6 months now and here we go!

[Mommylgee]

Well dd hit 6 months and we are both excited to start solids!  I started with rice cereal at her 2nd feeding (around 11ish) and she LOVED it!  I gave her 3 tsp and she wanted more so I gave her 1 more tsp. It's now the third day,  there have been no visible allergic reactions, but I have a few questions;

1) She is able to go longer between bf, partly because she can stay up 2.5-3 hrs and still sleeps 2 hrs during her naps.  Do I let her sleep 2 hrs or should I wake her at the 4 hr mark to bf her?
2) Can I start giving her solids at breakfast and dinner too? I'm not sure how to transition into the 3 meals.  I want to go through the other cereals first before I introduce fruits and veggies so really, she'd be getting cereal all 3 meals for now.
3) Should I just follow cues to see when she's full?  She seems to love the cereal, will grab my hand holding the spoon and guide it to her mouth (which makes me spill the cereal all over her face  ) so I've been stopping after 4 tsp because she's just starting off.

Did everyone else LOVE this phase?  DD is SOO cute with the solids, I never thought it would be so much fun!  Thanks for any advice!

[Freya'sMum]

Hello! Glad that you are having a lovely time with food - that's the idea!

Not sure about the answer to your first question, I think we'd have to consider your whole routine to see how it would all fit together with a 5-hour EASY - why not post it?

Re: questions 2 & 3 - if you remember and work to these few 'introducing solid food' principles, the rest should fall into place the main source of nutrition for babies until 12 months is babymilk (bf or ff), so solid food is just for fun, for learning what it is and what to do with it, this means that milk should be the primary food they eat...

...an easy (sorry ) way to achieve this, is to think of milkfeeds as the Eat in EASY, and solid food as the first part of the following Activity period - this way your lo fills up with milk, plays/experiments with sampling some food, then does some other activity, has a nap, then wakes up and it all starts again!

Suggesting specific amounts isn't helpful really, it's a bit of trial and error, if you notice that dd is less interested in her milk, reduce the amount of solid food you offer the 'meal' before, if she swallows loads of solid food after her milk and is still hungry for her next milkfeed, let her have as much as she wants!

I also think it is helpful to remember that there is no rush to introduce vast quantities or varieties of food very early on, dd has 80 years or so of eating ahead of her, like all things bw, let her develop at her own pace it is much more valuable that she learns that eating is a pleasurable, sociable, relaxed thing to do!

HTH?

Ax

[Mommylgee]

That does help a lot and gives me some perspective on how to approach solids. Thanks for the advice!