A couple of questions about starting solids?

It is your decision, but I would go with something other than carrots just to make your life easier. Carrots are not as easy to puree as say pumpkin or sweet potato. Carrots will not hurt her but as I said, it will be easier for YOU to choose something else.

When starting solids it is best to offer pureed foods. Buy a hand blender if you don't already have one.

Feed her as much as she wants. At first she may only take one or two little spoonfuls, but as she gets the hang of it she will want more.

It doesn't really matter when you give it to her, but it is important that she has her milk feeds FIRST and solid food second. At the moment (and up until one year) breast milk is her main source of nutrition. If you were to offer solids before breast milk, her stomach would be too full to take as much milk meaning she would get less nutrients.

Unless your daughter is showing interest in your food and is sitting up unassisted, there's really no reason to introduce solids/complementary foods, but I do agree with your decision to skip manufactured baby-cereals. They are unnecessary additions to a breastfed (whether EBM or nursed) baby.

If you wait a few weeks to when your daughter shows signs of being ready (see here for signs: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-wh... you can skip purees altogether if you wish, or do a combination of purees and table food (whatever you eat minus added sugar/salt). Bananas, Avocados, mashed potatoes are good things to start with, then after a few weeks, you can go for carrots. You can steam them until they are soft but still can be held by little hands and offer as carrot sticks (mini carrots are great for this) or you can mash them up at this point and offer on a teaspoon (which you can hand to your baby for her to try to find her mouth).

From 6 months, they can eat as much as they wish, so long as it is offered after a milk feeding. Choose the meal that it's most convenient for you. Buy a highchair that is easy to clean and has not so many nooks and crannies where food can hide!

I'm adding some links below to help you with food introduction. Just make it fun and consider it as a way to introduce taste and texture and it'll be fine. Babies don't need extra nutrition until after the age of 1 so breastmilk/formula is fine as her primary food source for now.

I hope it is okay to quote another site as long as show the source. Below I quoted kellymom.com, one of the BEST sites ever on breast feeding. There is sooooo much info there. I also want to make sure that you know that once you introduce solids your EBF infant will show a drop in iron levels because the iron found in fortified sources makes it harder for your baby to digest the iron in breastmilk. Without supplemental foods, your baby absorbs approximately 50-75% of the iron in your breastmilk whereas they absorb 4-10% of the iron in a fortified cereal. There is lots of research to show this & it is cited on the page I linked. Because of the research I read on optimal health for infants who are EBF as well as info on long term health of EBF infants, I personally delayed solids until 7 months & couldn't be happier for it. You only need to introduce solids for texture & flavor. Most of it is indigestible at this point & isn't helping nutritionally - it certainly is not necessary or better for your baby than EBF only.

"Healthy, full-term infants who are breastfed exclusively for periods of 6-9 months have been shown to maintain normal hemoglobin values and normal iron stores. In one of these studies, done by Pisacane in 1995, the researchers concluded that babies who were exclusively breastfed for 7 months (and were not give iron supplements or iron-fortified cereals) had significantly higher hemoglobin levels at one year than breastfed babies who received solid foods earlier than seven months. The researchers found no cases of anemia within the first year in babies breastfed exclusively for seven months and concluded that breastfeeding exclusively for seven months reduces the risk of anemia. " http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron.ht...

Here is a link to an article (it's lengthy) from Le Leche International discussing MEAT (of all things) as baby's first foods because it is high in protein & has natural iron vs fortified cereals...since breast milk is high in carbs already, etc. http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVDec99Jan00p13...

Hope it helps!

GL whatever you decide to do!

carrots can be difficult to digest. Mashed banana, cooked and pureed apples, mashed avocado, cooked and pureed pumpkin/squash or pears might be easier options digestion-wise.

1. make the food very runny. add lots of breast milk or cooled boiled water to make it very runny.

2. feed her a taste on the end of your finger tip. then use a spoon to feed her as much as she likes.

avoid a feed larger than a cup size, just to ensure she doesn't over do it and get a tummy ache.

3. it's best to offer soilds in between breastfeeds at the time of day when she is most awake and cheerful eg. mid morning.

4. there is a wonderful website which gives great advice on making your own baby food. www.wholesomebabyfood.com

At 6 months the infants iron stores are depleted and they don't get enough from momma's milk. This is one of the reasons to give infant cereal because it is iron-fortified. So if you are not using cereal make sure that the food choices you pick have a good source of iron in it.

Also remember that if things don't go well you still have another month so just take it slowly.

1) Very soft - like the consistency of applesauce

2) Start off with one teaspoon. The first couple of times she will be wearing more then she actually eats. She has to learn to use her tongue to move the food to the back of her mouth which is a different motion then nursing.

3) You can give it to her any ''meal' but remember that it always comes after nursing. Breastmilk should still be her number once source of food at this time. Think of this as extra or dessert food.