5 1/2 month old interested in nectarines, apples..but no rice cereal!?

Question

Hello, my baby has been showing interest in food...at least watching us eat with mouth agape, eyes wide open. Recently, I was eating a nectarine and put it in front of her to let her smell it and she grabbed my hand and pulled it to her mouth. She loved sucking on the parts I just bit (no skin). So, I thought she might be ready for the standard starter solids. Today I made organic short grain brown rice mixed with breast milk (oh, yeah only has had breast milk). But she pushed it out of her mouth and made a "I hate this face" and then she threw up (or just spit up a bunch). Was it okay to let her suck on that nectarine? There is so much controversy about what to start babies on. Some say no fruits before veggies is an old wives's tale. Some say babies don't have to start on cereals. So, I just wanted regular parent's own experiences and recommendations.

Thanks!

Answer 1

It's ok, my son hated rice cereal too!  His first food was green beans from a restaurant (cook with bacon and flavoring) -- not exactly a textbook first food.  Sweet potatoes are good first foods, so is butternut squash, and avocado.  Stick with things that in general aren't potential allergens for your firsts.  You can give her a food, see how she does and then introduce another a few days later, etc.  If you want to make the rice cereal more exciting, mix it with some fruit or sweet potato.  Once my son was on solid food, I would feed him rice cereal mixed with a fruit for breakfast, and lunch would be a veggie and a fruit, and dinner would be a veggie mixed with rice cereal.  

I would give her what she likes

Good luck!

Answer 2

Considering a nectarine is fresh, and cereal is not, I would assume anyone would choose the fresh fruit over the processed cereal. It is ok.  

Answer 3

Skipping over cereal is fine! It is empty calories.

When you start solids it is fine to just go to fruits and veggies.

Answer 4

Both of my kids never liked the rice cereal out of the box.  They love the stage 2 rice cereal in the jar. Maybe you should try that.  I started them both off with veggies and then added fruit to their diet.Good luck.

Answer 5

"Was it okay to let her suck on that nectarine?"

Yes!

"Some say babies don't have to start on cereals."

Correct!

Of interest:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

http://borstvoeding.com/voedselintroduct...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/

We went straight to self-feeding (with stuff like chunks of fruit, steamed veg, cheese, toast, etc) and never touched cereals, never spoon-fed.

Now at 12+mo, baby self-feeds using spoons and forks, and eats _everything_ I eat, including 'ethnic' foods. It is far, far nicer having that than a toddler who got used to bland mush and will only eat overcooked macaroni and cheese...

Answer 6

i have 4 children and in my experience if it tastes bad to you than it tastes bad to them try adding a little fruit baby food first stage to it and remember eating is a new thing and she has to learn how