how much and how often when starting solids

[1stimer]

DS has a sensitive tummy and we hope to start solids soon...he will be 6m next week so I'm a little worried about the fussiness that may follow. We actually tried a little a few weeks ago bc he was showing SO MUCH INTEREST when we would eat. Rice cereal and otmal constipated him bad. Veggies seem to make him gassy and uncomfortable as well. So my question is should I do 2 smaller servings ( like maybe 1/4 a container at a time ) twice a day? Will his digestive system hopefully adjust? My mom said I'm just gonna have to stick with it bc I can't exclusively breastfeed him forever. Yesterday I had a large apple slice that I let him suck on and he loved it so I know he's hungry for real food it's just that it doesn't seem to agree with him very well. That's the first time he's had any fruit and it didn't seem to bother him but he was literally just sucking the juice and not getting any real solid smatter. I'm wondering if since we know green veggies hurt his tummie if I should maybe try squash or sweet potatoes?

[creations]

Most LOs just have tastes in the early days, there's really no rush to be serving 2 meals or to be concerned about how much he actually eats. As he is so interested in having a go with some solids why not prepare some finger foods to suck and gnaw on, he may or may not actually eat some, it would satisfy his desire to get at your food whilst also slow down the eating/weaning to give his gut and tummy a chance to adjust.
You won't be exclusively BF for ever...but milk is still going to be his primary source of food for another 6 months regardless of what solids you offer and whether they are puree or finger foods.  If he has a sensitive tummy I would take it very slowly.

[1stimer]

What kind of food would you suggest? I have one of those net pacifier things where you put the solid food in and as they chew it's strains it so they really only get juice. I was thinking apples or peaches in that would work? He seems to be on the verge of teething also so I thought the chewing would help with that as well

[creations]

This is Tracy's weaning guide
Weaning Guidelines from Secrets of the Baby Whisperer
She suggested pears, squash, sweet potato, peach...so it looks like you're thinking similar things.
I've seen those net things but never used one so can't really help there. I would imagine some softly steamed pear, apple, sweet pot etc would be fine though.
The thing really is not to be in too much of a hurry or to give too big a meal. You'll see on Tracy's guide it's just 2 teaspoons of pureed solids, it really isn't more than a taste or two. If you go slowly you have more chance of seeing how his tummy copes.

LOs seem to have different reactions to different foods, mine would vom any rice (and still will not eat rice at almost 4yo), fresh/raw pear gave him a big reflux flare (despite it being generally thought of as a good first food), carrots, toms and anything red/orange gave him bum burn from contact with the poo, carrots made his poo too firm and would have led to constipation if I'd given it every day and not balanced it out with prunes.
I found cooked pear and apple wedges worked well for him, lightly steamed or oven baked.  Also potato wedges, sweet potato but to be honest I went with BLW so everything was finger food and we had a variety of foods in no particular order.

[1stimer]

Awesome thank you! I'm happy that I was on the same page for first foods. He probably got 2 tablespoons of sweet potatoes yesterday and no haven't seen any issues so far today although it's only 9 am. I should probably get prunes just to be safe though. I guess Im worried bc my ped told us tonstart with green veggies and work our way throigh other veggies to sweet potatoes being the last before starting fruit so he doesn't develop a taste for sweets only but the green veggies just really did a number on him What did you mean when you said you went with BLW?

[weaver]

BLW= baby-led weaning.  I did it too with both LOs, no spoon-feeding, just finger foods like the apple wedge your LO had the other day. Have a look here:
Baby-Led Weaning

[1stimer]

Wow...I never read into the BLW thing, it sounds great!! Do you have any suggestions on foods other than the ones we already discussed? I'm excited to try this approach!

[creations]

With BLW you kind of just offer whatever foods are normal for your family, so LO learns the tastes and textures which are regularly served in your house.  There are things to avoid, whole nuts, honey, sugar, low salt etc, the standard things, but otherwise just something you are eating.
I altered my cooking, stopped using salt, used less hot spice, and cut veggies into large fingers or wedges so that there were nice big chunks for him to pick up and self feed. If we went out to a cafe or restaurant I generally took some steamed veggies (or something similar to what we'd be eating) along for DS so that I knew there was no added salt, then let him have a bit of something we were having too (which is bound to be highly seasoned when eating out) for the taste and to join in.

There are lots of finger food ideas on the recipes board
Finger Foods (6 months+)

Do ensure LO is sitting up well, I know your DS is just under 6 months, his readiness and ability to sit up and hold his head is the most important thing really, no slumping or leaning backwards which can make it more difficult to move the food forward in his mouth.

[1stimer]

Thanks so much for the info...He isn't quite independently sitting yet so we have a little time. I just wanted to be prepared. I'm glad there's an alternative option.. I never liked the purred foods bc I didn't think it was realistic but I did understand why ykwim? I'm so excited about this. Thanks for all the info and threads!!!

[creations]

You're welcome.
There's a support thread too although it's quiet in there
Baby Led Weaning support thread #12

Have fun - I really enjoyed our weaning journey, hope you do too