Solid Food Options For Your Little One

Introduction of baby to solid foods, is often called weaning on to foods.

By the age of 4-6 months, most babies are ready to begin eating solid foods as a complement to breast-feeding or formula-feeding. It’s during this time that babies typically stop using their tongues to push food out of their mouths and begin to develop the coordination to move solid food from the front of the mouth to the back for swallowing.

Signs that your baby is ready for solid foods.

Your baby can hold his or her head in a steady, upright position
Your baby sit with support
Your baby is mouthing his or her hands or toys
The baby can co-ordinate his/her eyes, hands and mouth so that they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth, all by themselves.
Is your baby interested in what you’re eating?

If you answer yes to these questions and you have the OK from your baby’s doctor, you can begin supplementing your baby’s liquid diet.

Weaning Foods

Continue feeding your baby breast milk or formula as usual.

Start with baby cereal. Mix 1 tablespoon of a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal with 4 tablespoons (60 milliliters) of breast milk or formula. Many parents start with rice cereal. Help your baby sit upright and offer the cereal with a small spoon once or twice a day. Once your baby gets the hang of swallowing runny cereal, mix it with less liquid and gradually increase the amount you offer. For variety, you might offer single-grain oatmeal or barley cereals.
Add pureed meat, vegetables and fruits. Once your baby masters cereal, gradually introduce pureed meat, vegetables and fruits. Offer single-ingredient foods that contain no sugar or salt, and wait three to five days between each new food. If your baby has a reaction to a particular food – such as diarrhea, rash or vomiting – you’ll know the culprit. After introducing your baby to a variety of single-ingredient foods, you can begin to offer them in combination.
Offer finely chopped finger foods. By ages 8 months to 10 months, most babies can handle small portions of finely chopped finger foods, such as soft fruits, vegetables, pasta, cheese, well-cooked meat, baby crackers and dry cereal. As your baby approaches his or her first birthday, you might offer your baby three meals a day – as well as snacks – with mashed or chopped versions of whatever the rest of the family is eating.
Good first foods to try are sweet ripe fruit, in particular apple, pear and banana, and cooked vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips or peas.
Introduce a cup from around six months and offer sips of water with meals. Using an open cup or a free flow cup without a valve will help your baby learn to sip and is better for your baby’s teeth.

By 9 months, your baby will move toward eating three meals a day. It will be a mixture of soft finger foods, mashed and chopped foods. Your baby’s diet should consist of a variety of the following types of food: fruit and vegetables; bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other starchy foods; meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non dairy sources of protein and milk and dairy products.

From 12 months onwards, You can give your baby:

three to four servings a day of starchy food such as potatoes, bread and rice
three to four servings a day of fruit and vegetables
two servings a day of meat, fish, eggs, dhal or other pulses (beans and lentils)

Handling Food Allergy

There’s no convincing evidence that avoiding certain foods during early childhood will help prevent food allergies.

Still, check with your baby’s doctor if any close relatives have a food allergy. You might consider giving your child his or her first taste of a highly allergenic food at home – rather than at a restaurant – with an oral antihistamine available, just in case. In case you decide to introduce solid foods before six months, you should avoid giving your baby certain foods as they may cause food allergies or make your baby ill. These include foods that contain wheat, gluten, nuts, peanuts, peanut products, seeds, liver, eggs, fish, shellfish, cows’ milk and soft or un-pasteurized cheese.

Avoid

Avoid Juices. Too much juice might contribute to weight problems and diarrhea, as well as thwart your baby’s appetite for more-nutritious solid foods. In addition, sipping juice throughout the day or while falling asleep can lead to tooth decay. If you choose to offer juice, wait until your baby is at least 6 months or older. Also, make sure the juice is pasteurized, mild, 100 percent fruit juice. Limit the amount your baby drinks to 4 to 6 ounces (118 to 177 milliliters) a day – about one food serving of fruit – and serve it in a cup.
Don’t offer cow’s milk or honey before age 1. Cow’s milk doesn’t meet an infant’s nutritional needs – it isn’t a good source of iron – and can increase the risk of iron deficiency. Honey might contain spores that can cause a serious illness known as infant botulism.
If you offer solids to your baby before age 4 months, avoid offering home-prepared spinach, beets, green beans, squash and carrots, which might contain high levels of potentially harmful compounds (nitrites) from soil. If your drinking water comes from a private well, consider having it checked for nitrates.
To prevent choking, stick to foods that are soft, broken down into small pieces and easy to swallow. As your baby progresses in eating solid foods, don’t offer hot dogs, chunks of meat or cheese, grapes, raw vegetables or fruit chunks, unless they’re cut up into small pieces. Also, don’t give babies hard foods, such as seeds, nuts, popcorn and hard candy that food can’t be changed to make them safe options. Other high-risk foods include peanut butter and marshmallows.
Keep in mind that citrus can also cause some infants to develop a rash.

Tips to make Meal Time more Enjoyable

When your baby begins eating solid food, mealtime is sure to become an adventure. Here’s help making it more enjoyable – for both you and your baby.

Stay seated. At first, you might feed your baby in an infant seat or propped on your lap. As soon as your baby can sit easily without support, use a highchair with a broad, stable base. Buckle the safety straps, and keep other children from climbing or hanging on to the highchair.
Encourage exploration. Your baby is likely to play with his or her food between bites. Although it’s messy, hands-on fun helps fuel your baby’s development. Place a dropcloth or mat on the floor so you won’t worry about falling food.
Introduce utensils. Offer your baby a spoon to hold while you feed him or her with another spoon. As your baby’s dexterity improves, encourage your baby to dip the spoon in food and bring it to his or her mouth.
Offer a cup. Feeding your baby breast milk or formula from a cup at mealtime can help pave the way for weaning from a bottle. Around age 9 months, your baby might be able to drink from a cup on his or her own.
Dish individual servings. Your baby might eat just a few spoonfuls of food at a time. If you feed your baby directly from a jar or container, saliva on the spoon can quickly spoil any leftovers. Instead, place servings in a dish. Opened jars of baby food can be safely refrigerated for up to three days.
Avoid power struggles. If your baby turns away from a new food, don’t push. Simply try again another time. And again. And again. Repeated exposure can help ensure variety in your baby’s diet.
Know when to call it quits. When your baby has had enough to eat, he or she might turn away from the spoon, lean backward, or refuse to open his or her mouth. Don’t force extra bites. As long as your baby’s growth is on target, you can be confident that he or she is getting enough to eat.

Enjoy your baby’s sloppy tray, gooey hands and sticky face. You’re building the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating.

Keep feeding times relaxed and happy, so that your baby associates food with fun and pleasure.

Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.