How soon after starting baby on beginner foods can you go to next stage?

Question

My pediatrician had me start my son on veggies and fruit at every meal at 5 months. He is now 6 months old and I am wondering when I am supposed to start introducing the next stage of foods.

The ages on the bottles (I use Heinz) don't coincide with the age babies are recommended to start solids.

The first ones are marked "Beginner" and the second stage are marked "6 months" but technically you aren't even supposed to start beginner foods until 6 months.

Sorry for sounding dumb but I really don't want to start him too soon and my next appt with that doctor is only in November and his regular doctor has no opinions on anything.

Answer 1

why don't you call that doctor that told you to start him on the 1st foods and leave a message.  

Answer 2

Whenever he's ready.  The 'stages' are just marketing gimmicks.  Higher stages come in larger jars, and some of them are mixtures of foods (and a few, depending on the brand, have starchy fillers and sugar in the 'desserts' and dinners.')

If he is eating enough to make the larger jars worthwhile, by all means move on. (But I'd still avoid anything with starchy fillers.  He certainly doesn't need that stuff, especially at this early age.)  If he's still just eating a taste (and if he's having solids at every meal, I'm HOPING he isn't eating more than a 'taste' at every meal ... you don't want him filling up on solids ...), then stick with the stage one for the sake of economy/avoidance of waste.

If you stay on the stage one for a while yet, you may move right from that to table foods. Babies don't have to go through all the stages. Some babies never eat purees at all, but start with table foods.

Answer 3

The main thing I noticed was that the food are combined. If your child has been through all the veggies and fruits then go to stage 2. Otherwise I would wait until each thing had been given incase is he is allergic.  

Answer 4

The 2nd foods tht gerber makes, are really no different in texture, they just mix flavors..like apple sweetpotato and pear blueberry that sort of thing, so my son eats stage 2 because it is the same price as stage 1 and bigger..and I see no difference in texture,

Answer 5

I personally went by what my kids seemed to need and like... if they are ready you can tell.

Answer 6

Once I had introduced all the foods I moved my daughter onto the stage 2 foods, they are a little bit thicker and then you also have more variety, you probably notice that the beginner foods are all the basics, keep him on stage 2 foods until he has some teeth and then you can move to stage 3 or fresh foods cut up correctly or mashed.