Hi mamas,

My 4 month old son has been eating wonderfully for months. The doctor told me to start him on rice cereal 3 weeks ago which has been going well. He's been eating 3 tbsp cereal + 5 oz. formula first thing in the morning. The next feeding he eats the same. Then, all the other feedings are strictly bottle - 5 to 6 oz. each time.

Just yesterday, he started fussing during one of the afternoon feedings and didn't want his bottle. He did want to bite my finger though. Then I noticed how bad he was drooling, and wanting to bite every rattle and finger in sight. After some tylenol, he felt better and took his bottle. My questions are:

1. Am I correct to assume he's teething this early?
2. I'm supposed to introduce veggies to him. If he's teething, how will I know if he has a reaction to the new food?
3. How/when do I introduce the veggie? Does he still take a bottle then? Do I need to start cutting out some of his bottles?

Sorry for the loaded question. My doctor was very vague on all this..........

Thanks!

Hi there!

1. It sounds like teething to me.
2. If he has a reaction to the food it will most likely be a rash or something, so it will be pretty obvious. If he won't eat it, try again in a few days...it can take a while for babies to warm up to certain foods. And when you add a new food, wait several days before starting the next new food. That way it's easy to tell what food they are reacting to.
3. You can introduce the veggies at anytime once the Dr. has given you the go ahead. These little guys are really good at knowing how much they need to eat. Start with a half a jar or so and then if he's still hungry offer a bottle. Over time he'll start to eat more and more real food and less formula. You'll probably just feed him real food 2 times a day at this age...so he'll still be having a lot of bottles. And just to warn you, when they eat a ton of veggies they can turn kinda orange...my son looked like one of the old oompa loompas he was so orange! It goes away.

Good luck, I just started on the cereal and DD hates it...she won't eat. So we're still living in bottleville.