Saturday, July 4, 2009

Request From Our Readers: Week 10

This week we are talking about babies and solids! Here is what our reader had to say:

I had a question for you all! I started giving my baby rice cereal and then added oatmeal once a day about three weeks ago. Now all the sudden she refuses to eat either. Does this mean I should start offering different foods? Or that she just wasn't ready to start solids, and I should wait a week and start again? I would really love some advice!

Let's help her our:

At what age did you start your child/children on solids?
Did your child prefer one cereal over another?
Did they prefer fruit purees or vegetable purees?
What did you do to help your child start solids?

Also, if you haven't already, check out the tutorial for making your own baby food under the health and nutrition label!

6 comments:

Jared and Delia said...

Food is a tough one for me since my kids have both struggled with weight and eating. I started my kids around the five month mark. With my first I think it was slightly sooner and my second was just after five months.

I was always told that cereal was really important to their diet and it is. The extra iron is important but they can get that from a vitamin drop if breast fed or formula if they drink that. But stop and think about what it is. First, it tastes gross. Second, it is just a finely milled grain with formula, breast milk, or water/juice in there. If your baby doesn't like it I say try mixing it with fruit to make it taste better. Or try just water with it. I know that sounds like it would taste worse but both of my kids preferred their cereal with water rather than formula or breast milk - and I have tried it ALL. IF...after you try all other alternatives your baby still doesn't like it, just wait and try again in a a week or two. Since solids is really just for practice and not so much for nutrition in the beginning I don't think it is too harmful to wait and try again later - in my opinion anyway. If your baby continues to dislike it then you can give them cheerios and teething breads in a just a couple of months or so and they can get their "grains" that way.

The best thing you can do is to try not to force the issue. I have done that with my oldest and it has made the eating issue worse. Babies are mysterious creatures sometimes. Your baby could hate this cereal now and then LOVE it in a few weeks. Just try something new and try not to sweat it too much. Good luck!

Megan said...

I started Lucas on cereal at around 4 months and I started with rice cereal. I started him early partially to see if it would help him sleep longer at night.

I almost always mixed in a scoop of formula with the cereal. Lucas didn't particularly care for plain cereal but if I mixed a veggie puree or a fruit puree in he ate it willing. I agree with Delia, try it without mixing formula or breast milk in and then if that doesn't work, try adding a puree. If she still doesn't want it, wait a few weeks and try again.

Laura said...

As far as I know, it is very common for babies to love a particular food one day, then hate it the next. My daughter goes back and forth all the time--for two weeks, all she wants is bananas, then all the sudden she wants nothing to do with them. Wait two weeks more and they're her favorite food again. Just give it some time, and continue offering the rejected foods occasionally.

That said, my daughter also would NEVER eat any pureed baby food. I tried all kinds of brands, flavors, etc. to no avail. I don't know if it was the texture or what, but she wouldn't ever eat it. So we stuck to the infant cereals (all varieties) and other table foods that were small enough or soft enough for her to eat by herself. And that worked just fine for us.

She started cereals a little before five months, with finger foods added in here and there. By the time she was probably 9 months, she was eating some variety of most of the things we were eating (dairy excluded, of course). At twelve months we stopped bottles and she was entirely eating table foods.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry too terribly. My niece (who is now five) NEVER ate baby food or any of the rice cereals!

I always start my kids out with rice cereal the day they turn 4 months (I have really big babies & by 4 months they act as if they aren't ever getting enough to eat & this helps them sleep MUCH better.). I always start with the rice cereal & mix it with water. When I first start giving it, I make it pretty thin (not so thin it can go through a bottle). After about 2 weeks or so I'll start giving oatmeal or even the mixed cereal (depending on what I've got on hand at the time).

I add a new food (to mix into the cereal) every 3-5 days or so. I know drs. say to wait a week, but I have never had a food allergy problem with my kids & this is just long enough to dbl check there really is no food allergy & get them semi use to the flavor.

I know it sounds kind of random, but I start with fruits. I know some people say they say they start with veggies b/c they worry if their baby tastes the fruits then they won't want the veggies, but I haven't ever had that problem. My feeling is that by starting with fruits, it gets them a flavor that's sort of sweet so they learn to like or tolerate the texture & then when I've mastered that, that's when I introduce veggies.

I would suggest trying the mixed cereal or the oatmeal for the next few days. After a few days try mixing in a fruit.

Good luck!

Erin said...

I started my kids around 5 months. I did rice cereal first because it's supposed to be the least allergenic. After I knew she was ok with it, I never really use it again unless I need to thicken up a puree. Lots of people just skip cereal altogether. The thing to remember is to only start a new food every 4-5 days to make sure they aren't allergic to it. If you start peaches one day, give them peaches for five days to make sure they don't have any allergies. Then you can start a new food for five days. You can pretty much give them anything but dairy, honey, strawberries, and nuts until they are a year old.

I never found that my kids preferred fruits over veggies. They cared about the texture more than the taste.

Raylyn said...

Thanks a bunch Mommies your comments are very helpful!