5.5 month old weaning to solids

[Catbutt Diapers]

We have started trying solids with my 5.5 month old. My mom says just start giving her pablum (rice cereal) once a day for a week, then twice a day for two weeks, then start other foods. Now this doesn't make much sense to me: rice is just a nutrient void starch, shouldn't I start on some veggies? How long do you have to feed the bland basics before I can just start tossing what ever is for supper in a chopper and having her chow down on that?
Thanks!

[qsefthuko]

I never start with the bland basics. I completely skipped rice ceral and started with veggies and fruit. I highly suspect in the old days people fed beginners food from mama's plate without regard for spices. My mother started us out with a meat bone with very little meat on it. We would gum the bone and mostly just get flavoring. TShh She moved onto other soft foods.

[Yarnjess]

Check out Baby Led Weaning info. It skips rice cereal and purées and lets baby feed them self. We're at about the same place you are and I have no intention of doing rice cereal for the reason you gave. We're going to do cooked apples or sweet potatoes - I haven't decided yet.

[SashaE80]

We did baby led weaning, so we waited until 6/7 months but i never chopped or blended. It's worth looking at because it's really easy. My son started on full dinners straight away, the only thing we tried to do was give him cooler curries than we would generally have.
His first favourite foods were tender stem brocolli, roast parsnips and roast chicken. We're lucky not to have allergies in the family, if we did i may have been more selective. He eats really well now, and we're just about to start with our daughter. I do worry about the bland foods because i have friends whose children never seemed to have progressed from this to tastier/more textured food.

[snoggle]

Yeah, there is a great book, "Baby Led Weaning" that is all about letting your baby guide the introduction of solids using what the family is eating and what baby is ready for. They talk about this in "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" too. No need to rush it. Until about a year old, all the baby really needs nutritionally is breast milk. Solids are often more for learning to eat, not a significant part of the baby's diet for a while yet. And rice-cereal isn't nutritionally that great and isn't a great "learning tool" for baby anyway. I'd skip it. Try things like a few pieces of carrot that are cooked really soft - let baby pick them up, gum them. No need to puree them or anything. It might be more play/exploring than eating for a while, but when baby is truly ready, she'll eat them. If she isn't really into eating it for a another month (or two or three) that's okay. It just means she isn't ready yet.

This method is a lot cheaper and easier than buying specialty baby foods. And of course, no one had "baby food" out of a jar in the past when all babies were EBF. The idea of early solids and "baby food" only came about with the introduction of nutritionally-deficient formulas (admittedly, formula today is MUCH better than the early formulas that were around in the 1930's and 1940's). But if baby is EBF or even on a good formula, no need to rush into solids, especially something as nutritionally deficient as rice cereal.

Good luck!

[Catbutt Diapers]

I had really wanted to do BLW, but at 5 months my milk pretty much completely dried up, so I've spent the last couple weeks pumping 4 or 5 times a day (after feeding), in addition to feeding every hour or so. She will try to nurse but there's just nothing there. She either needs to go on formula or food NOW - I can't wait till she's old enough to BLW. I've got 8oz of milk left in the freeze, and when that's gone she's going to starve if I can't get something else into her. I'm still going to nurse as much as I can, but I need to fill her up in between.

[Pixi6s]

we started with avacado! We also started about a month later -- but also did alot of soft chunks.

[qsefthuko]

At her age she really needs either breastmilk or formula. Since you cannot do breasymik then I would highly suggest formula. It is balanced for the babies needs and easier to digest than all solids. If she won't take the bottle you can try putting it into a straw sippy. A friend of mine did this with her little one at a similar age. Her baby refused bottles but needed to be eating while with the sitter during work hours. Baby would take a straw sippy though.

[c&w's mama]

Originally Posted by qsefthuko At her age she really needs either breastmilk or formula. Since you cannot do breasymik then I would highly suggest formula. It is balanced for the babies needs and easier to digest than all solids. If she won't take the bottle you can try putting it into a straw sippy. A friend of mine did this with her little one at a similar age. Her baby refused bottles but needed to be eating while with the sitter during work hours. Baby would take a straw sippy though.

this. if I had a milk problem, I would go to formula. (actually I've BFed 2 children- and I always have formula in the cabinet up to a year (I keep everything the hospital hands out)-- just in case something unpredicted happens-- even when my son was eating a ton before a year)

good luck, mama!

when she is ready later on, head to a version of BLW that makes you comfortable... except just reread your OP. Look at BLW, but yes, I'd go with your instincts and throw in some veggies. I, too, love avocado. Sweet potatoes also (but we had them a lot when DS started eating so he started with them because I had them on my plate). We did do steel cut oats- we were eating them in the morning so gave him some- but didn't do any baby cereals.

[tibeca]

Solids will not meet you baby's nutritional needs. Contact your baby's pediatrician for formula suggestions.