when to start baby/solid food

how are you supposed to know when to ween the baby?  like how old i mean.. 6 mos?  longer?  ive got a long way just curious-one of the many things i feel lost about lol

If I remember correctly (it's been a couple of years), you can start introducing cereal at about 5 months, once baby can sit up.  Then you can slowly introduce fruits and vegetables.  Meats come later.  Once baby is doing pretty well, then you can start decreasing the amount of formula/nursing.  My kids were both done with nursing before their first year, and I changed them to sippy cups and regular whole milk around their first birthday.  You don't want to give them regular milk until then.

I've always thought of weaning as a shift in the main source of nutrition. For the first year of life, a baby should get most or all of their nutrients from breastmilk or formula. The solid foods they eat should be mostly for practice, although they will get nutrients from them.

There are different schools of though on when to start solids. Our doctor recommended waiting until 5 months and starting with single-grain rice cereal mixed with breastmilk or formula. It should only be one feeding of a tablespoon or two per day.

We introduced veggies to our son (most recent infant) at about 5.5 months although the doctor recommended 6 months. We started with squash because it's easy to digest. Once he was eating squash for 3-4 days, we introduced pears (again, easy to digest).

It's said you should space new foods out 3-4 days so you can pinpoint any food allergies. It's also best to introduce them in the morning not only because they're in a better mood but also in case of an allergic reaction.

Cow's milk, soy milk, nuts, honey and chocolate are all things that should be held off on. Milks can be given at a year. Honey is 15 months (I think) and nuts are best after 2 years. Honey can cause botulism; milk and nuts can actually cause allergies if given to children too early.

Also, it's a good idea to limit juices. Our daughter was a juice fiend and has the cavity to prove it. We haven't even introduced it to our son who turns a year old in a week.

Once they're around 9 months old (crawling with their tummies off the floor), they can start having more, well, solid foods. Well-done pasta, chunks of cooked fruits and veggies, shredded cheese, yogurt, toast, etc.

Hah, that's way more than you asked for! Check out these links for info on weaning and solids:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/index.html

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/inde x.html

Also, the What to Expect books are like encyclopedias! They have one for pregnancy, one for the first year and so on.

When I was a baby (1960's) mums were encouraged to introduce solid foods at six weeks.  My son was born in 2000 and by then the advice was 16 weeks.  Now they're trying stretch them out to 6 months...   

My son was a big, hungry baby.... he went through gallons of milk, needed feeding every 2 hours or so and was waking up twice a night for feeds.  It was obvious that milk wasn't enough on its own.   If I'd waited until he was six months old things would have been truly miserable all round.   So I ignored the received wisdom completely and opted to start giving him some solid food at about 13 weeks.  By 20 weeks he was happy with a few spoonsful of various foods throughout the day, a little well-mashed banana at suppertime and was sleeping through the night.  Aged 9 months he ate mostly solid food and milk was just a drink. 

My friend's baby girl was quite the opposite.  But she was a tiny thing with a dainty appetite. Quite happy on small amounts of milk and four-hour feeds.  Slept OK etc.   No need to wean her early.

So I'd say treat your baby as an individual and trust your own judgement as a mother because they're all different and few of them conform to the text-book.  

I always thought it was around 5-6 months.  But I know of some people who did it earlier in cases like gi-jane where the baby was a very healthy eater.

However, I was kind of surprised when I visited my friend one day and at 4 months old, she had her little boy propped up in a high chair (he was still leaning to one side and not quite holding himself up yet) and she had him on baby food.  I even tried helping her feed him later that day and his eating reflexes weren't quite there yet.  He still wanted to thrust the food out with his tongue instead of swallowing much of it.  It was actually easier for me to hold the spoon up to his little puckered lips and let him sort of suck or slurp at it.  That told me that starting him on baby food might have been rushing things a bit...but who am I to tell someone when they should or should not start on solids?  I hadn't done enough research to really say otherwise.

Good call, peaches.

When my daughter was an infant, we were told to introduce rice cereal at 4 months but babies aren't always ready for that. I think they're supposed to be able to sit on their own before starting solids, too. Or at least have decent head control. My nephew (who turned 4 months old yesterday) has been eating rice cereal since the beginning of the month. He outweighs my 1-year-old son already, so he obviously needs the calories.

Trial and error is what it's all about.

The AAP says no food are to be introduced besides formula or breastmilk before 6 months of age and Breastmilk/Forumula should make up over half of their calorie intake until they are one.

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:

* Baby can sit up well without support.
* Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
* Baby is ready and willing to chew.
* Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
* Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

Breastmilk/Forumula are specially formulated to have the right balance of fat and proteirn for the growing brains of little ones.  They need a lot and a lot of calories.

Most food isn't calorie dense enough to provide babies with the proper nutrition. This is a great chat to let you know how many calories per ounce are in many common foods that are fed to babieshttp://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/ba byfoodcalories.html