Lately I have seen a lot of questions about starting solids. It is hard to know when to start. Most of the time you will get the advice from 4-6 months. Well, there is a vast difference between a 4 month old and a 6 month old. Here are some tips on how to know when, what to feed them, and how much:

Knowing when to start:
1. You can start anywhere from4 months to 6 months.  I personally chose 5 months. You will know when your baby is ready for solids when he/she starts
                         Eyeing your food
                         Opens their mouth when you are eating and acts as if they want a bite
                         Drinks 35-40 ounces or more or if breast feeding eats a full meal 4-6 times a day and still needs to eat more than once at                               night
                         Can sit up supported
                         Takes a full feeding (breast or formula) and still seems hungry
How to start:
2. The best time to start solids is when baby is alert and relatively healthy. If your baby has a cold, is teething, or is very tired, wait until they are better. Start with breakfast first, some plain baby cereal mixed with warm water, expressed breastmilk, or formula (just follow the directions on the package) Your child may take right to it or not be so interested b/c of the lumpy texture and difference in taste. That's ok. Just keep trying to get them to eat breakfast everyday and they will get the hang of it.

Moving up to different foods or eating solids twice a day:
3. Once your baby gets the hang of cereal (he eats without choking, gagging, or spitting it our and seems to enjoy the cereal) you can start with some veggies or fruits. I personally liked starting with fruits, and mine still ate veggies later on. Some good fruits to start with are bananas, pears, peaches, or applesauce. Once your baby is comfortbale with these you can move up to guava, prunes, apples and blueberries etc. Just try one new food a day so if your baby has a reaction you will know what food it was to. If your child doesn't seem to like a certain food, keep trying to give it to them once a week or so. This way  you are being patient, but still persevering with them trying new foods. If you choose to start veggies you may want to give them at lunch, some good ones to start with are sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, or mixed vegeatables. Once your baby has taken to these move on to green beans and peas.

Does it matter what brand I buy?
4. You can puree your own food (we didn't b/c baby food is so cheap here and they have a great variety) or buy baby food in jars. I like the jars b/c you can just throw them away when your finished but it is your personal choice. Here in the states some baby food brands are beech nut, gerber, earths best, and natues goodness. They all offer organic baby food too. Most of the ingredients are the same but each brand offers a few foods or mixtures that the others doesn't, so  we buy all different brands to give our baby some variety.

When can I give soilds at breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
5. We started giving our baby solids 3 times a day when she was 7 months old b/c she was freaking out at food time. Whenever your baby still acts hungry or is used to eating breakfast and lunch solids you can give them dinner as well. You can try some meats if you choose to do so. We give ours chicken, beef, and turkey so far. Sometimes sweet potatoes or apples are mixed in to add variety.

When can I move up to stage 2 baby foods?
6. When your baby is eating 3 times a day and still seems hungry you may want to move up to stage 3 solid foods. The only difference is the amount, there is no consistency difference. For most baby food stage one has 2-3 ounces, stage 2 has 3-4 ounces, and stage 3 is lumpy and has 6 ounces. It will state on the container that the stage 2 baby food is for babies 6 months and up.

When can I start stage 3 baby foods?
7. Usually at 9 months as long as your baby has adjusted to solids, your doctor will give you the okay to start stage three baby food or the lumpy baby food. Your baby may not like this new consistency at first, but keep trying. They will eventually get used to it. Start with one jar a day and work your way up (kind of like you started solids in the first place) to all 3 mealtimes having a lumpy food.

When can I start with finger foods?
8. When your baby is completely used to eating a wide variety of solid foods they can try some finger foods, although you may have to put it in their mouth before they get the idea of feeing themselves. The best thing we used were the puffs, walmart and gerber make them. They disolve in babies mouth so they can't choke. We started these at 7 1/2 months, but our baby took right to solids, once your baby is comfortable eating, and tries to pick up any baby food you drop or tries to grab at your food, they can have a few finger foods at a time. Not too many at first though or baby might try to shove all the food in at once.

My baby has cut down on breastfeeding/formula, is this normal?
9. It is perfectly normal for a baby to cut back on nursing or formula feeding once you start solids, just make sure they are not cutting all of it out. If your child usually breastfeeds 4 times a day and only wants to eat once or twice you may need to cut back on their baby food intake, it is okay for them to not eat as much, but they should still be nursing or drinking formula. If your child eats 40 ounces and once you start solids they eat 20 ounes of baby food and 20 ounces of formula this is ok, just not much less of the formula until they are a little older. If you are worred about the nursing/formula ratio to baby food talk to your doctor.
 
Good luck with starting solids, and have your camera ready, your baby will make all sorts of faces when trying all these new foods!