Right now, Luke is on a combination of breast milk and formula. He gets about 4 ounces or so of breast milk a day, and 16-20 ounces of formula. I feed on demand so it all depends on when he wants to eat, and how much he wants to eat. I am hoping that the Domperidone will help increase my supply a bit and we can at least feed Luke 10 ounces of breastmilk and 14 ounces of formula in a day, but only time will tell with that one. Unfortunately, Luke isn’t thriving on the combo feeding the way we would hope (he’s gained 3 ounces this week, so up 4 ounces in 2 weeks).
At the present moment, Luke is showing an extreme interest in our food. He watches us eat, tracking the utensil from the plate to our mouths, and even makes chewing motions with his own mouth. He’s been known to grab food off of our plates or silverware too. He has amazing control of his head (he always has, but it doesn’t flop around at all anymore) and is working on sitting. He can sit for about 30 seconds before tipping over.
Ideally our goal was exclusive breast feeding for 6 months, and then starting solids at 6 months. Well, the breast milk thing didn’t happen…..which is fine. Given Luke’s lack of significant weight gain and showing signs of being ready for solids, he may be starting solids before the 6 month mark as well. Of course I will talk to the pediatrician before I do anything regarding Luke’s feeding and nutritional intake, but you know how I like to be prepared!
Essentially with weaning (or complimentary nutrition) there are two methods: traditional weaning and baby led weaning. In traditional weaning, the baby is fed purees first and slowly transitions to chunkier foods. In baby led weaning, the baby is given “chunks” of foods and feeds themselves. Ronny and I are doing a combination of the two, which die hard baby led weaners say is not true baby led weaning.
We are going to start with simple carbs and work our way to more complex carbs. I am thinking single pureed fruits and vegetables: carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, pears, applesauce, peaches, avacado, banana ….things like that. We are also going to give him small bits of meat that he can grind with his gums and swallow. I am not a fan of pureed meat for anyone, but don’t want to lose out on the iron from meat.
I do want Luke to practice eating with silverware, so we will be giving him a spoon and letting him try to spoon feed himself. However, since I don’t believe that “food before one is just for fun,” I will also have a spoon and feed him as well so that he definitely gets some food into his belly.
When did you start solids? What did you introduce first? Did you do purees or BLW?
Eventual Momma 
I think your plan sounds good! To answer your questions – we started at 5.5 months with purees. We skipped rice cereal. I started with simple veggies and fruits then worked my way to stage 2 and stage 3. As we got to stage 3’s (around 8-9 months) I have her more and more finger foods but she still gets some food on a spoon too.
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Did you make your own food or did you get the cans? No judgement from me…..we discovered that the stage 2 and 3 baby foods have milk or soy in them and Luke won’t be able to eat them so I am making his food for him.
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I did both but mostly jars/pouches out of convenience. Even now as she’s eating finger goods I give her canned veggies and fruits sometimes as we have a surplus. My uncle worked at Del Monte for a long time so we get tons of stuff at awesome discounts.
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Send some my way lol. Just kidding. That’s great that she is doing so great with eating
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We’re doing strict BLW so we’re not starting yet. She is very interested in our food so I think it’ll go well when she starts, but we are waiting until six months.
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great plan!
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I started letting O taste and nibble around 3 months, but not often until 5 months. I loved the small cheap food mill. It doesn’t finely puree, but it breaks it down enough. I’m not good at following anything to a T, I was very loose with introducing food. I used store bought babyfood, I made my own, he ate from our plates, he fed himself, we fed him, etc. Now, at 18 months, he eats anything and everything.
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That’s kind of what we are going to do too. Luke has already sucked on the end of a Slim Jim (he got it when we weren’t looking), a lime and had a taste of chicken broth. He liked the chicken broth and the lime the best lol
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Oliver had the dairy allergies also. Gerber babyfood did not sit well for some reason. He loved the beechnut granola, that was one of his 1st’s, then beans and sweet potatoes.
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Gerber has milk in it…..I learned that on a kids with food allergies site, which prompted my already desired need to make his food.
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We started at 4 mths to help with overnight sleeping (didn’t work!). We did puréed first and then switched to BLW at 8 or 9 months as that was what he showed he wanted. I did however subscribe to the food before one is just for fun view so didn’t really stress about it. I think your situation with Luke is a little different though as you are looking for him to gain a bit more weight and are hoping food will help that and that is totally understandable.
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THank you for understanding. It’s really great when someone makes a parenting decision and others don’t blast the person and say they are wrong 🙂
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Normally I do not advocate for solids sooner than 6 months however, in your situation it may be beneficial.
We also do a combo of puree and blw. So I like that idea. Now that Jude is just about 8 months more of the blw is happening because he wants to self feed.
We started with organic brown rice cereal but it constipated him so we went to squash after a couple days.
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I definitely was against it myself, but a growing boy is more important. I’ve noticed a trend in the combo turning more blw as time went on
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Definitely!
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With our first, we started with the cereal at 4 months and would introduce one veggie at a time. Then we did one fruit at a time. He had failure to thrive and needed the extra calories. Our second who isn’t diagnosed with failure to thrive but is really on the small side, so we will have the same plan for him as well! Each baby is different and you have to do what’s best for them! I hate when people judge without knowing your situation!
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How did your first do with failure to thrive after introducing solids? At 16 weeks, Luke is 12 pounds 15 ounces (12th percentile) and I’m worried that even solids won’t help him out.
I totally agree with judgement. Even if people do know the situation, parent’s choices don’t come easy and we don’t need extra pressure from outside telling us we are wrong.
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He did much better! He was small, only being 12lbs 8ozs at 4 months. It took him a while to bulk up, but he was gaining regularly which is what his doctors were looking for. Our second was only 10lbs 13ozs at just over 2 months which is 7th percentile, so once he starts showing signs, we will be adding cereal to his food selection as well.
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That’s how Luke was too. 10 pounds 12 ounces at 2 months and now 12 pounds 15 ounces at almost 4 months (10 days from 4 months)
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Such little squirts! Our first was only 9lbs 1oz at 2 months, so we are definitely doing much better this time around. Eli hasn’t been weighed since his 2 month check up but he feels/looks like he’s bulking up finally, but he’s eating almost around the clock. So we will need to add extras soon rather than later. Formula just isn’t filling him up for more than a couple hours at a time.
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We were very by the book the first time around and waited until 6 months or even later. Did the whole rice cereal and purée thing. Now, every kid is so different, but our fear of letting her make a mess and her just being a cautious girl resulted in a child who, at almost 3 years old, still doesn’t like feeding herself or getting her hands dirty. She has the dexterity and can use any utensil, but in her mind food is there to be fed to her. Huge mistake on our part. Our boy is 7 weeks old now and we are definitely going to be strictly following blw. Hopefully that will lead to a bit more independence when it comes to eating.
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I personally think starting at anytime is okay despite what pediatricians say. My Mom started us on rice cereal in our bottles at 3 days old. We slept through the night almost immediately because we weren’t starving. 🙂
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We started at 5 months with organic brown rice… He had issues with it so we switched to oatmeal and then he was good! We then moved on to store-bout purées, but once we got thru stage 2, stage 3 was chunks and he wasn’t ready for it. I then decided to start making my own purées for him- that way I can control the consistency. He’s done well with that.. So I have continued with that; but he also now eats some stage 3 store-bought for times I need something easy. I feel like the transition was easier by controlling the consistency myself. I don’t know how they expect to move from stage 2 (somewhat watery) to food chunks in stage 3 🤔
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Our pediatrician had us start solids at 4 months. We are only doing cereal prepared with his formula. Even if he doesn’t eat much, we just want to introduce the spoon-to-mouth process to him. It’s working out wonderfully. Good luck!!
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I stared tru on rice cereal at 4.5 months because he needed more sustenance than my boobs could supply. I started vegis at 6 months and then fruit. Purees. Combo of homemade and store bought. I enjoyed making it. Levi is a whole other story. At 6.5 months we started purees but he wouldn’t eat them. He’s been doing his own version of blw and in just the last week has started letting me feed him purees. I think it’s partly because he’s not getting enough milk now and after trying so many different foods on his own, he’s beginning to develop a taste for the purees. Who knows. It seems to be all trial and error for me. The best laid plans and all that…. you will know what to do though. I’m sure Luke will have his say-so. 😉
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Thank you for sharing. He seems to really like the small tastes of human food that he’s had (a lick of chicken broth and a lick of lime), so I’m pretty sure he’s really going to like food food. It’s got to be better than the Nutramigen.
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We are waiting until 6 months and I think I’m leaning more towards BLW. I agree with some previous comments. It sounds like your goal is proper nutrition and weight gain for babes! Do what’s best for your family and I just know Luke will thrive 🙂
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I’m also terrified of introducing solids because I am scared he will not want the boob anymore!
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