• 0Shopping Cart
  • About Me
    • Media
  • Coaching
  • Resources
    • Podcasts
    • Guides
    • Workshops
  • Blog
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Is my baby ready for solid foods?

August 14, 2022|inNutrition

Dr. Linda: “My 5-month-old is getting up every 2-3 hours at night now even though she had been sleeping through the night for a few weeks. Is she waking up because she is hungry? Should I feed her?”

Every child is unique, so there is not a one size fits all answer.

Knowing certain facts will make your decision making easier:

  • Most 5-month-old babies get all they need from a nutritional standpoint from breastmilk alone and won’t need solid foods till they are 6 months old.
  • Some babies will be ready to eat solids earlier and will show the signs of readiness for eating solids before they are 6 months old.
  • A general rule of thumb is: If your baby is at least 4 months old and is showing signs of readiness, you may want to explore starting baby foods.
  • Giving babies solid food before they are 4 months old does not generally lead to better sleeping at night, and, increases the risk of your baby choking and inhaling the food into her lungs.
  • 4–6-month-olds go through a ‘sleep regression’, in other words, a developmental stage where from now on they will wake up every 2-3 hours at night. If you have taught your baby to fall asleep on her own, she will wake up, partially, maybe fuss a little, survey her environment and, if everything is ‘safe’, she will then go back to sleep on her own. If you make the mistake of waking her up and feeding her during these partial awakenings, she will start associating your presence and feeding with falling asleep. So, instead of going back to sleep on her own, she will start waking up and crying for you to come and feed her so she can fall asleep. This is a habit many moms create by accident and can be very hard to change later. This is why it is so important that you watch your baby closely during the day to look for signs of ‘solid readiness’ which we will talk about next. If your baby has the signs of ‘solid readiness’ then it may be time to start solids so she doesn’t wake up hungry at night. If she doesn’t, her awakenings may be a sign of the 4-6-month sleep ‘regression.

Signs that your baby is ready to handle solid foods safely without choking

Signs of ‘solid food readiness’:

Being ready for solid foods depends on your baby’s brain and nervous system development.

When your baby can do 3 of the following things, she is either fully ready or very close to being ready to protect herself from choking on solid foods:

  • She can hold her head up without support
  • She can sit up with your support
  • She is able to push herself up from the floor with straight arms.
  • When you put a spoon in her mouth, she curls her tongue back instead of pushing the spoon out
  • She leans forward and opens her mouth to let you know she is hungry. She will watch you like a hawk while you eat which may make you feel a little guilty for not feeding her
  • She can sit back and close her mouth to let you know that she is full.
  • She starts to wake up at night after having slept for 6-8 hours straight for a few weeks and will not go back to sleep until you feed her especially when you have taught her to fall asleep on her own.

This mom said her baby was not showing any readiness for solids so we focused on teaching her baby to self-sooth herself to sleep. So, this mom  avoided starting any sleep associations she would regret later on.

Being present and really focused with your baby in every interaction you have, strengthens your bond and, will make it easier for your baby to teach you what she needs. You will not have to guess; she will show you.

How to Start on Solid Foods

Once your baby shows you she is ready for solids, you can start her off in many ways:

Baby oatmeal or mixed cereal fortified with iron
Pureed-foods

This is where you blend the food into a smooth puree by adding water, breastmilk or formula. You will start feeding your baby the puree out of a spoon.

More lumpy purees or mashed foods

As your baby advances or if she doesn’t like smooth purees, you can try making them lumpier and give them more texture.

Finger Food

which are bigger pieces of soft foods your baby can feed themselves i.e. baby-led weaning

What is baby-led weaning?

Baby-led weaning means that you don’t use purees or mashed foods but start your baby off on finger sized chunks of soft foods and let her feed herself from the start .

You start any way that feels comfortable to you or mix  different ways of feeding your baby different foods.

There really is  no right or wrong way – the most important thing is that you give your baby  a wide variety of foods so she gets all the nutrients she needs.

Once your baby is ready for solids you are both setting off into a whole new world of exploration as you slowly and thoughtfully introduce your baby to the many varieties of foods she can get to know and enjoy over time. Have fun with this!

You can buy ready-made baby foods or make them yourself. Follow my future blogs for a lot more on introducing foods to your baby and advancing her diet.

Also read Advancing Baby food Part 1 & Part 2

To your holistic health and happiness,
Dr. Linda

Tags4 month sleep regression, Airway Obstruction, Baby food readiness, Baby led feeding, Brain, Crying, Diet, Edible Grain, Emotions, Infant Food, Iron, Lung, Mouth, Nervous System, Nutrients, Sleep, Tongue, Water, Weaning, baby led weaning, baby waking up at night, finger foods, infant sleep, lumpy foods, milk, purees, sleep regression, starting baby food
Share this Article
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Other Categories

  • Anxiety & Stress (6)
  • Breastfeeding (1)
  • Common Challenges (5)
  • Newborn Care (6)
  • Nutrition (4)
  • Pregnancy (2)

Also Read

  • Long-Term Effects of C-SectionLong-Term Effects of C-Section on Moms & Babies – Risks & BenefitsMarch 18, 2023 - 12:10 pm
  • Choosing a Baby DoctorChoosing a Baby Doctor, 3 Important StepsMarch 12, 2023 - 12:37 pm
  • Homemade Baby FoodPreparing Homemade Baby Food (Best Practices): Part 1July 19, 2022 - 1:31 pm
  • solid foodsSolid Foods, is my baby ready? 4 Types you can start withJuly 18, 2022 - 5:31 pm

Latest Instagram

تفاعلك مع طفلك أو رضيعك يعتبر أمراً بالغ الأهمية لتطوره الصحي المتكامل!
يلا نتعرف مع بعض على اهميته!

#askdrlinda 
  #نصائح  #إلى_كل_أم #عائلة #صحتكم #صحتكم_النفسية  #الأطفال #أمهات  #امومة_واعية #معلومةطبية 
 #الرضع #أمهات #صحة_الاطفال #طب_الاطفال #امومة_واعية #امومة_وابوة
See More Follow Me

Latest TikTok

Disclaimer

The information in this website is for educational and informational purposes only . It is not meant to be used or relied upon for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. Read More

Legal

  • Global Parenting Initiative
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyrights
  • Refund and Returns Policy

Contact

I honor your privacy and your child’s privacy, I will keep any information you send to my contact details strictly confidential

Email drlinda@askdrlinda.com

Whatsapp: +962790055979

Subscribe

© Copyright - Dr. Linda Abu Jaber Made by Mono Media ME
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Rss
Baby Food Advancing: Part 2baby foodHomemade Baby FoodPreparing Homemade Baby Food (Best Practices): Part 1
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

AcceptHide

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
AcceptHide Notification
DISCLAIMER
The information in this website is for educational and informational purposes only . It is not meant to be used or relied upon for any diagnostic or treatment purposes.
I Agree

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and [business entity name] (“we,” “us” or “our”), concerning your access to and use of the [website name.com] website as well as any other media form, media channel, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto (collectively, the “Site”). 
You agree that by accessing the Site, you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with all of these Terms and Conditions, then you are expressly prohibited from using the Site and you must discontinue use immediately.
Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the Site from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms and Conditions at any time and for any reason. 
We will alert you about any changes by updating the “Last updated” date of these Terms and Conditions, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change. 

It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to, and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms and Conditions by your continued use of the Site after the date such revised Terms and Conditions are posted.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the Site is our proprietary property and all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics on the Site (collectively, the “Content”) and the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the “Marks”) are owned or controlled by us or licensed to us, and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions. 

The Content and the Marks are provided on the Site “AS IS” for your information and personal use only. Except as expressly provided in these Terms and Conditions, no part of the Site and no Content or Marks may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.


Provided that you are eligible to use the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Site, the Content and the Marks.


USER REPRESENTATIONS

You may be required to register with the Site. You agree to keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your account and password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.
You may not access or use the Site for any purpose other than that for which we make the Site available. The Site may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us. 

PRIVACY POLICY

We care about data privacy and security. Please review our Privacy Policy [CLICK HERE]/posted on the Site]. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. Please be advised the Site is hosted in the United States. 
If you access the Site from the European Union, Asia, or any other region of the world with laws or other requirements governing personal data collection, use, or disclosure that differ from applicable laws in the United States, then through your continued use of the Site, you are transferring your data to the United States, and you expressly consent to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States. 
[Further, we do not knowingly accept, request, or solicit information from children or knowingly market to children. Therefore, in accordance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if we receive actual knowledge that anyone under the age of 13 has provided personal information to us without the requisite and verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information from the Site as quickly as is reasonably practical.]
Our Terms & Conditions
I Agree