4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

Tomorrow is my DS's 4 month appointment. Im assuming they will tell me to start him on food right? I feel like this is the one thing im clueless on, so please help me out with the basics

When did your DC start food?

Did you start with oatmeal, cereal, rice, vegetables? Im seriously clueless lol (i think they start on cereal right?) What kind do you buy? Does it matter what kind?

How often do you give it? Do you start with once a day and gradually go up? Or do you give it 3 times a day? and how do you know when you can start something new?

Do you give food first then bottle, or bottle first then the food?

Any other tips or suggestions on things I should buy or do would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Message edited 4/18/2010 8:01:52 PM.

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

bump

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

Four months seems early to me.

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

4 months is the earliest ped's will recommend starting solids. It's more of a range. I believe that 6 months is recommended by the AAP. We started a little after 5 months with cereal. At 6 months we started veggies and fruits. Your ped will explain it all to you. For the first year of life BM and Formula are the primary souce of nutrition and solids are just for practice so the amount of food a 4 month old gets in very minimal.

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

Ped started DS at 4 months. Some children are ready and some are not. DS had no problems. Even though he is a skinny minnie, he eats like his daddy At 4 months we were told to start with cereal and fruit. It is mostly practice for them...so they get used to textures and eating from a spoon. Trust me it is preactice for the mommies too! I think I made more of a mess than he did. The pediatrician said to do it when he is not starving so we usually do the cereal and fruit about an hour after his bottle. I put cereal in one bowl and fruit in another and then alternate.... They also tell you to stick with one fruit for 3-5 days to monitor them for allergies. Then at 5 months we started him on veggies. Now he is on meat (we started him a month early) and he is doing fine...."Winner Winner...Chicken Dinner!!!!"

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

We started DS on fruits at 4 months. He was already getting rice cereal. We also started him on oatmeal at 4 months. If you are ready to do it, then do it. DS is now 5.5 months old and is eating cereal, fruits, and veggies. He started to STTN about a week ago. He now gets 5-6 4-6 ounce bottles a day along with food. If you start with cereal, just follow the directions on the box.... When he wakes it the morning he takes a 6 ounce bottle and about 3 hours later I will give him cereal and fruit. Sometimes I mix them together. Then I try to do a jar of veggies for lunch around 1-2pm and then cereal and fruit or veggie around 5-6pm for dinner. He gets his formula in between. He gets one last bottle before bed...

Message edited 4/18/2010 9:33:13 PM.

Re: 4 month old starting food.. and im clueless

our ped told us that we were able to start cereal at 4 months, but we were in no rush to start so we waited a few weeks and tried. DS was NOT ready. Now at 5.5 months, he;s just getting the hang of it and actually swallowing some cereal. Our ped told us to do cereal for 2 weeks, 2X a day (1 tbsp cereal mixed with breastmilk or formula) and then move on to fruit and veg mixed with the cereal. No particular order for fruits or veg, but some docs will tell you different. We give DS cereal 2 hours after his morning bottle and the again around 5pm.