Ok, I wrote a list of questions for my daughters doctor's appointment but I wont be able to attend with her *her daddy is taking her* so I thought I might ask some seasoned moms what they think.

1) When should I start offering solids to my daughter? She is almost 4 months old and we have tried a bit of rice cereal but she dosnt like it .. when can I offer her canned foods like squash and other level 1 foods?

2) When we first started using formula, she had some serious tummy problems like constipation after trying EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING she seemed to have no problems with the low iron Enfamil. Now, I have read they dont need the extra iron till later .. but now that she is almost 4 MO do you think I should try again with the Iron fortified formula or ask my Dr to test her for Anemia and if she isnt Anemic leave her on what she likes?

3) When should she start using the faster flow nipples on her bottle? She is a VERY messy eater and we have stopped using bibs .. now we use wash cloths under her chin she is sooo messy .. but I dont know if she should be using a faster flow or not .. she is still using the newborn flow *the first one* .. Im affraid that it will make her more messy or make her choke.

Well I dont want to bombard with every question .. this will do for now! Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

:D

Hello and congrats!

1. When to start rice cereal? - At 6 months of age. That's when our Ped. recommended and that's what we did.

2. Stay with the low-iron. Too much iron is not a good thing. We used the low-iron Enfamil.

3. Don't know. We just gauge how our son was doing. If he didn't get anything, then we enlarged the nipple just a little at a time until he looked comfy. You don't want the flow to be too fast that the baby almost chokes on the milk either.

Thanks so much for the info!

I started my kids on baby food at 4 months. They loved it! But my babies were so hungry all the time, i needed something to fill them up a little more.

Iron is not necessary at all for most babies. Low-iron is so much easier on their tummy. If she isn't anemic, then don't change.

As for the flow, if you are still burping her and she is that messy with her food, I would not go to a faster flow. It will only upset her tummy more because she will be eating faster. That will only bring on more gas.

take care
Lindy

Hi! My daughter is 3 1/2 months and I had the same problem with the constipation so I switched to low iron similac and have never had the problem again! The only thing is I heard they were no longer making it so I had to switch back a month ago and now that she is a little older we don't have the constipation anymore. I asked her Dr. about the cereal and he told me that as long as she doesn't seem hungry to wait on the cereal. I don't know how much your little darling weighs or is eating but she is 12 pounds and 4 oz and eats 7 oz every 4-5 hours. What is your schedule like just out of curiosity?

My baby is already 18 pounds, big big girl .. she was big when she was born .. and yes she does look hungry so I started her on cereal .. she seems to be happy with that although still not sleeping through the night.

She eats 4 - 5 oz every 4 hours ...

I started my hungry guy on level 1 foods at 4 months with the doc's permission. He had more than doubled his birthweight (weighed 18 lbs) and was eating 8 ozs every 4-5 hours. I was seriously running out of formula all the time. He's been much more satisfied since we started him on solids. And he didn't like rice cereal much, but he likes oatmeal cereal much better. He loves baby food. Sounds like your (big) little girl will be just fine with them.

I would leave her on Low Iron, esp. if you start solids. She can get natural iron through vegetables and the cereal is fortified. Oatmeal is fibrous, so if she likes it, it could be a good way for her to get her iron without constipating her.

As for the nipples, don't worry about it. Just watch what she is doing. I switched Cal to medium flow when it seemed like he as getting frustrated because he wasn't getting enough fast enough. She'll let you know when she needs a faster flow.