What would you feed your 4 months old as first food?

[SunnySideUp2020]

Her doctor suggested starting solids (she is quite big/advanced for her age).

The doc suggested starting with vegs.
I am on cmp free diet, and until her next appt at 6 months she will also be on cmp free diet with solids.

So what would giver her? She tries to eat my good daily but for now just sucks on stuff...

A puree of carrot or broccoli?
A whole piece of veg?

Have you got a health visitor? I know how helpful they are seems to vary but ours was great with stuff like this. 4 months seems early to go for it with no guidance.

Did the doctor not suggest anything? Four months is awful young to start on solids. I would ask for a bit of guidance.

I weaned DS at 17 weeks. At that age, it needs to be purée. Whole pieces of food (baby led weaning) isn’t really suitable til they’re 6 months. I think I started with sweet potato purée, and maybe pear. The paedetrician suggested avocado. Any single fruit/veg purée really.

If there is no reason for early introduction of solids other than she is “big” I would urge you to wait.

All the evidence points to waiting until at least 6 months and clear signs of readiness for food being really important.

Big babies are totally fine on a milk only diet - only so many calories in puréed carrot anyway.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/babys-first-solid-foods/

Your doctor seems to be going against standard NHS advice so I would definitely be seeking some guidance. Usually a bigger baby wouldn’t mean giving them solids earlier.

The guidelines are for babies without known allergies. If your baby has a known allergy, the advice is to start weaning at 17 weeks but offer single-ingredient purees only and wait 3 days before introducing a new one.
E.g. day 1, 2, 3 carrot puree; day 4, 5, 6 apple puree, day 7, 8, 9 pea puree etc.

I wouldn't be giving a four month old solids yet, and certainly not a whole piece of solid veg.

When I did wean, they started off with veg purée - I would steam the veg, purée it and freeze in ice cube trays. Potato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash etc. Then I could do different combinations to mix it up.

Can she hold herself well in the high chair or does she slump, and has she lost her tongue thrust reflex? I wouldn't start until she's hit either of those milestones.

4 months is very early and for the reason of "being big" I would definitely hold off. If you do decide to start, only purée. I started my 6 month old with steamed whole veg but that 2 months really does make a massive difference!

@LapinR0se

The guidelines are for babies without known allergies. If your baby has a known allergy, the advice is to start weaning at 17 weeks but offer single-ingredient purees only and wait 3 days before introducing a new one. E.g. day 1, 2, 3 carrot puree; day 4, 5, 6 apple puree, day 7, 8, 9 pea puree etc.

Yes definitely not for just being a bigger baby. With allergies you would get support too rather than being sent off with a 4 month old to start solids.

I didn't decide to start her on solids. I am just following what her allergy specialist suggested at our last appointment. I did not go into why or why not do it tbh. I knew 6 months was the guideline but she apparently thought it would be good for DD to start at 4 months.
She has been followed regularly by this doctor since being a month old hospitalized with suspected CMPA.

Thanks for the suggestions. I also thought purees would be easier.
I will keep breastfeeding her obviously.
The doc just mentioned introducing one new food every week

Contrary to some of the MN police on here, there is nothing “awful” about weaning your baby at 4 months if they are ready. Slow and steady is important, of course. Purée everything for a good few weeks to start with before you are sure they are tolerating it. Then some soft finger foods later on but not to start with.
I don’t understand why people think it’s ok to question and pass judgement so much on this issue. Just because a text book / guidance says 6 months, as with everything you just apply your own intuition and judgment re whether your baby is ready. Al babies hit all milestones at completely different times and that’s fine. Weaning is no different, so don’t worry about those telling you not too

Four months is very little and introducing one food per week (!) is quite old fashioned advice, so I'd probably want to corroborate with someone else to check this is actually current guidance (I know it can be different when they have allergies, particularly if they are on specialist formula)

That said (my DC did not have allergies) From 17 weeks once my babies could sit up I did allow them to explore random items of food that they were interested in if they wanted to. I didn't start with purees. I didn't think it was helpful - there is one theory that the outside development in terms of being able to balance/sit and get food to their mouths themselves is likely to be correlated with the gut being sealed enough to cope with foods other than breastmilk - I don't think there's any way of studying this to prove/disprove it as you can't really look inside a baby's gut. I didn't particularly restrict any foods unless I thought it would hurt them (e.g. choking hazards, spicy chillis, excess salt/sugar, honey)

Once they were taking in significant amounts of food and/or started to seem to expect to be included at mealtimes, then I started "doing" mealtimes as in thinking about them and including them, and then I introduced some spoon feeding as well.

With allergies it does seem sensible to introduce new foods singly rather than mixed together so you may need a more planned approach, but you could consider the finger foods for exploration until they are more able to take foods in option if you like the sound of it.

Another thing to bear in mind is that more recent studies and guidance in other countries shows that for babies susceptible to allergies, it can be beneficial to introduce allergens earlier rather than later - in Israel babies are often weaned onto a kind of peanut puff (like peanut wotsits) and it turns out that Israeli children have a far lower incidence of peanut allergy, this has been found to be because they try peanuts from around 4 months old. But since your baby is at higher risk I would DEFINITELY seek medical advice from an allergy specialist before you go blindly into this kind of plan. But it may be beneficial to approach it this way. You can buy the peanut puffs in Polish grocery stores. They are quite salty but you only give the baby a few at a time.

@SunnySideUp2020

I didn't decide to start her on solids. I am just following what her allergy specialist suggested at our last appointment. I did not go into why or why not do it tbh. I knew 6 months was the guideline but she apparently thought it would be good for DD to start at 4 months. She has been followed regularly by this doctor since being a month old hospitalized with suspected CMPA.

Thanks for the suggestions. I also thought purees would be easier.
I will keep breastfeeding her obviously.
The doc just mentioned introducing one new food every week

Oh well based on this, just do that! My first was CMPA but we didn’t wean until 6 months as didn’t need to (growing fine with just milk and didn’t show readiness). The CMPA support Facebook group may have some ideas if you’re unsure which vegetable purée to go with first.

@Cloudyrainbows321

Contrary to some of the MN police on here, there is nothing “awful” about weaning your baby at 4 months if they are ready. Slow and steady is important, of course. Purée everything for a good few weeks to start with before you are sure they are tolerating it. Then some soft finger foods later on but not to start with. I don’t understand why people think it’s ok to question and pass judgement so much on this issue. Just because a text book / guidance says 6 months, as with everything you just apply your own intuition and judgment re whether your baby is ready. Al babies hit all milestones at completely different times and that’s fine. Weaning is no different, so don’t worry about those telling you not too

Using the term ‘police’ to try and undermine belittle those who trust peer reviewed research by scientists and doctors is poor form.

I weaned mine at that age and started with baby rice and baby porridge. Moved onto purées carrots, mashed Banana etc

Thanks for the helpful comments!
I am seeing her paediatrician this week so will double check with her as well.
I am not in the UK btw and where i am i know it is quite "old fashion".

In terms of approach i was thinking more of letting her discover food test them and also see for allergies rather than feed her for calories or to wean. I guess that s what her allergy specialist meant as well? Since she didn't give any proper plan to follow!

OK I xposted with you - if you've been told this by an allergy specialist, then I'd go with them over random people on the internet I was assuming that this advice was coming from a GP or general paediatrician which is when I would be suspicious of it. An allergy specialist is a good person to take advice from. But it might be best to either call/email back and check what her views are on highly allergenic foods such as egg, peants, strawberry etc vs hypoallergenic foods to start like rice, carrots etc.

We weaned at 17 weeks for severe reflux. We followed Annabel Karmel's book, and started with pureed veg, then progressed to fruit.

@Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo it’s poor form not to read a post in full and then @ someone. The term is totally appropriate. I’ve no issue with people recommending what they see as appropriate and any research they may have considered. That’s what this forum is for. What is is not, is dictating to fellow parents what must be done and when. There is zero research on any issue relating to weaning that says it must be categorically done at 6 months. Indeed it is actually open to much interpretation and debate, hence parents need to be able to call on fellow parents for advice and use their own discretion re when their baby is ready. Some may feel their baby is ready at 4 months, there are some people who choose to wait until even further than 6 months- all fine and no need for your judgement either way

30 years ago, most babies started weaning at 4 months. If your specialist advised it, why not? I'd go for something like pureed carrot.
Caveat, not too much, or your baby will turn orange (don't ask me how I know )

Nobody has said it’s ‘awful.’ All people have said is that as she is starting her child on food earlier than current guidelines on the advice of a medical practitioner it might be best to contact them for guidance on how to go about that.

If you’re weaning early on medical advice, then the medical practitioner really should be giving you more advice on where to start.

These days most babies can go straight onto finger foods because they start weaning at 6 months, can sit up etc. If you’re starting at 4 months, then it’ll have to be purées. Feeding whole foods wouldn’t be safe at that age.

I’ve only weaned mine at 6 months and we just went straight to normal meals of almost anything and everything. However at 4 months, I’d guess you’d need to follow the more traditional route of single fruit/veg purées, maybe porridge and going slowly.

However, I really would go back to your medical professional and ask them for further advice about what they think is appropriate because most of the advice online these days is geared towards weaning starting at 6 months.

I weaned one of mine due to reflux and we did mostly baby rice, made with formula in our case but you could use breast milk, with a bit of fruit or veg purée. What is the supermarket baby food provision like where you live? I’ve lived in a few counties and there’s usually baby food labelled stage 1 or 4-6 months. Even if you prefer to make your own you could still go for a wander down that aisle for inspiration.

[quote Cloudyrainbows321]@Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo it’s poor form not to read a post in full and then @ someone. The term is totally appropriate. I’ve no issue with people recommending what they see as appropriate and any research they may have considered. That’s what this forum is for. What is is not, is dictating to fellow parents what must be done and when. There is zero research on any issue relating to weaning that says it must be categorically done at 6 months. Indeed it is actually open to much interpretation and debate, hence parents need to be able to call on fellow parents for advice and use their own discretion re when their baby is ready. Some may feel their baby is ready at 4 months, there are some people who choose to wait until even further than 6 months- all fine and no need for your judgement either way[/quote]
I did read you post in full and stand by thinking your phrase of ‘MN police’ is inappropriate. It isn’t judging someone to point out NHS advice. Especially when the OP hadn’t given all the info she later did.

Don't use baby rice it has no nutritional content and has the added risk of arsenic

Use simple veg purées such as carrot, mixed with a bit of milk (formula or breast)