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I need some more advice from you more experienced mothers out there!
My baby turned 5 months old on the 1st, when he turned 4 months the Dr. instructed me to start giving him rice, than oatmeal, and by his 6th month check up I need to have given him a vegetable. He said at first you just try it a couple times a day until they figure out how to eat it and get their mouths to learn what to do. Well I just left thinking it would take a while to get him to learn it and didn't think about anything else I should have asked!
So anyways I gave him the rice right away and he LOVED it.. he ate it perfectly and that kind of threw me off.. he sorta skipped the learning out period and now I just don't know where to go!
For the past month I have been nursing him the same but I give him one bowl of rice or oatmeal once a day around 6pm. I basically have no idea how much I should be feeding him, how often, when I should add a second serving, it's like there was absolutely no guidelines!
So i'm just curious.. I don't know how many of you remember from when your kids were babies and starting on foods or have babies now that might have advice but I'm curious when I should start feeding him more times a day, and how much. I'm thinking I should start giving him oatmeal in the morning and something at night... he doesn't act extra hungry yet..do I wait for that? I feel like I have complete control of how much to feed him..like he isn't really giving me any signs, like if I don't feed him he's like "whatever" and if I do he's like "yum!" but I don't want to over or under-do it!
So I hope this all made sense.. I didn't mean to ramble so long, it's late and I basically have a million questions that pretty much equal to 1 big one.. so I tend to keep asking asking. Basically How do you know how much to feed them, how often etc! It's just weird to have free range.. with no clue how to go about it! Oh and how long do I continue to nurse the same? When do I cut down on that? So many questions:)
Thank you for any opinion, advice, anything! I appreciate it!
Kiera:)
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10 comments:
First of all, take a deep breath. It's alright. I totally know how you feel. The whole feeding thing can be really overwhelming! Just know that your baby know what he wants. He will know when to stop. I liked to feed my boys at meal times. Get them used to those certain times of the day. My first boy was a pill. He hated all the baby foods, wouldn't let me give him anything but formula! The doctor said it was alright, I just needed to keep trying. To this day he won't eat vegies... the turkey! But we are still working on it. My second one LOVES food! I just have to make sure he doesn't snack too much so he will eat his good foods ate meal time.
If your baby loves to eat, and with an okay from your doctor, go ahead and start him on a vegie -- I liked to mix a little in with his rice or oats just to get the flavor and go from there. We always knew it was too soon when he got bad diaper rashes, and so we moved on. Just have fun with it. Try a few things. Your little guy will let you know what he is ready for. Good Luck!
What my md told me and what I did was start with cereal first. Get baby used to eating that once a day, then twice a day. Nurse right after instead of before. Baby will stop when he is full and your milk supply will usually adjust to the new changes. Then start adding a veggie along with cereal, but not IN the cereal (carrots are always a good one to start with: sweet but still a veggie). I would actually suggest NOT mixing it with cereal because then they begin to think their cereal should be flavored all the time. Do a little cereal, a little veggie, then nurse. You should feed the same food for several days in a row then wait a few days to make sure you see no reaction. If no reaction you're all clear. Make your rounds with other veggies and if things are still going well head for the fruits and do the same thing there. By the time you've worked your way through all those baby will be several months older and working on finger foods. Good luck! It will be a little easier than you're anticipating. No worries! Ü
In the case of babies and baby food I generally ignore the doctors (unless for some reason they say something like 'you're killing your child stop'... then I'd listen *wink*)
Anyway, I would take the small #1 sized jars and use them as my gauge to how much I'm feeding my babes. If he seems like he wants more, than give him more. If he starts to turn his head away from you he probably doesn't want anymore. But either way those jars are a made that size because that's usually how much they can eat.
Just remember your his mom and you are divinely guided in how to care for him. And that it's kind of like diapers... how do you know when they are ready for the next size? You don't really know until you try and find out wow, this works so much better.
You aren't going to kill him.
Some things to remember, if your baby is anything like mine were the more you feed them solids the less they will want to nurse. So if you want to keep nursing them don't be to gung-ho about them 'growing up' they will do that on their own.
Also remember that it is not going to wreck them for the rest of their lives if you don't get this right on. I rarely fed my kids vegies beyond carrots... probably because I couldn't stomach the smell... and they are bright, smart, fun elementary school kids now.
Anyway, hope that helps...
I just do what I want as far as feeding goes, I don't really follow the dr.'s orders. I start with rice cereal or oatmeal even, and mix in a little fruit or veggie. I don't make very much to begin with and then after they've been eating for a few times I can better gauge how much I should make them. I start food at 4 months at then up the solid foods to twice a day when I want to, I don't really follow an exact age at which to do that.
I have to ask this question every time I have a new baby. It's so easy to forget how to feed them when they are first starting out.
I used one website religiously! gerber.com! I'll post a link to their menu for "supported sitters". But I'm not sure if it will work or not.
http://www.gerber.com/Nutrition_Feeding/Menu_Planner_Popup.aspx
If that doesn't work you can just go to their menu planner link (or try this link http://www.gerber.com/Nutrition_Feeding/SHSH_Menu_Index.aspx ) and pick the phase that your baby is in. I'm guessing Dylan is in the "supported sitter" phase.
Anyway it gives you a detailed menu for each phase your baby is in. I loved it! I didn't always do exactly what was on the menu but it gave me an idea of what was ok for their age/phase and how much was typical.
If he's loving cereal right now then for sure try and give him some in the morning too. He will nurse less on his own because he won't be as hungry. But he's also growing and might need the extra.
I might wait until 6 months to start a veggie and I always mix it with a little cereal to make is taste not so strong. My babies wouldn't eat straight veggies at first because it tastes so different from what they are used to. And then you can slowly get them used to straight veggies and fruits. But no rush, it's not like cereal is bad for them. Jaden never would eat veggies by themselves.
Anyway... hope that helps!!
ps- i don't know how to do a clickable link... so you'll have to copy and paste.
This is a good question and I really do forget each time I've gone through it. My only suggestion with baby food in general is probably one you've already heard - stick with the veggies for a while before introducing fruits. With my first we very carefully introduced each veggie for almost up to a week before adding another and did all of the veggies before adding fruit. It was a little tedious, but it really paid off. I don't know if that's why she is a good eater today but she's usually up to try at least a bite of anything. Our second I was more relaxed and I think I added fruit too early. He's turned into quite the picky eater on me and never really did well with the baby foods. I don't know if it was really the way we introduced the foods that made the difference, but with baby #3 I'm going to be more careful and slow again. But, the nice thing is sooner than you know it you'll just be able to give them bits of table food. Good luck, I know it's kind of a big change!
It was important to me to nurse for 12 months so I always nursed every time before giving solid foods to my baby. I also started with rice cereal at 4-5 months and I would later mix in fruits with it. I think a lot of it is just guesswork and you have to learn your baby's cues...not something that I caught on easily to! I introduced a fruit one week and then a vegetable the next week and so on...and that really worked for us.
Did you have your little boy on Dec 1st? I had my second little boy on Dec 1st too. So he is 5 months and I have not been to anxious to feed him solids yet, maybe it is because he is my second. I have started the rice cereal but have only fed it to him a few times a week for the last 2 weeks or so. I guess I should give it to him once a day now. Like Cassi I have totally forgotten when I started with the older boy and how I did it. All I know is that we SHOULD have given him veggies first but we didn't. He is a very picky eater and it probably isn't only because we started the fruits first, but who knows. He also won't eat a chocolate chip cookie either, not that I am complaining. He is just a picky eater. I don't want another picky eater so I am going to try to get the veggies in for awhile before I bring out any fruits. I am in no rush to start the veggies yet. He is a big healthy boy and I know he is getting plenty of food. I am going to just try to get more consistent with the cereal for now. I like the previous comments, but basically do what you want and what is convenient.
Hey do you give your baby those liquid vitamins? I was told to with my first and keep forgetting to as my dr. if I should be giving it to the second one.
Thank you so much everyone for your awesome advice!! I really really appreciate it! I did give a veggie a try this week.. 2 actually and he ate them both all up.. I think I have a big eater on my hands haha..but he did get gas and a stomach ache after so I might hold off till 6 months for more veggies! I'll have to remember to wait to see a reaction before trying something else! I'll have to try the one veggie a week thing! Thanks everyone!...
Christine: I did have him on the 1st of Dec. That's so fun that you did to:).. How exciting! We will totally be in sync haha.. I have never even heard of these liquid vitamins.. what are they??
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