First Solid Food

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You are having a delightful time seeing your little one grow up each day and voila the time arrives when you should start your infant on solid food. This article provides an overview on starting solid food for your baby. Till now your baby was getting all the required nourishment from breastfeeding or formula. Solids can be introduced to your baby anytime between four and six months, whenever you feel your baby is ready.

When your baby has better head control, can sit well with support, eyes food in your plate, does not push out food from her mouth and is still hungry even after eight to ten feeds of formula or breast milk you know your baby is ready for solids. It is a good idea to start your baby’s solid food eating journey with rice, oats or barley cereals. Start with one feed a day and set the amount as per the baby’s needs. Mix the dry cereal with some formula or breast milk to make a semi liquid form, use a rubber tipped spoon to push the food inside her mouth, so as to not to hurt her gums.

Feed one or two spoons initially and when your baby gets comfortable increase the amount and you can also thicken the consistency of the food. You can understand your baby is full when she turns her head away from the food, starts playing with the spoon and does not open her mouth to receive the next bite

Other solids can be introduced gradually. The transition, in the next few months, should be done in the following manner. First semi-liquid food then mashed or strained vegetables and fruits and the final step is finely chopped fruits and vegetables along with some meat or other protein sources. If your baby turns away from a particular food don’t push, try that again after some time. They do keep changing their minds often.

Your baby’s intestinal tract is not fully developed in the first few months so when you prepare a new type of food, do keep feeding that for the next couple of days. This helps to detect food allergies. It is better not to prepare food with mixed ingredient until you are sure about your baby’s allergies towards any particular food group. Do take note of the fact that the color and odor of your baby’s stool would change.