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Okay - I know what the doctors say and but I still feel like our little angel needs more than formula!!! How soon did everyone start feeding their infants???? Sarah Elizabeth is 3 1/2 months old and I am seriously thinking of introducing cereal..... SOON!

Thanks!

We got the go-ahead with both of our girls at their 4 month appts.

So, you are just about ready!

The reason they tell you not to start much sooner -and some docs say 6 months, but ours never did - is that their tummies aren't ready to digest solids before then. But Sarah is right about ready to start I'd say!!

Hmmm...3 and half month you said?? Not sure about that. I could only remember that Vance was 4 and half month when OUR ped told us to start giving him some solid.

The thing that I have heard about solid food(don't quote me on this one)... but I have heard from other people that the purpose of the solid food at this very early stage is for them to get use to a different taste, texture and mainly for them to practice eating. But like I said, this is just from what I have heard and I could be wrong so you can do what you think would be best for you..

I know we wanted to give our baby solid food as soon as he was able to take it. But when my husband initiated giving him the solid food at 4 months he did fine with it. So I guess 3 and half months is not too far behind...

Good luck with whatever you decide. I also want to mention that rice cereal really worked for us best at the beginning. So you might want to start with that and see...

Hope I was able to help..:-)

Giving our babies solid fods early is encouraged by old wives' tales yet discouraged by the experts. I would recommend reading up on it before starting anything new.
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/baby/article/0,19840,1216530,00.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-baby/PR00029

We were going to wait until 6 months but Jack showed signs of being ready at 5 1/2.
He was sitting up, not doing that tongue-thrust reflex thing anymore and showed interest in our food, staring at it and reaching for it.
We started with rice cereal too. And he loved it.
Good luck!

I think each child is different. With our first she wanted something more around 4 months. My mother (who is old school) did the rice cereal on her tongue and she lapped it up with a big grin and never looked back. She showed no signs of not handling it and to this day is a great eater. My second didn't show signs until around 5 months and then she had issues - spit up and got the runs a few times so we backed off. I think she finally handled everything pretty well at 6 months old.

We started putting some cereal in my sons bottles when he was 6 weeks old. I know that is young, but I had gestational diabetes, and my son weighed a whopping 11 lbs 4 oz at birth. He was always fussy and never seemed satisfied or full. He started taking 8 ounces of breastmilk every 2 hours, and would still fuss being hungry at 6 weeks old, so we decided to try with the cereal even though our doc said not to. We put a little in each bottle, and he did great with it. It filled him up, and I finally got to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. LOL! We stopped putting it in his bottles as soon as he was ready to eat from a spoon around 3 1/2 months old. So I say, if you think your child is ready, then go for it. If she is not satisfied with just formula, then do what you think is best.

April-mommy to Ronald-10 months old