Giving your baby their first taste of solid foods is a major milestone for not only your child, but also you as a parent. Here's everything that you will need to know before they take their first bite.
Disclaimer: I am in no way a medical professional. All of this information comes from reading parenting books, research, and personal experience,. If you feel at any point uncomfortable, always consult with your pediatrician.
When to Introduce
The first thing that you must look for is signs of readiness, which is typically found between the months of four and six. Your child should be able to sit with very little to no support, have good head control, no longer have tongue-thrust reflex (making them able to move food from the front of their mouth to the back), hand coordination, and be able to open mouth and lean forward when offered food.
How to Introduce
Nursing before and after offering food is an important step in introducing solids to your child, especially at first. Milk is still the uttermost importance within your baby's diet. Additionally, they will be more inclined to show interest in the new food when they aren't ravenously hungry. With that, it is also important to remember that foods at this stage are there for fun, play, exploration, and experimentation.
Offer when the baby is in the mood. Depending on what works best for your family, this may end up being during quiet time when the baby has more time to focus, or during family time when there is more socialization. Whenever it may be, it is an important factor in peaking your child's interest in not only that particular food, but also in eating in general. You don't want to have your child end up associating food with discomfort and moodiness.
Let your baby try foods one at a time, waiting 3-5 days in between new introductions. This is something that I cannot stress enough. It ensures that if any problems arise, you are able to directly pinpoint the culprit. Generally, you no longer have to wait to introduce allergenic foods unless there is a family history. And if there is always consult with your pediatrician before offering foods. The eight most allergenic foods to be cautious with include cow's milk, egg whites, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soy beans.
Ensure to offer small amounts while encouraging them to eat slowly. At first, your child will only need one to two tablespoons of food to satisfy their needs. Gradually, their bellies will expand and become better adjusted to actual foods so you can then also gradually add more and more foods to their meals. With the adjust they may also seem to not like certain foods. But don't completely rule it out. Instead offer it at another time. It may just take time. The feel of the spoon mixed with the tastes and textures create new sensations for your baby. So understandably there will be grimaces and faces with each and every step.
How to Prepare the Food
At first the easiest for children to eat are foods that are smooth in texture being mashed, pureed, or strained. It takes time for kids to adjust to textures so they may gag, cough, or spit up to different foods. But as their oral skills develop, their interest in thicker and lumpier foods will too.
Tips:
- Mix cereals and thicker mashed foods with breastmilk, formula, and/or water for a smoother texture.
- Mash or puree vegetables and fruits until smooth.
- Cook any hard fruits and vegetables properly until soft enough to easily mash with a fork.
- Remove all choking hazards such as fat, skin, and bones from meat before cooking.
- Cut softer foods into small pieces or thin slices.
- Cook and finely grind all grains.
How Much and How Often
Until a year old, milk by breastmilk and/or formula will remain the main source of nutrition.
Start small, giving one to two tablespoons and watch for fullness. Until six months: Hunger will present with hands in the mouth, head turning towards the milk, and pucker, smack or lick of the lips, while fullness will present with a closed mouth, turn of the head away, and relaxed hands. From six months on: Hunger will present with reaching or pointing to food, open mouth when food offered, excitement to the sight of food, and physical gestures , while fullness will present with food being pushed away, a closed mouth, turn of the head away, and physical gestures.
Keep a balance within the food, introducing overtime to gradually become part of their diet. As previously mentioned, waiting between foods is a very important step when introducing food. Ensuring that there is a 3-5 day space between a new introduction of foods helps in knowing that if they do develop any reaction, you can know exactly which food produced it.
Give something to drink or eat about every three hours or five to six times throughout the day. This means that they will consume about three meals with two to three snacks every day.
First Aid
Know the difference between choking and gagging, and what to do in either case. To prevent it, always be present while your baby is eating, sit them up while eating in either a high chair or on your lap, and cook and prepare according to your child's developmental needs. Taking a CPR course at your local REMSA affiliate cannot hurt so that you cannot only spot the signs, but also know how to handle it with ease and with a peace of mind.
Also know the different hazards associated with the age of your child. Until about a year old, hazards include uncut spherical foods, pieces of hard raw fruit or vegetables, dry fruits, whole or chopped nuts, tough or large chunks of meat, large chunks of cheese, cookies, granola bars, chips, pretzels, hard candies, gum, and marshmallows. While up until two years, hazards include carrot sticks, whole spherical foods, large pieces of raw fruit or vegetables, whole nuts, tough meat, seeds, popcorn, chips, gum, and hard candy.
Food and Drinks to Encourage and Limit
Every parenting style is different so this is something completely up to you. But know that healthy habits begin from the very start of their food journey.
Encourage:
- Fruits: Bananas, strawberries, pears, apples, oranges, melons, and avocados.
- Vegetables: Spinach, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash, and beets.
- Whole grains: Breads, crackers, and pastas.
- Meats: Beef, lamb, chicken, fish, and turkey.
- Dairy: Yogurt and cheese.
- Water, about 4-6 ounces a day starting at six months.
- Breastmilk and/or formula.
- Cow's milk at one year.
Limit:
- Food or drinks with added sugars.
- Highly salted foods.
- Juice, about 4 ounces or less starting at one year.
- Cow's milk, about 24 ounces or less starting at one year.
Tastes and Textures
Throughout your child's food journey, you should always offer a variety of tastes and textures. This helps with their fine motor skills, chewing capabilities, and acceptance with variety of foods. So don't be afraid to gradually add different spices to their tasting palette experiences. Also try different cooking methods of foods. The taste can be completely transformed depending on the way in which a food is cooked.
Mealtime
At the beginning, there will be a lot of experimentation with the time that will be best for feedings. Not only for your child, but also for you.
But as soon as your baby understands the concept of food, it is also important to jump on a routine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even if they may not elude with your child's hunger at those specific times, they will get used to the idea of eating on a schedule. And with that said, never force your baby to eat just because the rest of the family is. That will do nothing for your baby's interest in mealtime.
Every routine is different from family to family, but here are some things to include:
- The washing of hands before sitting down.
- Placing them to sit in a safe and comfortable place where you can watch them at all times.
- Facing them towards the family members as to include them during the whole process.
- Limiting of distractions by either turning the electronics down or completely off.
- Including them in the conversations through interaction.
And by the end, know that it is okay if it does not last long! At this stage, baby's focus does not last long, so make their meal times for as long as they can pay attention without force.
What to Expect
Just like parenting, there are no hard and fast rules to first foods. There are only suggestions. But here is my guide:
- Four to six months: Single grain cereals
- Four to eight months: Pureed vegetables, fruits, and meats.
- Six to eight months: Single-ingredient finger foods.
- Nine to twelve months: Chopped, ground, and mashed foods.
There are a lot of messes! Food is going to fling and fly in about every direction imaginable. Getting food in their mouth takes coordination and practice on both parts. And then their hands obtain that coordination and the plates and utensils begin to make their flying abilities known as well.
What I Use
I decided not to spend a fortune on the bowls and spoons that I used to feed my kids, because let's be real, kid's are destructive as hell! So I made a trip to Walmart for Munchkin infant bowls for $7.97, plates for $13.76, and spoons for $6.99. There's also a few extra reasons I decided on just using the Infant utensils.
It's all about the perfect portions! The baby plate or bowl provides a wonderful guide to keep portions in check. Because don't forget that the majority of their nutrition is not found on that plate, but rather their bottle. So they're the perfect visual reminder that here, less is more when keeping their food portions appropriate for their tiny tummies. And with that a visual representation for your baby in having different foods. In having sectioned plates, you can show them 2-3 different foods at every meal time while also helping you maintain balance within their nutrition.
Infant utensils also helps minimize the mess. The sections aids perfect with learning hand coordination. Its boundaries provide a wall in which they can use to scoop the food much more easily, in turn leading to less of a mess spilled across the floor. The bowls and plats also have a suctioning technique, helping with the innate desire to swipe everything off their trays become nonexistent.
Also the soft-tipped spoons are perfect not because they are gentle on the gums, but also for the limited portion and fit making them just right for their mouth and hands.
Lastly, when it comes to food, I'll be honest, I am not a mom who makes their kids food from scratch. So I choose to use the Gerber foods. I love that they come in different size packages and also come at an affordable cost so we are always able to stock pile.
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