The con is that a 4 month old babies digestive system is not fully developed yet, wait until your Ped gives you the OK…that’s what she/he went to school for!!
by introducing solids at too young of an age you increase the probability of the baby developing an allergy to certain types of foods. (i asked the nurse that the other day before taking my newbie home)
the pros are that they will develop a like to the food . you should make chicken soup then put it in the blender and mash it up until its liquid and give it to them .but make sure its not very chunky to that he/she doesnt choke. my mom does this to kids she takes care of (she has a day care) and they all get chubby and healthy quickly .
Pros- You don’t feed them as often
Con- often times their little digestive systems can’t handle it. So you will be dealing with stomache aches and odd poop.
4 months old their system is not developed enough yet.
Have you started cereal first.
At 6-7 months I would start mashed potatoes and apple sauce and baby food then work your way up.
I know how the older family members may be.
Hang in their and just nod your head and “yes maam” and then do what is best for you child in this generation.
Good luck
You’re child will be eating food soon enough. Don’t eff up the baby’s system! Start solids at 6 months like the professionals tell you. A baby does not need anything outside of mother’s milk for the first year. However, then you’d have to have your breast out all day when the baby is 10 months old. Seriously, feeding a child too early solids can and will cause gastric problems. My husband has had chronic acid reflux since he was a young child. His mother fed him cereal at 3 weeks! Can you imagine?! AND she drank wine everyday of her pregnancy…come on, even the BIBLE says women should abstain from wine while pregnant. duh.
At 4 months a baby’s digestive system is not prepared to handle “real” foods. It is a lack of knowledge that would prompt anyone to feed someone that young “real” foods. Stick to what your pediatrician recommends if you want what’s best for your baby.
My litlle boy is turning one year old this month and i have to say I definetely agree with your family. Me and my husband started feeding him foods like mashed potatoes, and green beens,mashed up of course, and stuff like that when he was three months old. He loved it. One pro would be it’s good for them and of course they love it. Some cons are if you feed her anything too spicy or with too much flavoring on it they can have an upset stomache, and the poos. Another thing i dont knw if this would be a pro or con for you but after they have real food they dont particularily care for baby food any more. Good luck!
I am a nutritionist and I will tell you its all cons.
infants younger than 6 months cannot digest anything except formula or breastmilk (feeding them real food is like feeding them sawdust)
Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age. For some babies, delaying solids longer than six months can be a good thing; for example, some doctors may recommend delaying solids for 12 months if there is a family history of allergies.
Delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness
Delaying solids gives baby’s digestive system time to mature
Delaying solids decreases the risk of food allergies
Delaying solids helps to protect baby from iron-deficiency anemia
Delaying solids helps to protect baby from future obesity
Delaying solids makes starting solids easier
Solids readiness depends on both the maturity of baby’s digestive tract and baby’s developmental readiness for solids. Although the maturity of baby’s digestive system is not something that we can readily observe, research indicates that 6 months appears to be ideal for avoiding the allergies and other health risks of too-early solids. After this point, different babies are ready for solids at different times — developmental readiness for solids cannot be determined using a calendar. Most babies are developmentally ready for solids somewhere between 6 and 8 months.
Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
Baby is ready and willing to chew.
Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.
Myths about solids readiness:
MYTH: Baby’s weight has reached a “magic” number
MYTH: “Your baby is big so you need to start solids.”
MYTH: “Your baby is small so you need to start solids.”
MYTH: Baby needs to start solids because there is not enough iron in breastmilk.
MYTH: Baby needs solids so he will sleep longer at night.
MYTH: If you don’t start solids by “x” months, then baby will have problems with solid foods
i hear that crap all the time from family, and i don’t care wht they did, i am doing what i want to do. mine is almost 5 months. i give him baby cereal and stage one baby food. y did someone give me a thumbs down??? i don’t need to listen to other people about how they gave their babies table food at his age and blah blah blah. i am going by the doctors. i want my baby to grow up healthy with the vitamins and nutrients he needs.
I agree with the nutritionist. My son is 5 months old and has not gotten anything but breast milk. Breast milk/Formula has a greater calorie content and nutrional value than table food. To get the nutrition she needs she would have to eat an awful lot of food! Try not to give in to your family. Every generation does something different. My rule of thumb is not to take any advice from someone who more that likely didn’t put you in a seatbelt when you were an infant. Besides- you have it easy right now! Just formula/breasmilk! Why make your feedings any more difficut/complicated than you have to?
PS-it is a myth that your baby will sleep through the night if fed cereal. If your baby is 4 months old she is probably going to get up for a night feeding! My 5 month old sleeps from 6pm to 7am without waking up- I feed him every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs during the day….he has all he needs and does not wake up hungry at night!
There has never been any research that provides evidence that babies sleep better when they eat solids. The pros are that your baby will be used to solids earlier than a baby who starts eating at six months, but they all catch up anyway. Some people say that if you wait too long they won’t like the texture and taste and will be harder to get them to like food. I know moms who waited six months and have great eaters and moms who didn’t and don’t have great eaters. The main reason for waiting is allergies. Recent studies have found that baby’s that are given solids before six months (or the earlier food was given) the more likely the child is to develop allergies and not just to food. That’s why so many pediatricians are pushing six months now. I tried my daughter on solids a few weeks before six months…she’ll be six months at the end of the month. I think she has had an allergic reaction, so I’m now going to have to be very strategic with how I implement it. The younger they are the more serious an allergic reaction can be. The other thing is that whole saying “just put some cereal in the bottle, they’ll sleep through the night.” Not only is it not true, but I tried alittle tiny bit becasue my daughter doen’t like ceraeal ,I tried to sneak it in the bottle and she started gagging on it. It really is a choking hazard.
Do what you think is right for your baby! I was on cereal at 3 months, no, I am not allergic to anything and I am not hideously obese. My daughter was on cereal at 4 months, my son, on at 3 and a half. I started him early because he was constantly hungry. I would nurse every hour and he woke up every hour at night. I didn’t introduce “baby” food until about 5 months, though. The cereal was mostly to fill their hungry little tummies.
my little boys doctor told me to start him on solids at four months he is 5 months now and eats any where from 1/2 a jar to a full jar a day but he is a big boy for his age and i would check with your doctor before you try any thing
i started mine at 4 moths simply because she wanted it, she stared at my food and was eating her fist, you can tell when they are ready to try it when they are interested in your food!
The con is that a 4 month old babies digestive system is not fully developed yet, wait until your Ped gives you the OK…that’s what she/he went to school for!!
by introducing solids at too young of an age you increase the probability of the baby developing an allergy to certain types of foods. (i asked the nurse that the other day before taking my newbie home)
the pros are that they will develop a like to the food . you should make chicken soup then put it in the blender and mash it up until its liquid and give it to them .but make sure its not very chunky to that he/she doesnt choke. my mom does this to kids she takes care of (she has a day care) and they all get chubby and healthy quickly .
Pros- You don’t feed them as often
Con- often times their little digestive systems can’t handle it. So you will be dealing with stomache aches and odd poop.
4 months old their system is not developed enough yet.
Have you started cereal first.
At 6-7 months I would start mashed potatoes and apple sauce and baby food then work your way up.
I know how the older family members may be.
Hang in their and just nod your head and “yes maam” and then do what is best for you child in this generation.
Good luck
You’re child will be eating food soon enough. Don’t eff up the baby’s system! Start solids at 6 months like the professionals tell you. A baby does not need anything outside of mother’s milk for the first year. However, then you’d have to have your breast out all day when the baby is 10 months old. Seriously, feeding a child too early solids can and will cause gastric problems. My husband has had chronic acid reflux since he was a young child. His mother fed him cereal at 3 weeks! Can you imagine?! AND she drank wine everyday of her pregnancy…come on, even the BIBLE says women should abstain from wine while pregnant. duh.
you should ask her doctor, but table foods shouldn’t be given to a baby that young.
At 4 months a baby’s digestive system is not prepared to handle “real” foods. It is a lack of knowledge that would prompt anyone to feed someone that young “real” foods. Stick to what your pediatrician recommends if you want what’s best for your baby.
My litlle boy is turning one year old this month and i have to say I definetely agree with your family. Me and my husband started feeding him foods like mashed potatoes, and green beens,mashed up of course, and stuff like that when he was three months old. He loved it. One pro would be it’s good for them and of course they love it. Some cons are if you feed her anything too spicy or with too much flavoring on it they can have an upset stomache, and the poos. Another thing i dont knw if this would be a pro or con for you but after they have real food they dont particularily care for baby food any more. Good luck!
I am a nutritionist and I will tell you its all cons.
infants younger than 6 months cannot digest anything except formula or breastmilk (feeding them real food is like feeding them sawdust)
Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age. For some babies, delaying solids longer than six months can be a good thing; for example, some doctors may recommend delaying solids for 12 months if there is a family history of allergies.
Delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness
Delaying solids gives baby’s digestive system time to mature
Delaying solids decreases the risk of food allergies
Delaying solids helps to protect baby from iron-deficiency anemia
Delaying solids helps to protect baby from future obesity
Delaying solids makes starting solids easier
Solids readiness depends on both the maturity of baby’s digestive tract and baby’s developmental readiness for solids. Although the maturity of baby’s digestive system is not something that we can readily observe, research indicates that 6 months appears to be ideal for avoiding the allergies and other health risks of too-early solids. After this point, different babies are ready for solids at different times — developmental readiness for solids cannot be determined using a calendar. Most babies are developmentally ready for solids somewhere between 6 and 8 months.
Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
Baby is ready and willing to chew.
Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.
Myths about solids readiness:
MYTH: Baby’s weight has reached a “magic” number
MYTH: “Your baby is big so you need to start solids.”
MYTH: “Your baby is small so you need to start solids.”
MYTH: Baby needs to start solids because there is not enough iron in breastmilk.
MYTH: Baby needs solids so he will sleep longer at night.
MYTH: If you don’t start solids by “x” months, then baby will have problems with solid foods
i hear that crap all the time from family, and i don’t care wht they did, i am doing what i want to do. mine is almost 5 months. i give him baby cereal and stage one baby food. y did someone give me a thumbs down??? i don’t need to listen to other people about how they gave their babies table food at his age and blah blah blah. i am going by the doctors. i want my baby to grow up healthy with the vitamins and nutrients he needs.
I agree with the nutritionist. My son is 5 months old and has not gotten anything but breast milk. Breast milk/Formula has a greater calorie content and nutrional value than table food. To get the nutrition she needs she would have to eat an awful lot of food! Try not to give in to your family. Every generation does something different. My rule of thumb is not to take any advice from someone who more that likely didn’t put you in a seatbelt when you were an infant. Besides- you have it easy right now! Just formula/breasmilk! Why make your feedings any more difficut/complicated than you have to?
PS-it is a myth that your baby will sleep through the night if fed cereal. If your baby is 4 months old she is probably going to get up for a night feeding! My 5 month old sleeps from 6pm to 7am without waking up- I feed him every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs during the day….he has all he needs and does not wake up hungry at night!
There has never been any research that provides evidence that babies sleep better when they eat solids. The pros are that your baby will be used to solids earlier than a baby who starts eating at six months, but they all catch up anyway. Some people say that if you wait too long they won’t like the texture and taste and will be harder to get them to like food. I know moms who waited six months and have great eaters and moms who didn’t and don’t have great eaters. The main reason for waiting is allergies. Recent studies have found that baby’s that are given solids before six months (or the earlier food was given) the more likely the child is to develop allergies and not just to food. That’s why so many pediatricians are pushing six months now. I tried my daughter on solids a few weeks before six months…she’ll be six months at the end of the month. I think she has had an allergic reaction, so I’m now going to have to be very strategic with how I implement it. The younger they are the more serious an allergic reaction can be. The other thing is that whole saying “just put some cereal in the bottle, they’ll sleep through the night.” Not only is it not true, but I tried alittle tiny bit becasue my daughter doen’t like ceraeal ,I tried to sneak it in the bottle and she started gagging on it. It really is a choking hazard.
Do what you think is right for your baby! I was on cereal at 3 months, no, I am not allergic to anything and I am not hideously obese. My daughter was on cereal at 4 months, my son, on at 3 and a half. I started him early because he was constantly hungry. I would nurse every hour and he woke up every hour at night. I didn’t introduce “baby” food until about 5 months, though. The cereal was mostly to fill their hungry little tummies.
my little boys doctor told me to start him on solids at four months he is 5 months now and eats any where from 1/2 a jar to a full jar a day but he is a big boy for his age and i would check with your doctor before you try any thing
i started mine at 4 moths simply because she wanted it, she stared at my food and was eating her fist, you can tell when they are ready to try it when they are interested in your food!