How long after starting on cereal, is infant ready for other foods?
ByI have a 5 month old baby boy and I am starting him on infant cereal, I was wondering how long he needs to eat only that before I start trying to give him jarred baby food? Thanks!
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15 Comments
April 19th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
He doesn’t have to wait, really. However it is a good idea to wait until six months to feed a baby other kinds of solids. While rice cereal is an excellent starter food, it’s not a neccessary part of the diet. If, for instance, he didn’t like it, you could give hime just peas and carrots, if he’d rather. The most important part of a baby’s diet at this stage and all the way up to a year is breastmilk or formula. Think of solids more in terms of teaching him how to eat. Start with vegetables (like peas, my daughter loved peas…), then fruit, then arrowroot cookies. By seven months they can have meat… when they can pick up things with a pincer grasp instead of a fist you can start them on cheerios… I would say by nine months you should be able to give them small pieces of whatever you’re eating, provided you’re not eating shellfish or undercooked eggs. Wait a year for foods like that…
April 19th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
There’s no set time. Neither of my little ones liked cereal so we went straight to jarred food. Just start with veggies and then add fruit.
April 19th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
With my daughter who is 6 months now…I started to give her cereal at 4 months and wasn’t quite ready. At 5 months I gave her cereal for a couple of weeks just to make sure she gets the hang of eating solids and doesn’t have an allergic reaction. So then I started giving her sweet potatoes and squash. (yellow and orange first, then green) I also read that start with veggies first then fruits.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
ditch the cereal. If hes really ready for food (sitting unassisted, not drooling very much, not pushing food out with his tounge, eager about food etc….) then give him something thats actually HEALTHY.
Try mashed bananas or avocados…
If hes not showing all the signs of readiness though, its best to wait until he is (for anything, including cereal)
April 19th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Babies are usually ready for other food within 7 days. Start on homemade food, such as pureed carrot, pureed sweet potato, and pureed carrot mixed with organic baby rice. The jars are full of sugar and not that good for your baby, so you’re much better off just making up a batch of homemade food that you can freeze and then defrost as and when. My daughter was ready for food at 4 months and has been on veggies and fruit since day one.
April 19th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Get him used to the spoon feedings a bit, then just run it by his ped. Babies start veggies and fruits right around 5-6 months old. Every baby is different. Just remember only one food at a time for a week to try in case of allergies. Good luck!!
April 19th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
You can give it to him right away. Yo ucan mix it with the cereal or you can give it to him plain. It doesn’t matter. Jut make sure to stick with stage one foods for a couple of months so that its the right consistency for him. As the stages go up, the texture becomes thicker and a lot of babies tend to choke on foods that are too thick. Good Luck
April 19th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Did you get the OK from your baby’s pediatrician to start solids foods? If not, I’d wait until your child is six months. You don’t want your son to gain weight too rapidly….it sets him up for type I juvenille diabetes.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
You can start giving gerber food at 6 months, but just start with a little bit of it, and always give it during the day when intorduce any new food to your baby. I would just give half a gerber can of fruit or vegetable in the beginning.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Well I started my 4 month bottle fed baby on rice cereal and about 5 days I started him on fruits. It usually about 6 month before you can start them on real food if you are breastfeeding. If you’re not sure whether or not to give them other food you should call your physician and have them tell if you can and what you can feed them.
April 19th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
You should introduce new foods slowly allowing for any allergic reactions…do the cereal thing for a week then add a veggie for a week, then add another veggie etc..
FYI make sure you alternate orange & green veggies, shy away from fruits until you have tried many veggies and stay away from the deserts….you can always offer custard style yougrts as well. Also don’t be surprised if your son doesn’t like the babyfood meats…mine never did (they are ucky!).
Good luck & have fun!!
April 19th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Everything I have read tends to go along with what they call the “4-day wait” rule. This is a way of making sure the baby is not allergic to any new food you are introducing. Introduce a single food at a time for 4 days only then eliminate the food for a week before you serve it again. While you are waiting the week to reintroduce the new food you can start another new food for 4 days. So, you can introduce a new food every 4 days. I used a book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It explains things very well and gives you ages to introduce foods along with how to prepare the foods if you are wanting to make your own baby food.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
After he has been eating cereal for about a week AND is swallowing it – not pushing it out with his tongue AND is showing an interest in solid food, you can start on 1st foods. I’ve had three kids and they all started solids at different times.
Here’s a link to age-by-age guide to feeding your baby and toddler – http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babyfeeding/1400680.html
I think BabyCenter has a lot of great info.
Yes the site says to wait until 6 months, but hey most places in the world don’t start baby on cereal!
One big thing to remember, take 3-5 days between introducing new foods. This will let you know if he has an allergy. If either side of the family has a history of allergies take 5-7 days before adding a new food.
Also, if baby does not like peas now, try them again in 2-3 weeks and he may then like them. If you keep trying they either really don’t like something or they get use to it and eat it.
Take care – you’ll do great!
April 19th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Though this might help.
http://www.mercola.com/2003/oct/22/infant_diabetes.htm
“Infants will do just fine with a vegetable source of carbs. So do your child a favor and give them veggies rather than cereal.”
Congrats on the new baby!!
April 19th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
My daughter started cereal at 4 months, after her physician said she was allowed. Then at 5 1/2 months she began fruits and veggies. We started with veggies because we didn’t want her to reject them after having sweet foods. Also keep in mind that every new food that you introduce should be given for several feedings prior to beginning a new food, i.e. give your son peas once a day for 3 or 4 days to make sure that he doesn’t have an allergic reaction and then introduce a new food and repeat the three or four day time.