Started Solids - All very confusing...

Hi. This is my first post so I hope you don't think I'm dumb for asking but... How confusing is this starting solids thing? My little girl will be 6mths on Australia day and we started solids about 2wks ago. I am taking things very slowly but wonder if I really should be? She loves food. So far she has had farex rice cereal - plain & mixed with other things such as pureed stewed apples, banana, avocado, purred carrot and she's had mashed potato and mashed sweet potato. Lots of people have said give her this, or try her on that but I don't think it's suitable for her yet (like vegemite, banana custard, eggs, pureed meat or just a strip of meat for her to chew on, arrowroot biscuits, weetbix, even been told I should be giving her 3 meals a day). Ever since we started solids she hasn't taken one full bottle since. Before solids she was having 250mL every 4hrs. Now she has a morning bottle at about 7:30am and has about 150mL (maybe), then between 11:30am-12:30pm she'll have 'lunch' which is a solid feed, usually a fruit and 100mL bottle, then about 3:30pm-4:30pm she'll have a bottle, 150mL if I'm lucky then 'dinner' at 6:30pm-8pm, a solid feed, usually a vegetable and a 100mL bottle. Then she'll go right through without anything until morning. Sleep is not a problem as she sleeps right through. But is this enough bottles? Should I be giving her bottles after a solid feed? When do I stop pureeing it to a pulp and give her more 'normal' things? I've been offering water too which she will take sometimes. Very confused!!!

:welcome:Nel

I didn't go down the pureed path with starting solids so can't help there - I went the baby led weaning/solids path where you offer pretty much anything you eat to bubs (except nuts and honey; I also avoided leaf type (lettuce etc) foods as well). Food in this option should be able to be grabbed in the fist size. There is a book - Baby Led Weaning by Gil Rapley if you're interested, and some BLS (baby led solids) threads in BB too.

Anyway if you're going to puree route the following still applies - don't give milk & food without at least 1/2 hour gap. I also think it was milk first then food later at that stage.


I think they say lumps from around 9mths (at least that's what's on the Rafftery branded baby food that I had as a back up for DS for when he wanted food before I'd cooked tea in the evenings).

Re the amount of milk, while my DS is breastfed, he has bottles of expressed milk during the day while I'm working. Around the 6mth mark he was having 120ml bottles. Don't know if that's more reassuring or not for you.

Hey hun,

Yes it is very confusing until you get the hang of it! once i stopped listening to everyone else, and going with what i thought was right and what DD wanted, everything became much easier.

From about 6 months, bub should be having around 600mls of milk - or more if they need it (acording to the can and the clinic nurses). DD is 8 months and has around this but some days more and some days less. She started 3 meals a day when she was about 7 months but that was because she seemed to start needing it. Before this i was giving her a bottle for lunch, however she was hungry half hour later, hence introducing the food lunch.

Like leckert said, it is best to do the bottle first cos that is supposed to be their main source of nutrition still. Once i started on solids, DD reduced her morning feed by about 50-100mls. I can't remember exactly but i think at 6 months she was having something like 150ml bottle, rice cereal and apple (or something similar) for breakfast with 45 min in between. Then bottle at 11am (200ml), bottle at 3pm (200ml) then veggie dinner about 5pm and 250ml for bedtime at 7pm. Like you said some days she finished the bottle and others she didn't. I just let her be the judge.

I started giving her meat and other things when she was about 7.5 months and it has been go go go since then! I haven't tried her on vegemite or anything but most the girls in my MG give bubba's that type of stuff so it's really up to you!

Good luck with everything!!! it is all a new learning game when they move to another stage!

xo