What's the earliest you've have your baby ,baby food?

My daughter is turning 3 months in week and I wanna start giving her baby food by 3 months in a half .but I don't know if I should .anyone ever gave there baby food at 3 or 4 months ??

[zazou]

A baby doesn't need any food prior to six month (World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding or bottle feeding exclusively for the first six months). I start at around the six month mark. In order to reduce the risk of allergies, it is recommend to start at that stage.

[shereen1]

my daughter is six months now and in fifth month when i go to my healthvistor she said that if your child is still hungry after feed then u can start to give her baby cerelac but only rice cerelac.and i gave her she is fine.she is on breastfeeding.and eat cerelac.now when i go to health visitor she said me to give her boil potato,carrots and broccli.i havent give her yet but i will start within one or two days.

[allmymarbles]

The time to start adding food is when milk is no longer sufficiently satisfying. On average that is at about six months, but some babies are hungrier than others and may require additional food earlier. Whatever you do, don't try to force foods on your three-month old.

[Journeykit]

Three and a half months is too early for solids. Most pediatricians recommend starting between 4-6 months but only once they are sitting up on their own and opening their mouth for the spoon. Also you should start with watered down rice cereal then start on veggies and then fruits, (introducing them one at a time to watch for allergic reactions).

Personally, as an infant teacher, I recommend waiting until 6 months. Before then, babies have a reflex which causes them to push out solids with their tongue. This is for their safety. There is no reason to start them earlier- breastmilk has all the nutrition they need and filling their little bellies with solids can deprive them of this nutrition.

[30something13]

Acadamy of Pediatrics as well as the WHO says to wait till baby is 6 months to introduce foods and also that they can sit up by themselves too. THat is when the digestive tract is developed enough as afr as the muscles are concerned for the food. Babies are born to eat milk and nothing but milk. Introducing foods to soon can lead to health issues, heart disease, obesity etc.. as new studies show and they are more prone to illness and allergies.

At six months the first foods with the best nutrients aer Sweet Potatoes and Avacado. It used to be that cereal was introduced at 4 months but waiting helps baby and cereal is not as nutricious as veggies and fruits. BF babies do not need any foods introduced till age one if mom and baby perfere.

Introducing foods earlier then six months takes away much needed nutrients form the milk their bodies need for development! Then at age 6 months to a year it is more for learning and NOT nutrician, even with formula fed babies. Breastmilk on demand or formula should be babies sole source of nutrician until age 1 year. It has been shown a proven fact by studoes that babies do not rofit from eating ceerals to fill thier bellies to sleep through the night, and in fact feeding foods before 6 months does not help them sleep through the night. Babies know when they need food (milk) and need to get it, if they sleep through the night it is not from eating foods. Also that foods should not take the place of any bottle and should be ofered after they ahve gotten a bottle or been BF, not before or in the middle of feeds.

[JillyHemp316]

I think it depends on the baby, my son was ready a little before 4 months. He was folowing our food with his eyes and reaching for it, and he was totally ready. But sone babies might be early or late. We started with rice cereal and we even did breastmilk off the spoon. It was a good way to practice without actually doing food. I know you aren't supposed to start till 6 months, but I think that only you know your baby. You should trust yourself no matter what anybody else says. So you should try some, like give her some formula or breastmilk on a spoon and see what she does, if she opens her mouth and swallows it will then give it a shot. Start with the rice cereal and make it really really thin, and then gradually thicken it up over a few weeks and see how she does. After that we started with sweet potatoes lol.

[Mumma2many]

30something13is right! It is not benificial to the baby at all to start food early. They have done test after test and there is no upside to it except making the parent feel better.

They have taken baby's stool and done particle break downs on babies under 6 months and when they looked at it, they could see the cereal and food undigested in the stool! So all that happened was baby wasting calories trying to digest food it was physically incapable of digesting. You also SEVERALLY increase your chances of your child developing allergies again, because their body doesn't have the right components & stomach acid to break it down.

[FibroHelp]

There are some moms that soley breast feed until a year. I couldn't give solids until my son was a year due to breathing health issues but I agree with it being too early.

And its true that they can't even digest it fully until 6 months anyway so there's really no point in pushing them.

[seattlemom2plus]

I'll add onto this too, my first son really had no interest in food at all just breastfeeding.  We did this for about 6-8 months.  He still didn't fully start having an abundance of baby food until about a year.  He was very sensitive though.  I couldn't even eat certain things or it would impact him when I was breastfeeding.  Our other son though was very different.  He was wanting food at about 4 months, so I still breastfed him full time but also introduced some banana rice cereal, you can even add your breastmilk to this.  Babies really do show cues on their interest level.  

[ChitChatNine]

I started around that age with rice cereal mixed with formula.  Believe it or not, some types of rice cereal settled her tummy better than others!  I know that sounds crazy, but must have been something in the preparation of the food.  I think it was Earth's Best flakes mixed with forumla worked better to satisfy her hunger than the more popular Gerber flakes. Sounds crazy but was true!

[seattlemom2plus]

ChitChatNine you are right, I forgot about Earth's Best I love that brand, they even have a good premade version of foods too.  Made me feel better about giving it to them too because of the ingredients.