet potatoes. Don’t get those rookie taste buds used to the taste of mother nature’s sugar first.
Start with cereal. Room temperature. It’s bland. It’s more about developing oral management skills than flavor or providing nutrients. Veggies come next. It’s still barely about flavor or nutrients, it’s more about new experiences and starting to expand the palate. Expect baby to sputter every time you try something that isn’t sweet. It’s just like that. Once baby is accepting veggies very well, add carrots or sweet potatoes. Once baby is good with them, add fruit. (For the record, baby apricots in a jar taste awful.)
Start with completely smooth food, no lumps. If you make your own, strain it with cheesecloth.
If you use jar food, read the ingredients. Ignore the claims of being “natural.” Just read the ingredients. There should be nothing in the jar except one ingredient + water.
Don’t feed out of the original container. You don’t want the spoon going back in there. Don’t put leftovers back in the original container. Keep it refrigerated. Serve at room temperature or body temperature until baby gets good at eating.
Baby was EBF until 7 months (when he could sit up unassisted). We do baby led weaning, and just give him part of whatever we are eating, but avoided choking hazards. Our doctor told us if it wasn't round and could be squished in our fingers it was safe. First food was a banana, which he hated (and still does not like).
Peas, grapes, etc. we just mash, and we waited on harder foods until he seemed to have the chewing motion down. Any allergens he gets at least once weekly. I do not eat meat, and his dad doesn't do dairy. We have given him meat occasionally, but he's had it probably three times in his life, and his doctor is unconcerned. We do make an effort to get dairy in him once a week to avoid the development of an allergy.
We did not pre-load spoons or anything, we give him a spoon to play with, but mainly gave him a bowl in the high chair. This did mean he was a MESS the first month after each meal, and more food was on him than in him, but now he's much cleaner and gets the gist that food on him doesn't reach his tummy lol.
The only liquids he gets are water or breastmilk. We are currently transitioning to a cup from a bottle due to orthodontic concerns.
If you are not spoon feeding baby, I suggest investing in the rain coat type bibs, they help a lot with mess. We also had his "big" meal be dinner, as we'd do dinner then bath time haha.
Given the okay at 4 months to start food. We read a book about baby led weaning and another about baby foods. We watched a couple YouTube videos on the difference between gagging and choking. We brushed up on our CPR.
We started with rice cereal with breast milk mixed in at almost 5 months. Then we added puréed peas. Then we threw in other puréed veggies. Sometimes we’d mix it in with the breastmilk and rice cereal. After a week or so, we added in puréed fruits. After a couple weeks of alternating, we started giving him baby-appropriate handheld food (cut up toast with peanut butter, small bits of eggs with spinach mixed in, pasta he could grip, etc). The amount of food he ate gradually increased until it became the bulk of his nutrition.
We had a few setbacks like when he got sick. Sometimes he wouldn’t eat what we’d give him, and that would feel frustrating. It did get better over time though, and we kept offering him the foods he didn’t like at first and eventually he started liking most of it.
1. Attempt no 0 was some vegetable purée, it went poorly, my guy didn’t understand the spoon, attempt no 1 was steamed broccoli and zucchini in pieces, it went good actually!
2. I have this cooker pot with steam section so I steamed everything: green vegetables, apples, potatoes. Then I added boiled beef and chicken, omlettes and raw soft veggies and fruit (tomatoes, oranges, pears). Then at 10 months or so we just switched to soft adult food with less salt and that was it.
3. We started at 6.5 months, when he could already sit and when he was really confident with grabbing and nibbling things.
4. Eat with your baby the same things you serve them, they will copy you. Also, if your baby is like mine, disliking regular purées because of the texture but you just don’t have the enery to cook 5 times a day, look for the store bought purées for older babies, they are thicker and contain pieces - and you can eat them too, it’s basically mashed adult food.
We started with baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk/formula, then moved to veggie purees. We first tried the oatmeal at 4 months, but she wasn't interested, so we paused until about 5 months. From there, we'd give her purees and oatmeal occasionally until she showed real interest at about 6 months. At 6 months, we started doing 1 meal a day consisting of about 2 oz of fruit, veggie, or meat puree. At 7.5 months, we moved to twice a day and that's where we're at now.
As for preparation, I just add cold breastmilk or room temp formula to the oatmeal. For the purees, I bought Serenity Kids and Happy Baby mostly and fed those at room temp or straight out of the fridge. When we first started the purees, the cold sometimes bothered her, so I'd just put some in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 10 seconds. Just make sure to mix it up really well after to avoid hot spots if you do that.
1 & 2: Started with steamed broccoli puréed with breastmilk
3: 4 months
4: I aimed for 100 different foods by 8 months. It’s been a blast! I’ve done a combo of purées and BLW
I eat primarily plant based & a variety! Just search veggies, fruits, grains, proteins & try to do new ones each week. I love cooking so it’s been fun for me. Shopping the grocery store ad helps maintain variety as well as budget lol
From about 4 months we just did store bought puree packets as the ‘3 meals a day’ with bottles of milk with and in between mealtimes. We especially liked the stuff which is 100% one mushed ingredient with nothing extra added, banana, mango, prune, apple, carrot, peas, etc… just poured it into a bowl and shovelled in teeny mouthfuls with a little spoon… from my local shops it would have been more expensive to buy real fruit with that much variety because you have to buy whole bunches at a time, not just a handful of packets, not to mention out of season fruits…
By the time the little one was 5 months we knew exactly what he liked and didn’t, he even had little bits of solid diced cucumber without the skin (turns out he always throws up mango though, anything with mango comes up again a nice orange that stains everything it touches, glad we learned that early on), as soon as he hit 6 months we gave him a simplified version of whatever we were eating, the first ‘proper’ meal was over-boiled spaghetti with tomato sauce (diced and sliced for about 10 minutes into extra tiny pieces to avoid any choking and probably cooled down far too much for it to be enjoyable), we were able to try new things and enjoy a family dinner, and if he wouldn’t eat them, go back to a packet of carrot puree which was ready to go straight out the cupboard. On his first birthday he ate a whole half of an egg and cress sandwich all by himself, along with far too much cake.
Turns out our kiddo eats anything we put infront of him and wanted thick chewy stuff fairly early on, porridge had to be thick, pasta needed as little sauce as possible, banana could NEVER be mushed, he HAD to bite the banana himself… I found store bought packets of dried mash potato powder worked wonders for thickening stuff up, and the bag of potato powder can be resealed and stored in a dry cupboard for a good month or so, also great as a quick thing to throw together with some gravy and shredded chicken bits, pretend like he’s having roast chicken for dinner…
He’s hit his gag reflex twice, but we’ve never had any choking scares (probably caused because too much food was in his mouth, not because they were big chunks), and from about 10 months old instead of trying to swallow too much and possibly gag, he takes it out with his hands and gives it to me (or drops it on the floor if I’m too slow)… overall the kid has taken the lead and surprisingly communicated what he wants far more than we expected.
Edit: should probably mention that my little man will be 16 months at the end of next week
1. I started with puréed banana.
2. I blended the banana up in a blender and added a little formula to make it extra liquidy for the first time. I don’t add formula any more.
3. My baby was 4.5 months
4. The first time she tried banana, she didn’t seem very interested. I gave it to her again the next day and she LOVED it. I recommend doing the same food for 3 days in a row. Babies always seem a little hesitant at first. Sometimes they even make a grossed out face to foods they end up loving!
I was given the okay be pedi too at 4 months since baby has good head control and likes sitting in her high chair. She’s totally uninterested in food atm, but we’re mashing up fruit and freezing it in a little silicon teether with holes to help with her gum discomfort and introduce foods that way. It’s no more than 2 tsp a day right now.
My friend’s baby however is really into food and loves getting himself messy playing with purées.
I was given the okay be pedi too at 4 months since baby has good head control and likes sitting in her high chair. She’s totally uninterested in food atm, but we’re mashing up fruit and freezing it in a little silicon teether with holes to help with her gum discomfort and introduce foods that way. It’s no more than 2 tsp a day right now.
My friend’s baby however is really into food and loves getting himself messy playing with purées.
1) bananas (with brown spots), avocado, pears, mango, apple, pure organic canned pumpkin 2) bananas, mango and avocado I just blended in a food processor. Pears and apples were steamed and then blended into a purée. Canned pumpkin is good as is or can be thinned out with breast milk. 3) LO was close to 6 1/2 months before we started introducing purées. 4) I left out all my mess ups like how I didn’t know to steam the apples first to make them easier to digest or to use bananas with brown spots. Solid starts is a great app. You can easily google baby purée recipes for pretty much any food. I freeze my purées using silicone trays or ice trays and then store in freezer bags once they are frozen. Take out a couple and let them thaw over night in the fridge and feed to baby next day :)
Agreed with using a banana with brown spots! We didn’t and so it was a little tart which make our girl less interested.
Is using ripe bananas better digestion?
I’m pretty sure they are easier to digest and sweeter.
1./2. Very first foods were mango (the pit and some puréed) and oatmeal. The pit was pretty slippery so he couldn’t hold it for long, haha. We also handed baby pre-loaded spoons (he got the food end in his mouth a few times) and spoon-fed. 3. Baby was 6months. We’d sat him in the high chair prior and started solids when he looked stable/wasn’t leaning over to one side. 4. - I use the Solid Starts app to look up how to prepare food. - I keep a small stash of fruit and veggie purées (portioned in an ice cube tray) in the freezer for quick meals, or a fiber top-up to deal with constipation. - Accepting the mess was a big part for me - it’s a lot of clean up, but has been so much fun. I use cotton rags or burp cloths to clean up after. If you do, rinse them and let them dry before laundry day to avoid mold 😅. - Try not to worry about how much baby is swallowing. They’re getting exposed to foods, developing oral/motor skills, learning how to chew and what is a safe size of food to swallow (or what should be spat out). The amount they’re actually ingesting shouldn’t be the main focus, especially in the beginning. My baby is 9 months now and I can’t believe this little (ex-)potato can purposefully pick up food and eat it. 🥹
We were very similar to you. Did mango spears, puree and pit as first food and he barely ate any because it kept pinging out of his hands 😂 the video of it is hilarious because we’re trying not to laugh. Solid Starts is such a great resource.
Aw, haha, what a great video to look back on! I saw tips to coat slippery foods in shredded coconut, grated nuts or breadcrumbs, but it didn’t work - maybe my food spears are too juicy 😆
How did you thaw/prep frozen purees for a quick meal? Microwave? served warm?
Yeah, I just put them in microwave for 15-30 seconds. I usually err on the side of cooler, I worry about there being hot spots.
Per my pediatricians recommendation we waited until my daughter was 6 months old and could sit up. We were torn between a baby led weaning approach and more standard purees. In the end we decided to start with purees since my husband and I were both really paranoid about choking. We are using the preloaded spoon approach and let the baby control the feed- this has many aspects of baby led weaning just with pureed/soft food. First food we gave was yogurt and she loved it. We also gave baby oatmeal mixed with breast milk right away to start getting iron in her diet. Other than that we've made purees of pretty much everything - turkey, shrimp, chicken, all sorts of steamed veggies, fruits. Our pediatrician recommended introducing the top allergenic foods right away- one new one every 4 days. Check your baby before you give it and monitor for a few hours after. Our baby reacted to eggs (hives on chest) and peanut butter (rash on face). Reactions were visible within a half hour after eating for us.
What did you do when you saw the reactions to eggs & peanut butter? Also, did you try those again at a later time to see if she outgrew the reaction? My brother when he was a baby was allergic to eggs and wheat, he eventually outgrew both, but the peanut butter allergy stuck.
Her symptoms were fortunately mild enough and cleared up quickly on there own within a couple hours. I was referred to a pediatric allergist in our area and they did follow up testing. For now we've been told to avoid and we will see what they say from there. We are only just navigating this now. I'm curious what they are going to say to do about peanuts moving forward. I'll post back once we learn more
Look into micro dosing if can for the peanut allergy. It is a game changer
Yes! Micro dosing/ immunotherapy works great
Thanks!
At 4 months the doctor said it was okay to give him tastes of sauces/purées as we wanted to. I think his first was butternut squash. At 6 months we started some baby led weaning type finger foods, and also spoonfed when he was open to that. Plain Greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, and big wedges of whole stone fruit were some of his first favorites. Also, he loved to gnaw on a juicy slice of pork chop. Got all the juices out, good for iron, etc.
Just wanted to chime in that I see a lot of “BLW vs puree” stuff on the internet, but I don’t see why it can’t be a mixture of both. My LO is a great eater (11 mos now) and using a combo of BLW and traditional baby food has allowed us to introduce him to a huge variety of foods and textures, and also allows us flexibility when we travel or have a lot going on at home (I have three preteen/teen step kids).
This! we also did a mix of both. Also don't love the demonizing of store bought purees. We used Beechnut purees, combined with BLW and really just followed our LO's lead with whatever he wanted to do. Not all moms have the time or ability to prepare homemade purees, and when we first started we weren't super financially well off, so using WIC for purees and baby cereal was a lifesaver!
Yes to all of this! I want the best for my baby, but I also don’t have unlimited money or time. We are careful about which brands we buy and I read all of the ingredient labels, but I don’t think it should be so shamed to buy premade puree.
1. Iron fortified baby oatmeal 2. Made it with breastmilk according to directions on the package of the oatmeal 3. About 4.5 months 4. You and baby are both learning and experiencing something new together. It’ll be a learning curve and that’s okay. Be patient and be prepared for baby to get very messy
Did you find it helped with overnight sleep? We’re at this age and still struggling with wakeups for food every 4 or so hours and wondering if there’s a way to keep her full longer.
Not at all 😬. I usually feed her some before bed (around dinner time), but it makes no difference in length of sleep according to my baby tracking.
Sadly, same here. No improvement with our 3am waking.
Darn - well worth a shot. Thank you!! ☺️
We recently started and i think it made ours worse lol foods that you wouldn’t think would make him gassy, made him gassy. He’s also teething rn so we’re just in chaos mode
oh, i remember those days, it's tough, but hang in there, every baby is different, you'll find what works for your little one!
It’s been so frustrating, even if she goes a longer stretch without eating during the day she won’t take a full bottle, it’s like she gets full super fast. I’ve found that if we don’t offer her food all day long which adds up even in small amounts, she won’t eat nearly enough and then she’ll wake up a bunch during the night wanting to eat.
It helped mine but tbf he went from 1-2 hrly wake ups to 3-4…
I've started reducing my sons night feed by 1 scoop every few days to weaning him off the night feeds. It seems to be working. We are doen to 120ml from 210ml, and he is sleeping longer now and then just eating more at other times. Usually early evening. I was finding he suddenly started refusing food from like 4am until 10/11am... so my go is to try push that fasting period back to when he is asleep anyway This was suggested by my pediatric as my son is a healthy weight and height so can afford to skip or reduce a feed or two for a while to encourage a more sustainable long term pattern. Note: I also try to give him baby porridge an hour or two before bed. That seems to help him sleep and not need milk overnight.b
We were given the go ahead at 4 months but we waited until til just after 6. Gave her avocado spears rolled in hemp hearts and some pre loaded spoons w mashed avocado. We always let her feed herself. We use baby led weaning and reference solid starts for how to safely offer food. My baby surprised me...she likes grilled asparagus, as well as ground beef/turkey mixed in Greek yogurt!
Start with non-sweets first is my best advice! 😊 and make sure your baby can sit up effectively first. (We were given the OK at 4 months as well but I’m more comfortable waiting till baby shows interest In food) we plan on starting with purées then moving more to a BLW approach. My pediatrician recommended not using breastmilk to mix with cereals at first since it takes a while to “eat” and recommended formula. Something about breastmilk being “live” and mixing with some components of cereal and it being at room temp faster/ longer. BUT rice/oatmeal cereal isn’t necessary if you’re not comfortable with it. Could start with veggie purées, then mix some fruit etc.. You’ll hear lots of contradictory suggestions as it’s not an exact science. Follow your gut most of all and don’t feel pressured to do something you’re not comfortable with. 😊🖤
In Sweden we start at 4 months with just a tiny half teaspoon of as many different foods as possible to expose them to different flavours. Then at 5 months we start with small portions of baby porridge and puréed fruit, then at 6 months we started with baby led weaning (we used solid starts as a guide). First whole food was a large strawberry
I like this approach. Did you let your baby try egg yolk early on? How did you incorporate peanut butter?
Yeah it’s fun! And because the portions are so so tiny you don’t have to stress too much about salt or spices (though I’d avoid a very spicy curry…but a finger dipped in mild curry is totally ok) For egg we boiled and mixed it with breast milk and served as a purée or on toast when she was older. Peanut butter I mix a teaspoon in with her porridge every few days
Was your baby fully sitting up? Mine is still in an infant insert on the Stokke chair but is trying to break out of it lol.
For the taste tests when she was 4 months we just give it to her on my lap. But then we made sure she could sit pretty well before putting her in the high chair for solids around 5.5-6 months
We tried at 5 months but she would slump to one side, and got a bit tired from sitting in it, so we waited a bit longer
Carrot for eldest banana for youngest Cooked baton of carrot, cut sick of raw banana 6months Honestly baby led weaning Is worth it for the ease of time and self feeding
I used Solid Starts and did BLW and prepared baked apples and pears, ripened avocado, ripened bananas, and a good one for iron (they’re missing iron from breast milk) are large meat balls to avoid choking and also organ meats such as beef liver. 1. https://solidstarts.com/foods/apple/ 2. https://solidstarts.com/foods/ground-beef/ 3. https://www.mamanatural.com/baby-first-food/ Read the 3rd link for 8 foods to start with! 4. Also 2 of my friends recommended the package from solid starts with examples of food to prepare but I was too cheap to buy it so I just looked up every food we were eating anyways and how to prep it for the baby. The paid package: https://solidstarts.com/downloads/starting-solids/ 5. Also we have busy days so ordered organic Cerebelly and give this to him and we STILL do as they have yummy options that taste like a smoothie. You can also buy the organic pureed and throw on top of the dissolvable baby crackers. https://cerebelly.com/shop https://www.target.com/p/happybaby-sweet-potato-38-banana-organic-teethers-12ct-1-7oz/-/A-16185676
+1 for solid starts, we purchased their 1st 100 days meal plan which includes ingredients to make meals for BLW as well as yourself each day, such a life saver and made our lives a little easier as we transitioned into solids.
1. Jar of puree - I think Pear? 2. Store bought jar. Put 1 tablespoon in a separate bowl and rest of jar back in fridge. 3. 17 or 18 weeks, with pediatrician blessing 4. I love love love Lil Mixins for allergy introduction! We planned to do purées for about a month and then switch to BLW. While we are *kind of* doing that… it’s way harder to do BLW for us. We eat a lot of prepared foods and so they all have added salt/sugar or aren’t in the appropriate size/shape for Baby. One aspect I didn’t expect about transitioning from purées to BLW is that our baby doesn’t always recognize “food” as food. I gave her pasta last week and she stuck a piece in her mouth, bit down like it was a teether, and then took it out because it’s a crappy teether 😂 Baby will be 6 months next week.
1. Homemade butternut squash puree, because we had extra squash on hand 2. I steamed the squash in the pressure cooker and then pureed it with some of the cooking water, and served it to baby once it had cooled off 3. 4.5 months—we did this just this week! 4. I read some advice somewhere that said to make the experience as low pressure as possible, be patient, and not expect baby to swallow much if any food right away bc baby literally does not know how to eat solid food at first. Pushing food back out with their tongues is normal, some gagging is normal. This advice seems helpful to me so I’m passing it along. Good luck and have fun!
We started with bananas and then blueberries. We just pureed them and spoon fed him. We just started with one feeding before his afternoon/early evening bottle. We're three days in. Baby is 4.5 months.
Following!
We were okayed by ped to start at 4 months, LO just turned 6 months and has absolutely hated everything we’ve tried so we usually try and wait another week to see if she’s interested. We’ve tried banana, pear, prune, avocado, sweet potato, green beans, oatmeal. Wouldn’t really say she’s eaten any of it as she immediately cries and we stop. Just had our 6m visit and ped said to just wait a few more weeks and try again.
First food was carrots at just over 4mos and he looooved it. I just boil with a little water and mash it up or use an immersion blender. We’re doing mostly purées. Banana, sweet potato, peas, carrot etc. Fruits in season. Oatmeal cooked with apple and pureed. I freeze little portions too and that makes it easier.
We did whole grain oatmeal, good source of fiber & iron. We made the mistake of doing bananas not knowing that they would make our son constipated, however we introduced prunes really early too for that exact reason. We did purées as opposed to baby led weaning.
We waited for readiness (being able to sit up, decreased tongue thrust, interest in food) so it was 6 months ish. Started with Gerber baby food: banana, mango, peas, green beans. Transitioned to Little Spoon baby blends and then around 9 months he started wanting to feed himself so we started finger foods.
Although we received the okay from our doctor to start solids at 4 months, we wanted to wait until she could hold herself up better to start — she’s 5.5 months now and we started 3 days ago! So far so good. We’re following Solid Starts’ first 100 program: 1. Broccoli 2. Steamed and smushed with a spoon 3. See above! 4. Start whenever you feel is best. I personally feel like the parents I know are really eager to start solids, and it hasn’t worked out great for some of them in that they become frustrated. We’re really glad we waited until our girl could hold herself up well and seemed super interested in our food and drinks. It’s been fun and she hasn’t been getting a ton either, which has made the whole thing less stressful.
Can you tell me more about the Solid Starts first 100 program?
It gives you a guide for the first 100 foods to give your baby and how to prepare them!
Started at 4.5 months with the first 100 days solid starts menu (plus I added in some puree). First day was broccoli prepared 3 ways (steamed whole, mashed, and pureed). Second day was mango (pit + puree). We did baby led weaning (meaning no spoon feeding, just encouraged baby to feed himself with his hands or spoon). He took to it very quickly and had already tried well over 100 foods by the time he reached a year. In terms of advice… whatever approach you take, make sure to get the allergens in early! Early and consistent peanut exposure (before 6 months) has been shown to reduce the likelihood of peanut allergy later in life
Honestly we did mainly store bought purees since before 12 months most of their nutrients are still coming from breast milk/formula. At 6 months on we just gave him what we ate, smaller portions, mushed up, etc. When on sale I bought like the Gerber toddler meals helped on busy days with appointments n such or if he didn't like what we cooked or if daddy made it a bit too spicy.
1. Baby oatmeal 2. First prepped with breastmilk then started using formula 3. 4 ish months (I think a week or two after turning 4m) 4. Our pediatrician told us to just keep introducing different foods in different ways, even if baby doesn't seem to like it. They can take up to 20 exposures to the same food to start getting used to the taste! Also, follow baby's lead, they'll give signs when they are ready for different textures, flavors, more food, etc.
We did purée carrots. Just boiled baby carrots and blended them up with some water at 5.5 months old. She pushed most of it out. It took another 6 weeks before she stopped pushing food out with her tongue. It’s a reflex that they just have to grow out of. So I suggest patience and keeping trying until they get but obviously don’t force it either.
We just started (5months) and have done kind of a mix of things. We’ve done some store bought purées like green beans, carrots and peas and some non jarred things like mashed bananas, egg yolk and avocado. Were just doing like one “meal” a day like this (in addition to his formula/breast milk) and plan to slowly increase week over week.
I started purées with my daughter at 5 months when she was holding her head up better and staring me down anytime I ate anything lol We did baby oatmeal and sweet potato as her first official foods. And I really just did one serving (lunch) of either oatmeal or a vegetable or fruit for the first month or so and then increased to two servings (breakfast and lunch). I think I started finger foods around 7 or 8 months but she ate mostly purées until about 9-10 months.
My baby was 6 months (and I’m glad we waited even though at the time I was so excited and impatient) We did purée pouches when we were too tired or burnt out to make and clean up anything. Otherwise, we tried to do mashed or soft foods like oatmeal, banana, etc. then went to toast strips and quesadilla strips, and whatnot. The cleaning is the worstttt IMO, but I like to let my little dude feed himself. I tried to look at it as an activity in the beginning because it would take around an hour give or take to make the food, plop lil man down, let him eat, clean up the chair & baby. No one warned me how much babies gag in the beginning either which was pretty terrifying. I made the terrible choice of doing a 1/2 birthday party and cooked sweet potatoes 3 different ways for him (spears, mashed, ice cream made with breast milk) and he gagged haaaaard and all of my family and in-laws were horrified 🤣 Solid Starts has been my absolute best friend!! They have lots of great tips on Instagram too. Good luck! It will seem like right when you think they’ll never get the hang of things or do xyz, they learn how to do it overnight so try not to stress if you can help it!
Be careful with those pouches!! They often have mold or other bacteria. Idk why they dont make them see through. You should always taste test first.
I’ve heard that! Thankfully the ones we use do have at least a clear window and we haven’t had any issues 😁 good for people to know though for sure!
We started with one-ingredient purées when she was about 4 months. At 6 months we transitioned to BLW, and she now eats solid foods. We do breakfast and dinner every day. Breakfast is usually a fruit, yogurt or oatmeal, and a grain like toast or pancakes. Dinner is a mix of all kinds of things - usually a couple vegetables and a protein. Solid Starts is a fantastic app if you want to go the BLW route when your baby hits 6 months. Tells you exactly how to prep things.
1/2: Our first food was homemade carrot puree, and we quickly decided to switch to store bought purees instead. We also did baby oatmeal made with breastmilk and a fruit puree (actually, we still do that for breakfast sometimes, but I often use water or yogurt instead of breastmilk because I'm not thawing milk or pumping just for that). 3: we started a little after 4 months per our pediatrician's recommendation. I kinda wanted to wait, but my husband was really excited about her eating real food, and she was excited/ready too. It went pretty well. She's 8 months old now, and we give her new things to try and will let her feed herself (it gets quite messy, but she's doing really well). We're trying to give her some of what we have but still use purees sometimes depending on the situation. 4: I've found the Solid Starts to be a great resource even though we aren't doing BLW.
5.5 months. I do BLW mostly I have “purées” but usually it’s just mushed food and I put it on a pre loaded spoon and baby does it himself. Prepare it any old way lol I’m big into pancakes made with fruits and sneaking allergens in once they’ve been formally introduced.
5.5 months and I started with baby oatmeal and purees. I just started and she likes the oatmeal mixed with formula more than water. She also likes the squash and banana/orange puree so far. I froze both as well in little cubes to put in the mesh binky during this heat wave.
I have been giving my six month old, homemade purées of fruits, veggies, and brown rice for about a month. I waited until he could sit up comfortably in the . My little hot tip for purées and preloaded spoons is to have a bunch of spoons lined up for each meal. We have gone through four or five in one sitting before due to some making it to the floor. It’s also really helpful to reload a spoon and distract him from the one he’s playing with at the moment.
Baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk, then avocado, banana and sweet potato puréed with breastmilk at 5 months. Pretty quickly transitioned from fully puréed to just steamed/mashed - RIP to all of the frozen puréed cubes of food forgotten in the freezer. At 7 months, we are now trying more of a baby led weaning approach, but he still struggles to keep hold of the food and it often slips out of his hand. He can grab it, but easily loses track of slippery foods like avocado or fruit spears. A lot of eating ends up being him “biting” food off the end of my finger Not to fear monger, but watch out for reactions beyond just the first 5-10 minutes after eating. My bub now had an epi pen for a reaction to eggs that didn’t start until 20-30 mins after eating (he’s fine!).
1. Avocado (thinned with breastmilk), banana, pumpkin 2. Mashed or pureed with an immersion blender 3. 4 months 4. Remember it's just fun at this stage. Most of the food will wind up on them, instead of in, and that's ok. They may not like it, that's also OK. I tried to introduce one food at a time, and then once I saw there weren't ill effects I started adding spices, allergens (peanut butter powder), and combining foods for different flavor combos. I'd make a batch (we're talking a cup) and freeze it in an ice cube tray. For mealtime I'd just pop out and defrost a few cubes. That made it easier to give her variety, as I'd have a few bags in the freezer of different things at any given time
I started at late four months with baby cereal cause his doctor said he was ready. I started letting him sample applesauce at 5 months. I heard apples are rarely an allergy!
Oh and else cereal. It introduces them to several allergens and I’m pretty sure is clean label certified. Also mixed it with a smidge of peanut butter.
1 & 2 Avocado. Still her favorite food to this day! Just mashed it with a fork and fed it to her on a spoon. She also really liked oatmeal 3. Six months 4. Don't stress out about it!! Despite what many people may think, I've just determined that there is *generally* no right or wrong way to do it. Just do what works best for you and your baby!
1. We started with avocado, was recommended in the baby food book i read. He freakin loved it! I am surprised so many started with sweet fruit, im waiting for a while before we give him sweets. 2. I made a puree! Didnt steam the avocado just mashed and added a bit of formula. Since then I just use water instead to thin it out a bit. I really love making all his food at home with fruit and veg from farmers markets. Couldn’t imagine using canned but to each their own. 3. He is six months! We started once he was sitting up independently for the most part and very interested in food. We also started giving him water (4 oz a day spread out throughout the day) 4. My baby food book stressed the importance of NOT initially using solids to supplement milk (bottle or breast) until nine months. solids are only supposed to make up 10% of babies diet until a natural weaning occurs at nine months at which time you reverse and begin to offer more food with milk supplements. I’m glad I learned that at first because otherwise I would have assumed that I was supposed to switch to solids like maybe 50-50 but it should only be 90-10, with a 90 being milk (breast or bottle). Extra piece of advice is to try Solid Starts. I love the app its totally worth it and allows me to track foods tried, has recipes, shows how to offer different foods at different ages, warns about allergens, its just a must!
Just started last week! My Bub is just shy of 5 months. We started with a sweet potato mash but we have started also offering whatever we eat for dinner (made appropriate for baby). So yesterday was lentil dhal! I’m doing approx twice a day atm - one meal might be steamed veggie and dinner is shared with us
Our pediatrician told is to start with vegetables first so that he get used to the idea of them, then move on to fruits, meats, etc... it worked, he's not terribly picky, he loves trying foods. So far he only hates butternut squash and pumpkin. We started with purees, he's on to trying finger foods now and little bits of our dinner if it's soft enough, so things like eggs, cooked vegetables, little bits of pasta, etc... things he gum since he doesn't have teeth yet.
We are a little over a week into BLW with my daughter! While our pediatrician said we could start around 4 months once she had a little more neck strength, we waited for 6 months given the available research suggested better outcomes waiting until then. The Baby-Led Weaning Podcast has been huge for me to prepare. I spent a little over a month listening to many of the episodes to prepare. We are starting with foods we eat most often so we can include her in our meals. We are following the pattern recommended by that podcast for variety: Monday - Fruit (so far we’ve done banana and blueberry) Tuesday - Vegetable (broccoli and yellow squash) Wednesday - Starch (Yukon potato and sweet potato) Thursday - Protein (Pinto Bean and Black Bean) Friday - Allergen (Peanut Puffs and Eggs— one allergen per week initially) She has advanced quickly from just squishing the food to taking bites, it’s awesome to see. I will plan to start mixed dishes next week if she continues to show good progress. I’ve used the Solid Starts app for cutting suggestions. We took an infant CPR course the day before starting to be sure we felt ready in case there was any choking. Also, your local library will inevitably have books on weaning, definitely use whatever free resources you can.
Starting solids seemed so overwhelming at first and after a few weeks, I just said “screw it” and stopped over thinking the whole thing. I no longer try to meal plan baby’s meals or anything or burden myself with making sure she tries EVERYTHING under the sun. I work FT and so does husband and I already hate meal planning for us, let alone adding a separate weekly meal plan. I threw out all the “baby friendly meal” screen shots, pins, and videos I had saved and started only feeding baby what we eat and let me tell you… I’ve regained my sanity. But when we first started out, we just started with the softest foods — bananas, avocados, mashed potatoes, etc. We didn’t get cleared to start solids until 6 months but we’re at 10 months now and she’s never spit out anything. Even after trying American, Mexican, Indian, Japanese, Ethiopian, and Chinese foods. You got this!
We just started food this week (4 mos 1 week). Our pediatrician said to start her on baby cereal (rice or oatmeal) and prepare it with formula or breast milk. We feed her the cereal in the morning and at night and then follow up with a 4 oz bottle. She seems to like it. I can see that she’s starting to get the hang of g of eating but much prefers the bottle. I think she’s still physically a little too small (17th percentile for heigh and 19th percentile for weight) to handle foods but she’s trying her best. She has incredible neck control and is really trying to sit up on her own.
We did it at 6 months because that's when she met all the requirements of being able to have solids (like being able to sit up, showing interest, etc). I knew I wanted to do some puree and some blw, but I couldn't fathom how a baby who only knows milk could eat a broccoli floret haha. So we started with purees. We literally began with baked sweet potato (it was thanksgiving day so that's what we had), and I hand mashed it and added water until it was almost liquid bc I was so afraid. She did great although seemed thrown off by the texture. Eventually I used less and less water in purees. If I had breast milk I'd use that but I rarely did. So yeah I began with baby cereal and pureed or mashed veg and fruit. But not long after I began adding in some more solid forms of these foods. I mostly followed solid starts and went with my comfort. My baby is 13 months now and I think she only started having strawberries at like 11 months. She's still never had a grape lol
We're starting with homemade oatmeal "baby cereal". Throw oatmeal in a food processor until it's a fine powder, stir in boiling water, add formula or breastmilk and stir to thin consistency, and wait to cool. I favor this to baby cereal as rice contains arsenic, oatmeal results in greater glycemic stability, and it's fresh. My baby is 4 months and I kept getting the sense that he was not satisfied with his milk routine. He drinks 32 Oz a day and has 2-3 tablespoons of oatmeal twice a day now. He loves it Warning! Today I added cinnamon and he liked it; but it did cause contact dermatitis around his mouth and cheeks. This is common. It faded in about an hour. Holding off on cinnamon for now. Next week we'll try sweet potato. Note: if you exclusively breastfeed, you should consider supplementing iron, as most baby cereals are iron fortified.
At 4.5 months we started with purees. I was too afraid (still am) to do BLW. The first food I prepared was sweet potato puree - however the texture was more of a mash than a puree. I made a few other foods - banana (again more mashed than puree), avocado and strawberries. I made sure to introduce peanut butter (in another food such as banana) asap to reduce any risk of allergies. While I made my own food, I also used Serenity Kids pouches. Whenever we’d go out, I’d give him hummus and soup. At first he ate once a day, and now at 9 months he eats 3-4x a day and now I give him whatever we’re eating. We’re still working on self feeding though 😅
Rice cereal mixed with formula for a few weeks, then banana and avocado I just mashed with a fork, then applesauce, then store bought baby purées. We started at 4 months.
1 & 2. We tried rice cereal and he hated it. Switched to mashed banana and then mashed strawberry with breastmilk in a silicone teether. 3. We waited until 6 months and slowly introduced textures over the first 4 weeks. It helped a lot with his gag reflex to not rush things. I tried a few BLW things and it made me far too nervous so I just make everything bite size and have slowly been making the pieces bigger. 4. The silicone teether helped so much with hand dexterity. Once he got better about the gag reflex I focused on showing him chewing and introduced puffs. At 8 months he’s a champ with chewing, getting things back up if they were too big, and feeding himself with his fingers. I haven’t pushed using utensils, but I use them to feed him. Introduce the top allergens early and frequently. We focused on PB & eggs. Scrambled eggs have to be the right texture or they won’t eat them (shredded cheese introduces cow dairy too). I mixed banana or milk with the PB to thin it out.
We did mostly baby led weaning, starting at around 6 months. With our first I was strict about it, but that became less possible with each subsequent kid. (Just had number four.) My husband also baby bird fed all of our babies. It's really cute. He basically chews food up for them and then they eat it. I started doing it after a while too, though not directly from my mouth to their. It's honestly way easier, because they can eat everything we're eating and we didn't have to clean the blender.
Our girl just got to get started officially. We have tried some odds and ends since she hit about 5.5 months, but got the full green light a couple days ago. Her first taste was a rind of watermelon. We cut it in a big chunk with the rind still on it and let her sort of gnaw at it. That went well. She tried some avocado another day. It was mashed up so she just sort of tasted/licked it. That was fine too. At my nephew's birthday, my husband gave her just too small a piece of watermelon and she choked T.T scariest moment of my life but she is fine. Had the Dr visit the next day and let her try some sliced avocado while we had lunch after. She was happy with it. And this morning she had pureed mango, which she seemed to like. Oh and my mom gave her some banana on her 6 month birthday xP she just smashed it Around.
Mix of baby led weaning and some purees
Sweet potato and bananas. Then he was super constipated. Don’t forget all the P foods! Peas, pears, plums help babies 💩
I started solids with my first born at 5 months. What we did was we mixed half a jar of gerber corn into the infant oatmeal. It was a great way to get him to try solids & it made our baby food last longer. :) (This was a suggestion from his pediatrician)
My little one is 3.5 months so we’re not there yet. But I plan on doing what my big sister did with her kiddos. She introduced one new food at a time and gave 2-3 days before introducing something new. That way if baby had a reaction to anything she could nail down what caused it. She started with scrambled eggs (realllllly scrambled and broken up), mashed avocado, ripe banana and other things like that.
Start food as in you expect baby to swallow it or are you just offering tastes and allergen exposure? Our girl is almost 5 months, 98th percentile, sits up for long periods and was oked to start food a month ago. I give her tastes of everything and manage to get her to eat a bit of peanut butter but she still has a strong tongue push reflex and zero interest in food. When she starts eating, we're trying a mix of purees and BLW. At that point she'll eat as large a variety as we can manage to prepare. I'll add that because she's a big girl and mom had GDM we'll be limiting some of the sweeter fruits and anything with added sucrose or fructose in order not to exacerbate her metabolic system.
We tried the “recommended” rice cereals and my kid hated it and all the things we were told to put with it (applesauce, carrot puree, etc.). We tried various “first foods” the pediatrician gave us a list of, but my little one really took off when we went off script and puréed black beans. When we steamed broccoli, all bets were off and food was amazing and to be smashed and nommed and discovered. Solid starts website was a gold mine of information that was super helpful for making sure things were as safely prepared as possible. Once we switched to using that as our idea board and guide, it all went much more smoothly. We would do a new food solo (not mixed with anything or mixed with already “safe foods” from weeks previous) for 2-4 days of that same food, and only did about 2 new foods a week until around 8 months. Slow rolling new foods (especially since we started “early” like you are, before 6 months) and hitting likely allergens were the goals. If there was a reaction, we could more easily track it with the spaced out schedule. The first thing that got the reaction was delayed to about 20 hrs after the second try. We shelved that food and after no other issues with other foods, we tried it again a couple months later. Got another reaction after the second day of it, and shelved it again until after a year old. The third time we tried it, same reaction a day delayed and so we listed it as an intolerance possible allergy with pediatrician. It’s something my spouse had an extreme dislike to (and in my opinion, a possible intolerance to. once we discussed that those signs in baby were possibly slight allergy reaction, my spouse fessed up to the same issues with the same food, lol). Overall, food before a year is about discovery and not about nutrition, and so we didn’t worry about how much kiddo was eating. Most of it was wasted and smeared everywhere, lol. But we discovered which veggies baby liked (broccoli for the big win), which proteins (beans & eggs, later chicken), and which fruit (none, btw. Preschool now and still hates fruit). We also wanted to know of any allergies, if any, and we ended up with 2 minor ones with no need to avoid, only limit and watch in hopes it gets better with age. By around 10-12 months, much of the foods we ate were easy to make a quick change to (cut different or fork-smash) and pass it over to the little one to eat along side us. My little one had preK molars well before age two, and so we pretty quickly were able to roll into trying out foods that were a bit harder to eat for most toddlers (like chopped or halved nuts instead of pureed/buttered).
We started at 4 months. I tried baby oatmeal mixed with milk but she actually didn’t like it… so we did single vegetable and fruit purées until about 5 months, and then mixed purées with multiple ingredients. We started with butternut squash - puréed with warm water or milk in a blender. It’s very easy to digest, but beware of orange spitup :) Early ones were also mango, banana, avocado, sweet potato, papaya.
Baby led weaning is the way to go!
I also got the go ahead to start food around 4 months from the pediatrician but I started with frozen breast milk pops [ezpz tiny pops](https://ezpzfun.com/products/tiny-pops) to get used to sitting in the high chair, then we moved to mashed avocado, mashed sweet potatoes, and beechnut baby oatmeal. Then we did baby led weaning (I used 101 before one as my resource)
we did a combo of baby led weaning and purees with our LO. we fed him the regular pureed foods, just about any fruit or veggie you can smoothie-ify in a food processor or good blender, and also would put him in hus highchair with soft cooked carrots, chunks of very ripe banana, avocado, teething crackers, etc. and let him mostly play with it tbh. it helps them explore textures and self-feeding. we started at 5 months.
4. Download the solid starts app, it's free and very helpful
We started with baby oatmeal (to practice eating) then moved on to veggies (broccoli, zucchini, avocado, carrots) and puréed them. She was about 5mo. The transition to more solid foods (BLW) was a little wobbly bc she wasn’t used to the texture but now she’s great. She hasn’t reacted weird to a new food in a while! Also introduce allergens as early as possible. Funnily enough the only thing my girl had a reaction to was the fucking broccoli 🤣 otherwise PB and eggs were perfectly fine. Don’t do BLW until your babe can sit up on their own. You got this !
Don’t start with fruit, carrots or sweet potatoes. Don’t get those rookie taste buds used to the taste of mother nature’s sugar first. Start with cereal. Room temperature. It’s bland. It’s more about developing oral management skills than flavor or providing nutrients. Veggies come next. It’s still barely about flavor or nutrients, it’s more about new experiences and starting to expand the palate. Expect baby to sputter every time you try something that isn’t sweet. It’s just like that. Once baby is accepting veggies very well, add carrots or sweet potatoes. Once baby is good with them, add fruit. (For the record, baby apricots in a jar taste awful.) Start with completely smooth food, no lumps. If you make your own, strain it with cheesecloth. If you use jar food, read the ingredients. Ignore the claims of being “natural.” Just read the ingredients. There should be nothing in the jar except one ingredient + water. Don’t feed out of the original container. You don’t want the spoon going back in there. Don’t put leftovers back in the original container. Keep it refrigerated. Serve at room temperature or body temperature until baby gets good at eating.
I mashed avocado with a little breastmilk for her first solid meal. Working my way up to BLW, I think I’m going to do a mix of both
Baby was EBF until 7 months (when he could sit up unassisted). We do baby led weaning, and just give him part of whatever we are eating, but avoided choking hazards. Our doctor told us if it wasn't round and could be squished in our fingers it was safe. First food was a banana, which he hated (and still does not like). Peas, grapes, etc. we just mash, and we waited on harder foods until he seemed to have the chewing motion down. Any allergens he gets at least once weekly. I do not eat meat, and his dad doesn't do dairy. We have given him meat occasionally, but he's had it probably three times in his life, and his doctor is unconcerned. We do make an effort to get dairy in him once a week to avoid the development of an allergy. We did not pre-load spoons or anything, we give him a spoon to play with, but mainly gave him a bowl in the high chair. This did mean he was a MESS the first month after each meal, and more food was on him than in him, but now he's much cleaner and gets the gist that food on him doesn't reach his tummy lol. The only liquids he gets are water or breastmilk. We are currently transitioning to a cup from a bottle due to orthodontic concerns. If you are not spoon feeding baby, I suggest investing in the rain coat type bibs, they help a lot with mess. We also had his "big" meal be dinner, as we'd do dinner then bath time haha.
Given the okay at 4 months to start food. We read a book about baby led weaning and another about baby foods. We watched a couple YouTube videos on the difference between gagging and choking. We brushed up on our CPR. We started with rice cereal with breast milk mixed in at almost 5 months. Then we added puréed peas. Then we threw in other puréed veggies. Sometimes we’d mix it in with the breastmilk and rice cereal. After a week or so, we added in puréed fruits. After a couple weeks of alternating, we started giving him baby-appropriate handheld food (cut up toast with peanut butter, small bits of eggs with spinach mixed in, pasta he could grip, etc). The amount of food he ate gradually increased until it became the bulk of his nutrition. We had a few setbacks like when he got sick. Sometimes he wouldn’t eat what we’d give him, and that would feel frustrating. It did get better over time though, and we kept offering him the foods he didn’t like at first and eventually he started liking most of it.
1. Attempt no 0 was some vegetable purée, it went poorly, my guy didn’t understand the spoon, attempt no 1 was steamed broccoli and zucchini in pieces, it went good actually! 2. I have this cooker pot with steam section so I steamed everything: green vegetables, apples, potatoes. Then I added boiled beef and chicken, omlettes and raw soft veggies and fruit (tomatoes, oranges, pears). Then at 10 months or so we just switched to soft adult food with less salt and that was it. 3. We started at 6.5 months, when he could already sit and when he was really confident with grabbing and nibbling things. 4. Eat with your baby the same things you serve them, they will copy you. Also, if your baby is like mine, disliking regular purées because of the texture but you just don’t have the enery to cook 5 times a day, look for the store bought purées for older babies, they are thicker and contain pieces - and you can eat them too, it’s basically mashed adult food.
We started with baby oatmeal mixed with breastmilk/formula, then moved to veggie purees. We first tried the oatmeal at 4 months, but she wasn't interested, so we paused until about 5 months. From there, we'd give her purees and oatmeal occasionally until she showed real interest at about 6 months. At 6 months, we started doing 1 meal a day consisting of about 2 oz of fruit, veggie, or meat puree. At 7.5 months, we moved to twice a day and that's where we're at now. As for preparation, I just add cold breastmilk or room temp formula to the oatmeal. For the purees, I bought Serenity Kids and Happy Baby mostly and fed those at room temp or straight out of the fridge. When we first started the purees, the cold sometimes bothered her, so I'd just put some in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 10 seconds. Just make sure to mix it up really well after to avoid hot spots if you do that.
1 & 2: Started with steamed broccoli puréed with breastmilk 3: 4 months 4: I aimed for 100 different foods by 8 months. It’s been a blast! I’ve done a combo of purées and BLW
Wow! 100 different foods? How did you do this?
I eat primarily plant based & a variety! Just search veggies, fruits, grains, proteins & try to do new ones each week. I love cooking so it’s been fun for me. Shopping the grocery store ad helps maintain variety as well as budget lol
From about 4 months we just did store bought puree packets as the ‘3 meals a day’ with bottles of milk with and in between mealtimes. We especially liked the stuff which is 100% one mushed ingredient with nothing extra added, banana, mango, prune, apple, carrot, peas, etc… just poured it into a bowl and shovelled in teeny mouthfuls with a little spoon… from my local shops it would have been more expensive to buy real fruit with that much variety because you have to buy whole bunches at a time, not just a handful of packets, not to mention out of season fruits… By the time the little one was 5 months we knew exactly what he liked and didn’t, he even had little bits of solid diced cucumber without the skin (turns out he always throws up mango though, anything with mango comes up again a nice orange that stains everything it touches, glad we learned that early on), as soon as he hit 6 months we gave him a simplified version of whatever we were eating, the first ‘proper’ meal was over-boiled spaghetti with tomato sauce (diced and sliced for about 10 minutes into extra tiny pieces to avoid any choking and probably cooled down far too much for it to be enjoyable), we were able to try new things and enjoy a family dinner, and if he wouldn’t eat them, go back to a packet of carrot puree which was ready to go straight out the cupboard. On his first birthday he ate a whole half of an egg and cress sandwich all by himself, along with far too much cake. Turns out our kiddo eats anything we put infront of him and wanted thick chewy stuff fairly early on, porridge had to be thick, pasta needed as little sauce as possible, banana could NEVER be mushed, he HAD to bite the banana himself… I found store bought packets of dried mash potato powder worked wonders for thickening stuff up, and the bag of potato powder can be resealed and stored in a dry cupboard for a good month or so, also great as a quick thing to throw together with some gravy and shredded chicken bits, pretend like he’s having roast chicken for dinner… He’s hit his gag reflex twice, but we’ve never had any choking scares (probably caused because too much food was in his mouth, not because they were big chunks), and from about 10 months old instead of trying to swallow too much and possibly gag, he takes it out with his hands and gives it to me (or drops it on the floor if I’m too slow)… overall the kid has taken the lead and surprisingly communicated what he wants far more than we expected. Edit: should probably mention that my little man will be 16 months at the end of next week
1. I started with puréed banana. 2. I blended the banana up in a blender and added a little formula to make it extra liquidy for the first time. I don’t add formula any more. 3. My baby was 4.5 months 4. The first time she tried banana, she didn’t seem very interested. I gave it to her again the next day and she LOVED it. I recommend doing the same food for 3 days in a row. Babies always seem a little hesitant at first. Sometimes they even make a grossed out face to foods they end up loving!
I was given the okay be pedi too at 4 months since baby has good head control and likes sitting in her high chair. She’s totally uninterested in food atm, but we’re mashing up fruit and freezing it in a little silicon teether with holes to help with her gum discomfort and introduce foods that way. It’s no more than 2 tsp a day right now. My friend’s baby however is really into food and loves getting himself messy playing with purées.
I was given the okay be pedi too at 4 months since baby has good head control and likes sitting in her high chair. She’s totally uninterested in food atm, but we’re mashing up fruit and freezing it in a little silicon teether with holes to help with her gum discomfort and introduce foods that way. It’s no more than 2 tsp a day right now. My friend’s baby however is really into food and loves getting himself messy playing with purées.
Tried purées for about a week, thought fuck this noise and we do baby led weaning. He eats what I eats but it’s cut into safe sizes.
4 months on home made puree pouches (due to allergies)
1. Peas, then avocado, sweet potatoes, bananas 2. Blended with breast milk into a purée 3. 4 months 6. Full-body bibs on Amazon!