Baby Parenting Guide

when do you start feeding stage 2 baby food to your baby?

our baby is 5mo old. she loves vegetables and fruit. we usually feed her gerber but there are stage 1 meats in the beech nut brand. is there a difference? and when can she eat stage 2 gerber food? her pediatrician gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal and slowly introduce vegetables. she loves them! i usually feed her a bottle some cereal and fruit at breakfast, vegetable and bottle at lunch, and vegetable/bottle at dinner. is that too much?

Public Response to when do you start feeding stage 2 baby food to your baby?

1. I started feeding my son stage 2 foods when he turned 5 months. They say to go by developmental stages rather than age. My son sat up unassisted and could push himself from tummy to hands and knees. He is now 7 months and is still eating stage 2 foods as well as some stage 3 foods. His favorite stage 2 foods are: Chicken noodle, Chicken Vegetable dinner, Beef vegetable dinner, Turkey rice dinner, and mac and cheese. you have to judge where your child is developmentally before deciding if its time to move up. You can go to Gerber's web site for more info. Im glad your baby likes fruit! my son hates anything sweet! the only sweet thing he likes is pedilyte popsicles!
2. I never fed him "Stage 2." "Stage 2" is a marketing ploy by the makers of baby food. Make your own baby food and skip the highly processed junk in the jar. Mash a banana with a fork. Steam peas and put them in the blender or food processor. It's not hard, it's cheaper, it's better for them. When he gets to be about 8 months, mash up the same dinner you are having. Again, cheaper, easier, better for them.
3. ...it sounds like she has a very well rounded diet...when my son was a baby, he was around 6 months old when I started introducing some Gerber meats...just a little at first to see if the little tummy can handle it...I don't believe there is a difference in the products...but "here say" is that Beech Nut is excellent for fruits and veggies while Gerber does the rice, cereal and meats to a smaller molecule of digestive level...my son was a good eater and loved the rice dinners but that was 20 yrs ago and I don't know what's really palatable now...read labels...I always read labels because my son was and still is lactose intolerant...Good Luck