beginning solids

[mitchsmum]

Hey everyone,

Our little fella is nearing 6 months and as I understand it that means it's time to begin solids. For some reason I am a little reluctant to do this, I'm am not really sure why. He is a big fella weighing in at 8.7kg so far we have not had to much drama my milk seems to be keeping him full.
I guess I am really enjoying breast feeding which is totally funning as the start was horrible and I nearly gave it upseveral times.
I can't believe we are hear already

[sopolicha]

Maybe you are just a bit sad because it is such a big milestone and it means he is no longer a little baby (well maybe not at nearly nine kilos) just on the boob.

Maybe you are a bit worried about his reaction to the foods who knows.

I know with my daughter each of her milestones was bittersweet because she was "growing up". Now I am worried about how I am going to cope with pre-school next year.

Good Luck, don't worry it is all good.

[draught]

I had the same reaction with both my daughters having to start solids - they were both big healthy babies on just my milk. I took it really slowly - it is just an introduction to taste and texture at this early stage. I know of people who don't introduce solids until 9 months or 12 months, so if you don't feel you or he are ready for it yet you are not alone! Take your time and trust your own instincts is my motto!

[TMJM]

I wanted to start my son on solids later than 6mths, however my pead told me that because I'm breast feeding after 6mths there is not enough iron in the milk alone and the baby needs to get iron from other sourse such as food.

[mitchsmum]

We are now on day 4 of rice cereal for breakfast and all is going well he seems to have taken it like a duck to water.
We are going to mix some fruit in 2morrow
My next question is
At what stage do I introduce lunch and when I do this would I introduce veggies?

So should a rough day plan be ? (eventually)

milk
milk & breakfast
milk
milk & lunch
milk
milk

sorry if this seems like a silly question but I can't get a straight answer and i know that you guys out there are full of gr8 info

[melzy]

I started giving solids to my daughter early but this is what I did roughly and was you will start to see, it cuts out the milk and introduces more and more solids...

5 mnths
Bfast - bottle, rice cereal, bottle
Lunch - bottle, two bits of solids, bottle
Tea - bottle, solid, bottle
Bedtime - bottle

51/2 months
Bfast - bottle, cereal, bottle
Lunch - Offered solids as 1st part of lunch then top up with milk
Tea - bottle, 2 solids, bottle
Bedtime - bottle


6 mnths
Bfast - Bfast - bottle, cereal, bottle
Lunch - 2 solids (no top up of milk, just water)
Tea - bottle, solid
Bedtime - bottle
*I offered bubs milk in a beaker at each meal and cooled boiled water other times

61/2 months
bottle, solid
Lunch - solids
Tea - solids
Bedtime - bottle
* You may find that bubs refuses the top up feed after brekkie solids now)

7 months
Bfast - Cereal
Lunch - solids
Tea - solids
Bedtime - bottle
* I offered a drink in a beaker instead of the feed before breakfast. bubs was having solids 3 times a day plus milk.

At 6 - 8 months
Foods can be minced/mashed to texture of cottage cheese
Grill/poach meat/fish purees, can eat well cooked egg yolk
Can have wheat cereals, parsnip, tomatoes (remove skin and sieve),sweetcorn,toast fingers, rusks
Dont give bikkies,cake,icecream,pastry or fried foods
Finger foods incl cheese,banana,bread and butter and yogurts with fruit

At 8-9 months
Introduced chunkier texture. Chop rather than mash.
Finger foods - celery,carrot,avocado,apple,peach,apricot

At 10-12 months
Eats almost everything we do
Cook with no salt still
Chop food into bite size pieces
Steam whenever poss.
Steamed brocoli cooled as finger food, chicken,whole green beans.
Served tinned tuna occasionally
raspberries,orange,pineapple

At 12 months I changed to cows milk.

This is what I did. I state that it may not work for you however it did for me. Weaning was made very simple this way.

I also bought several ice cube trays and pureed my veggies etc and poured them into the trays, placed in container and freezer for when necessary. this way I could try different veggies either separately or mixed.

All the best. (Can't believe I actually found that after a yr and a half!!)