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There is no strict guideline answer to this but I can tell you what I did with both my boys (currently 23 months & 7 months). I introduced cereal at 4.5-5 months old. Every morning, after about 1.5hrs after thier first morning bottle, I would give them about 1-2tbsp of watery cereal. Like you've said, most of it ends up of their bibs than in their mouths. It's more about the experience that consumption at this point. I did this for about 3 weeks. I make the cereal gradually thicker. Then I introduced the 1st foods. I would give the "new" food for breakfast so that if their was an allergic reaction they wouldn't be going to sleep on it. And I would bump the cereal to dinner. I introduce a "new" food every 3-4 days. Then eventually tested and true foods could be also given at dinner along with a bit of cereal for filler. Now because your dd is already 6 months old you don't have to wait as long to try he 1st foods. I would wait until she has the hang of swallowing though...which could very well take up to 2-3 weeks. Just keep practicing with her. For more info there is a great website you can refer to and get ideas from: wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm

softbreeze, I am going through the exact same thing...dd is 6 months, exclusively breastfed to this point. I started rice cereal this past Monday and she hated it, so we tried oatmeal Tuesday and still dislikes but took a bit, I've just been trying each morning and will stop when she absolutely will not take any. I woke this morning lying in bed worrying about how to do the solids then, how much, when, etc. etc.

So here was my plan, anyone please let me know if this is how it works? I thought I'd do the oatmeal once a day each morning for about 4 or 5 days and then this weekend I plan to introduce 1 green vegetable (I'm trying to hold off on fruits and sweet veggies until after the non sweet ones). I figured I try that in the morning as well, but then like DDT said, do I keep doing/trying the oatmeal once per day, but move it to like noon or something? I thought I'd do that one veggie once a day for like 4 or 5 days and then if it goes ok then introduce another different veggie in the morning and then do that one for 4-5 days (along with the oatmeal still at one other time during the day). What happens to the first veggie then that I t ried? Do I have to feed that to her as well along with the oatmeal and the 2nd veggie I'm doing? Sorry, I know I'm probably making this harder than it needs to be, but what is my goal? Do I want to feed her 3 meals a day and what should she be eating at each of the 3 meals? AGH!!!!!!!!! bf'ing is so much easier, LOL.

You can move the cereal to dinner when you are trying a new food in the morning. You can add lunch in another month or two once she has gotten the hand of solids. My 7.5 month old is still not interested in lunch. We are trying some finger foods now, and we introduced the sippy cup at meal times when he was 6 months old.

To clarify...once you have added a few new foods to her menu you can make things more interesting. You can offer to two different veggies for dinner...or some pears along with her cereal for breakfast. You can even combine things like peas/peas, sweet potatoe/apple. And then come along the meats. Generally people tend to give cereal and some fruit for breakfast, for lunch some veggies/fruit, and dinner a veggies/meat combo.

wow!! There is alot of planning that goes into feeding time when it is not jsut strictly bf!! So, here is my next question then - I still bf her the same as I always do duringt he day?? Will she still nurse as much and consume as much milk now that she is also getting solids?? I want to keep my supply up as I want to pump some to freeze if I can, and if she is not going to nurse as much, then what do I do?? Stefkay I am with you - I am sure I am making this way more complicated than it needs to be, but I am really feeling at a loss on teh whole food thing. I wish she could just nurse for the rest of her life!! hee hee :)

No kidding! I'd love to just nurse till 1 year or 9 months and THEN do the solids, lol. I think you do continue to nurse as usual or as much as she wants. I do on demand feeding as that works for her and I think your supply should stay up. I am getting back to pumping once a day to keep my supply up too. I used to keep a large back stock of frozen milk, but haven't had any for a while because she doesn't seem to eat as much , therefore we can go out without having to take abottle all of the time. Now I want to get some more frozen milk stored up especially in case I do start to lose my supply.