Where Do I Start?

my doc said not to even give it in a bottle, but tried it one. but my girl is almost 5 months. all you do is mix it with water or a little formula and feed it to her in a bowl. my girl ate it very well. good luck.

You need to get the book SUPER BABY FOOD, by Ruth Yaron. This book was my saving grace during that age. It tells you what age you can introduce different foods, and has SO MUCH great info.

Hi M., I have three daughters under 4 and this topic is very fresh with me. My pediatrician told me to start the baby on rice with vegetables for breakfast for three days then move up to lunch and breakfast for a few days and then move up to lunch, breakfast and dinner. After a couple of weeks move the baby to oatmeal with the veggie baby food mixture for one meal and the rice mixtures for the others(like you did with the rice introduction) and then have the baby eating all three meals with oatmeal. After a couple of weeks with this move the baby to a barley/veggie mixture.

I am doing this with my 6 month old and has worked great. The only thing is that my daughter absolutely did not like the veggies so I had to use fruit baby food. The doctor said to use veggies before fruit because once they taste the fruit they would probably not like the veggies. Also if they spit the food out put it in the side of their moth and not straight in.

I do give her a liquid vitamin so I make sure she is getting all of her nutrients. I hope this makes sense and helps you somewhat. It really was a great intro. to baby foods for my babies and was not to harsh on their systems.

I started my daughter out when she was 5 months old on bottle as well and I was told not to b/c then she would never take it by spoon, so what i did was mix it with pureed foods anything just try several different types but give them at least 3 to 5 days to make sure they don't upset her tummy. Also Gerber.com has a really helpful page on feeding steps for first time feeders. You should try that, I hope it works out for you and her, it took my daughter several weeks before she would take it. Good Luck to you!
A., Tyler TX.

You don't need to be putting cereal in her bottle, it isn't necessary. Baby cereal isn't that good for babies, as it spikes their blood sugar (highly processed). I'm guessing that you aren't nursing? If you are nursing, then just continue to bf for at least another month. If you are formula feeding, you can probably just continue that, as well.

Babies don't actually need baby food (otherwise mamas would have a third nipple that dispensed pureed food!). When she seems interested, start feeding her table food. You can take whatever you are making for the family and remove some of it before you season it. Babies don't like strong flavors. Pretty much, babies can eat whatever we are eating.

The things to avoid are honey (till after 1 year), any kind of nuts, soy, and anything else you or other members of your family are allergic to, as there is a high probabilty that your dd will be allergic, too.

Please email me if you would like to talk further!

If your pediatrician has suggested that you start feeding your baby baby foods then start with fruits and vegetables. Remember Do Not use combo baby foods (ex. turkey and rice, banana strawberry)this way if your baby has a food allergy you will know what caused it. Also, only introduce new foods to her every 7ish days--again to be aware of allergic reactions. My daughter loved sweet potatoes, apple sauce and plums. Good luck!!!

you can put 1-2 tablespoon of rice cereal in a bowl mix with breastmilk or formula. Make sure it's not too thick or too watery. You can also steam or bake sweet potatoes and mash it with water (when you pour it from a spoon, it should drip down. But if the whole thing in the spoon drop, it's too thick). You can freeze some of them in an ice cube for later use. Oh, butternut squash, apple sauce, pear, etc...are good too...or very very ripe banana. But just in case your baby has constipation problem, avoid banana and apple sauce and cheese.

Don't do what I did and go straight to fruits! I learned this, of course, after it was too late. My sister-in-law who is the mother of three said start with vegetables like green beans or they'll never eat them. Then go to fruits - they'll obviously like those because they're sweet, and if they don't already eat the veggies, they'll turn their nose up to them. Don't stop doing anything you're already doing, i.e. cereal in the milk. You're just adding to it. Good luck!

Hello M.,

There isn't any particular right or wrong way you approach this new step with your little one. My daughter is now 5 months old and is now eating off the spoon pretty good. Before introducing baby food to her I used a feeder type bottle wich has a larger whole in the nipple for her to suck better. In this bottle I was able to put any mixture of food with milk and or juice and or cereal I'd like. She really likes this bottle. I purchased this bottle at wal-mart for like $5. The good thing about it is that you can mix anything you want in it so that she's getting her milk, food or whatever. But now I'm using the spoon more to get her used to eating that way. I still give her a bottle but I try to make sure she gets 3-meals (baby food type meals) a day along with her milk. If she's getting meals along w/milk a day then the other bottle you can skip the cearal in them because then she's getting all she needs in her meals.