Rice cereal, veg or fruit as first solids?

I think its all trial and error.

Very first food I gave was rice cereal, but Missy didnt really enjoy it. Loved the eating part, but I knew she didnt like the taste. To this day, I try every now and again, she dislikes cereal.

So butternut, squash and sweet potato was a hit for me. It soon became just about anything and now since she is a year old, it is everything. Of course, in moderation.

Trust your natural instincts

this is such a brilliant post! I've been wondering the same thing about first solids. My paed gave us the go ahead to start solids last week but i've been putting it off since my little boy will only be 4 months old on thursday. I would like to wait longer but he is feeding every 2 hours day AND night and gained 100g over a weekend! Clearly milk is not keeping him full anymore.

A quick question is rice cereal better than maize or doesnt it matter?
Thanx mommies!

I started my first baby on 4months, but will wait a bit longer with the second one. I also believe that their degestive system is not fully developed at 4 months.

As a first time mother you a over eager and want to try everything as soon as you can. That is the only reason why i started at 4 months with my first one.

I don't know if i said this before: One of the signs for when baby is ready for solids given by many books and food packaging: "when baby slept through before and do not anymore"... It does NOT mean if you start on solids that baby will sleep through again! Just keep that in mind.

I bet u more confused than anything else now beatrice

My paed said I should wait till 6 months to start solids as long as baby still gaining weight, no matter how big. Apparently its better for their digestive systems and skin reactions to food.

According to my paed and others cereal is the best to start off with since its best for their systems. I have been given the following program for introducing solids from my paed (apparently its a good program for their disgestion and will allow u to deduce what veg is causing what reaction):

1 week: rice cereal then
5 days: cereal for breakfast and first veg for lunch
5 days: cereal and 2nd veg/ 2nd and 1st veg for lunch
5 days: cereal and 3rd veg/ 3rd and previous 2

and carry on like the above until having given all the veg/ fruit u will be giving for lunch and then mix all.

I decided to wait till 6 months to start introducing solids - but would be grateful for the advice of others who have started.

I quite liked what Marijke said: Food is fun till age 1
From everything I've read this sounds good. It is still only an introduction at this age and then in addition to milk later. For the first year milk is still very important.

Beatrice, don't be in a hurry to start with solids. peadiatritians now recommend from 4 months again. For a long time it was 6 months. I must get the new feeding sense book. I also wonder why they recommend mixed veg. It doesn't matter. Veg is a good first food, as it is natural and easy to digest. If your baby have ecsema, veg is better. Since you have to be carefull for grains and eggs. Only start eggs after a year.

good luck and enjoy your baby exploring all the new tastes!

Thanks everyone for sharing, I'm definitely going to start with veggies. The new Feeding Sense book suggest baby marrow, gem squash and sweet potato as first food. I wonder why they recommend mixing them instead of introducing them one by one. Anyone?

Also, my LG is already weighing 7kg. I've wanted to wait until 6 months before introducing solids, but as she is so big, will I have to start sooner? My clinic sister recommended waiting until 6 months as she has a bit of eczema, but I'm seeing my paed next week for her 4 month check-up and what I've gathered from paeds so far as they would all recommend starting at 4 months... But last night she slept through again, so I guess there is no reason to start solids yet.