From One Mother to Another - Food Glorious Food

Feeding a Four-Nine Month Old

You will finally get over the fright of feeding a newborn, with a little reprieve, and a new set of concerns will take over…introducing food into your baby’s diet.  Below is exactly what I did over the course of five months, until my children were off the bottle.  Each time my doctor instructed me to try something new, I recorded it.  This schedule is not set in stone and be sure to check with your pediatrician first, but this should help you transition your children to real food by the age of one.

TIP #1 - Overall, I felt that when it came time to begin my children on food, the required allotment seemed like so much to meet during the course of the day (food and bottles combined.)  What I did not to deprive them of the daily amount of nutrients was combine formula/breast milk with cereal.  This way they were still receiving the recommended amount.

At 4 months:

Start baby cereal.  (There are many kinds of food out there and choosing is just a matter of preference.)  I interchanged between oatmeal and barley cereal.  My children were not ones to move their bowels in the beginning of their little lives, so I stayed away from rice cereal because rice can be very binding.  Begin by mixing 1 teaspoon of cereal with ½ ounces of formula or breast milk daily.  If you are using powered formula, use a ¼ scoop with a little water.  You want to make a soupy consistency.  At first, they only need to learn how to eat from a spoon.  Once they’ve mastered that, you can vary the thickness of the cereal.  The goal is to work up to a mushy consistency and no more than 6 teaspoons or 3 tablespoons daily.    **For the first few trials, I wouldn’t recommend giving a hungry baby cereal.  Give them a bottle first and then “practice” with food.  If it is a feeding time, you may end up with a screaming baby because the cereal isn’t filling their little tummy fast enough.**

At 5 months:

Introduce orange vegetables - sweet potatoes, sweet carrots, regular carrots and squash.  Blend directly in the bowl with the cereal, formula or breast milk.  At this point, give no more than two tablespoons per meal and stay with one type of vegetable for at least three to five days.  This is so you will know what caused a rash, if one should appear.  If so, you will notice it within a couple of hours.  Don’t worry too much about it.  They usually go away by the next day and a rash doesn’t always mean your child is allergic to that food.  But to be sure, run it by your pediatrician.  **Also, don’t be alarmed if they look a little orange.  It doesn’t mean they are allergic.  It’s just from the orange food being all over their face. 

At 6 months:

Begin introducing all types of vegetables.  Use the same procedure as before, and again, stay with one type of vegetable for at least two days. 

At 7 months:

Start introducing fruits along with vegetables to their daily intake.  Use the same procedure as before but have one meal of fruits and one of vegetables.  **Example – For breakfast give vegetables and dinner give fruits with bottles in between.  I always gave the least favored food in the morning when they were the hungriest and worked backwards.**

At 9 months:

Introduce meats along with fruits and vegetables.  Use the same procedure.  Example – For breakfast give vegetables, lunch give fruit and dinner give meat with bottles in between.  You can also begin introducing “people” or real food.  DO NOT GIVE DAIRY OR HONEY PRODUCTS UNTIL ONE YEAR (It is hard to for them to digest.), AND NO SHELLFISH OR ANYTHING WITH NUTS (INCLUDING PEANUT BUTTER) UNTIL APPROVED BY YOUR DOCTOR.  They may cause allergies. 

TIP #2 - The goal is to be having three meals a day with small snacks in between by a year old but as I mentioned, it always seemed like so much food to me during the course of a day.  What I did was limit the amount of jar food to one per feeding so along with the recommended amount of formula, cereal, water and snacks, they were receiving the daily recommended amount in their bodies.

Food Facts –

The key word here is FRUGAL and that’s what I am.  Being a stay-at-home mom, I try to save money whenever and wherever possible.  I am big on buying generic brand foods, as long as they are healthy for my family and taste good.  With my son, I used a pricy brand formula because that’s what he was given in the hospital and he took to it fine.  But when my daughter was born and I was out of work much longer, the “cheap” side of me kicked in much sooner.  My husband did a little research on formulas and found that the generic brand from a Costco had basically the same ingredients as the name brand formula and was about $10 cheaper per can.  We discussed it with our pediatrician and she said it was most likely made by the same company and should be fine as long as it agreed with her, and it did. 

TIP #3 - The following is a list of food items I used that are less expensive than buying “Baby Products” and have basically the same ingredients.  (Once again, I ran it by my doctor first and you should too.)

1. Applesauce – There are many flavors of applesauce which will introduce a surplus of fruits to your child and fulfill the daily recommended allotment.  And if you buy the individual packs, that is considered one serving.
2. Regular Apple Juice – As long as it is 100% juice, the generic brand is the same.  (Keep in mind, 100% juice may need to be diluted.  It can cause diarrhea.)
3. Cheerios and other snacks – All the baby snacks offered can be found down the regular isles as well, just without the baby label.
4. Creamed Wheat / Oatmeal Cereal – Again, I have done the comparison between baby cereal and regular cereals and besides fact that it may be grounded up finer; the nutritional value is basically the same.  And when you add liquid, there is no difference between them.
5. Regular Yogurt - Once your child is a year old and can begin having dairy, generic yogurt is just as healthy as the baby yogurt.  Plus, the containers are larger, there are many flavors filled with fruit AND AGAIN, cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.
6. Automatically begin giving your children wheat bread and then multigrain bread when they are two.  It is so much better for them (and you).  There is little nutritional value in white bread and it is very hard to digest.  Also, babies are more than capable of eating bread crust.  I don’t suggest getting in the habit of you cutting it off for them.  Get them used to eating it.  It, too, is good for them.

Suggestions and FYI’s to food feeding –

1. At 6 months, babies can have water with a splash of apple juice or you can mix their cereal with juice, BUT you will be adding sugar and unnecessary calories to their diet.  I recommend getting children used to plainer, blander foods.  Children do not know what “taste” is.  Butter on bread or salting foods is unnecessary and adding unhealthy fat to their diet.  And once again, it will make life easier for you in the long run.
2. The difference between the stages of the baby food jars are only the amount and how blended they are, which makes no difference if you are starting meats at 9 months.  I never felt it necessary to use stage one or stage three.
3. Introduce all foods to your baby, even if it is something you do not like.  I am not a huge fruit fan but my husband is, so we always have a lot in the house. I give our kids a piece of fruit with breakfast and lunch and a vegetable with dinner.  And fortunately for us, they have no problems with their digestive systems.
4. I have only dabbled in this slightly with bananas and apples but a few friends have made their own mixtures of fruits and vegetables.  It is very easy, cost effective and a great way to hide foods they may not like.  Using ice cube containers to freeze the mixtures in makes the perfect amount per serving.  It’s as easy as pureeing and freezing. 
5. Reading the backs of baby cereal boxes is a great way to pick up quick, easy food and feeding tips.
6. Lastly, if it seems as if your baby doesn’t like a particular food, keep trying.  Don’t just assume that after one day they will never eat that food again.  Kids change their minds as often as we blink our eyes!