Looking for some input on first solids

[@llli*summermomma719]

My baby with be 6 months in a few weeks. I was wondering what the best is to start with for her first solid. The pedi has mentioned either rice cereal or oatmeal. She was breasted the first three months and then she just kept pushing away. She's never have either of those in a bottle. The reason I'm still confused is because I've been reading mixed views on rice cereal not being good. But at the same time thought that's what to start with. I've also heard avocados were best to start with. I'm just really confused lol.

[@llli*mommal]

Cereals became a default first solid because they are cheap, easy to shovel into a baby's mouth, and bland. They are often fortified with vitamins and/or minerals, but aside from that they're pure starch and do not offer much nutritional benefit; vitamins and minerals can easily be obtained from other solids which also offer fiber, protein, calcium, fat, etc. Babies don't necessarily like bland foods, particularly if they're breastfed and used to experiencing a variety of flavors through mom's milk, and shoveling food in via spoon is not necessarily the best or only option for starting solids.

Good first foods:
- steamed mashed or puréed vegetables (squash, carrot, leafy greens like spinach, yams, beans)
- soft fruits (bananas, peaches, pears, avocados)
- soft boiled or shredded meats (like chicken from a soup)

You can either purée or mash your baby's solids and offer them on a spoon, or you can allow your baby to self-feed, which is messier but has advantages; it is a more educational experience for the baby, it's less time-consuming for you, and it allows the baby to completely self-regulate his solid food intake.

The adage about solids is "until one, it's just for fun". That means that until a year, breastmilk or formula should remain the baby's majority source of nutrition, with solids complementing but not replacing breastmilk/formula in the baby's diet. When you start solids, you start with small quantities- maybe a teaspoon or two per day- gradually working up to larger quantities at around a year. And finally, because solids are just for fun with new tastes, textures, and motor skills, it doesn't matter if the baby actually eats them. You want to approach solids as something you do for fun, so if your baby eats some solids, great. If she tastes them and then spits them out, still great. And if she doesn't want to even taste them, and prefers to squish them with her hands, still great: she had fun and she learned something, and that's all you're looking for.

[@llli*isabelofmtl]

I recommend looking into Baby Led Weaning. And no, this does no refer to complete weaning from the breast. It's just the British term for the introduction of a food that is not breastmilk.