Four month old ready to eat solids already!

[ahenson]

My DS2 is already wanting solid foods! Doc, whom I trust, gave the okay last week at his well-baby check. DS is 17 lbs already and 26 inches, has been rolling over for about six weeks, can sit up well, and is trying to push off. So far, he has been EBF and will not take a bottle. That is almost the size DS1 was when he started showing interest, but he was six months.

I am kinda disappointed, since I love nursing him. He is by far more cuddly than our first! DS1 nursed until 14 months when I got pregnant, and it was really nice.

Anyway, we have let the baby try a tiny bit of mashed food and he did well mashing it with his gums and keeping it in his mouth. Time to make and freeze some food now!

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

yeah DD was really interested in food at 4 months. i would stew prunes and puree them with avocado and banana or sweet potato, she really liked that

[skrrll88]

You're lucky - my son would have nothing to do with pureed foods..... ever! We had to go straight to table food eventually.

[bodiejake]

my DS is 4 months old. He seems really interested in foods as well. Much more so than my other 2 every were. The doc gave me the ok to do solids with him, but said to start with rice cereal. Is this necessary?

[L J]

Heather, I never did rice cereal. It doesn't offer any nutritional benefits that I am aware of. I went straight to steel cut adult oatmeal with Henry. That was the only thing I spoon fed him; we would share a bowl of oatmeal every morning. Otherwise he got chunks of table food because he hated purees. He was one to start obviously wanting food very early, too.

[ahenson]

Yeah, we skipped rice cereal with DS1. DS2 is liking the occasional sweet potato puree so far!

[Clavdia_Chauchat]

No rice cereal here either. We got into babyledweaning about a month after DS started eating an I'll do it from the beginning with DD. No purées. Just large hunks of soft food they gnaw on. (like baked pots, mangos, pears, avocados--all the same stuff you start with when you are pureeing).

Supposedly babies showing interest in food is developmental and not an indication they are ready to eat. My ped tonight said we could start with our 18 week old. I nodded and ignored him.

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[peyton10]

My Ds is almost 10months and from 5 months he started having pureed food and loved it in fact still till this day he hasnt really not liked anything he would love to eat our food but only have 2 teeth that he just finally got, we give him mashed potatoes and some other soft foods and he just loves them.

[RM09Mama]

I agree that interest in food is developmental -- my babies were interested in everything I was doing starting around 4-6 months. They also grabbed my hair, the remote control, etc. They don't know what "food" is and are just interested in what I'm doing. I did purees starting at 6 months with my first son, but this time I'm going very slowly with baby led weaning with my 6 month old, EBF twins. To me, it makes sense that a baby is ready to eat solid foods when s/he can sit up well on his/her own, grab the (soft) food, put it in his/her mouth, and swallow. All of those abilities are linked to changes in the gut that allow the baby to properly digest solid foods.

If you feel that your baby is doing great with breastfeeding, listen to your instincts and wait. Solid food is NOT necessary, even up to (or sometimes beyond) a year old. Milk should make up almost all of baby's diet for 9-12 months. Starting too much solids, too soon can lead to unintentional early weaning.

[ahenson]

With this one, he can sit up on his own really well now, swallow, etc., and seriously throws a fit when we eat! It is almost funny. DS1 did not start that until almost six months. This baby weighs the same at almost 18 pounds and five months as DS1 at eight months. He is longer than DS1 at eight months, too!

We are doing about 1 tbs of homemade organic apple and sweet potato puree at lunch if he wants it. He still nurses like a champ, so I am hoping he won't want to wean any earlier than 14 months! I wanted to go to two years with DS1, but my MS was awful, I was working full time and pumping three times a day. I might be going back to work full time soon, which will be easier since this LO is taking a bottle better now.

Anyway, thanks for all the posts!