Starting Solids with Baby at 4 months – Connor Update

My current parenting goal with Connor is to have a healthy, well fed baby who sleeps. I can’t believe he’s already 4 months old! While we waited to start Tommy on solids until 6 months, new research published this summer suggests that babies who start at 3 months sleep sounder and longer than exclusively breastfed babies until 6 months.  

This comes with a little bit of controversy as most parenting experts recommend waiting until 6 months. According to the study however, not only did the infants who started solids at 16 weeks sleep more but they also woke up less. These kinds of results not only help baby but also benefit the quality of life for parents. Of course, always talk to your pediatrician. Ours gave us her blessing at our 4 month check up. 

As a mom whose first born still doesn’t sleep through the night at 2.5, I say bring on the solids! I strongly feel that parents need to make their own mental health more of a priority these days for the wellbeing of the entire family. I also believe each child is different and every parent needs to do what they feel comfortable with.  

When I first started to introduce solids to Tommy, I struggled!

I struggled to make it part of the routine. It seemed so much more time consuming to make him a farm to table meal than just give him breastmilk. I was never allowing enough time for meals, to prepare or to eat. I feel like we waited closer to 7-8 months to really get him started with solids. I now wonder how much this impacted our sleep. 

With Connor, I no longer have the mom guilt I carried with Tommy. I have less time to make meals from scratch but still want to give my babies food that is inspired by homemade foods. 

We just started experimenting with different jar purees because it’s convenient for us. Beech-Nut® Naturals™ is inspired by homemade, 100% natural and has no artificial ingredients. 

Beech-Nut® actually went into the homes of moms and dads and sat in their kitchen to learn about how they feed their children. As a small company in upstate New York, this must have been a nice day to get out of the office or hit in the face with flying food purees! 

I think I wish someone had told me as a new mom that it doesn’t have to be so complicated. Keep things simple. Products exist for a reason, mostly to help parents maintain their sanity and encourage healthy development. Sure it’s nice to boil and puree a sweet potato with breastmilk but with a toddler, that’s often not possible and it’s so much easier to use ready-made food for the baby. Did I mention how much I hate cleaning up? Once the boys are down for the night, I just want to relax on the couch, not clean the food processor. 

So far, Connor has enjoyed the Just Apples and Just Carrots which are age appropriate to feed starting at 4 months. Other flavors I’m excited to introduce at 6 months include Just Pear & Blueberry, Just Apple & Kale, Apple & Pumpkin, and Just Pineapple, Pear & Avocado. 

I did a combination of spoon fed and baby-led weaning with Tommy. This time around, I’ll likely do the same. I don’t have the ability to exclusively watch my baby gnaw on pieces of food and hope he doesn’t bite off a piece and choke. We’ve also given Connor a little bit of mashed avocado and sweet potato. 

I buy my Beech-Nut® products at Target but it can also be purchased as most grocery stores, Wal-Mart; just take a look at the store locator here. They also have Organic pouches and simple-ingredient toddler snacks that Tommy enjoys! You can learn more about Beech-Nut® here. 

Jury is still out on whether starting Connor on solids earlier helped him sleep more. Stay tuned… 

At what age did you start solids with your kids? Did you notice a difference in their sleep habits?

This post is sponsored by Beech-Nut. All thoughts and opinions are my own.