Introducing solids to your baby is an exciting milestone. As babies grow, they need solid food in addition to breastmilk or formula milk so that they can get enough iron and other essential nutrients that help in their growth and development.
Introducing solids help babies to learn to eat and give them an experience to explore new tastes and texture from different range of foods. It develops their teeth and jaws and also emulates other skills which are required later for language development.
When to introduce solids?
Your baby’s behavior shows some of the below signs when they are ready for solids, its between four and six months. It is not recommended by the pediatrician to introduce solids for babies before four months.
- Baby has good head and neck control and able to sit properly.
- Babies show an interest to look into your plate what’s inside.
- Babies reach out to the food they see.
- Babies tend to open their mouth when you try to feed them.
How to introduce solids?
The texture of the food is important when introducing solids. Start with smooth, mashed or soft pieces. Your baby needs different variety of food textures at different stages. This helps the baby learn how to chew and swallow. only one food must be given for first three days so that babies will have to set for the new stage and taste. Further, next new food must be introduced and it should be followed until baby is okay with the routine.
The following are the tips to setup the routine and make babies understand the meal time.
- Time the meal right.
- Monitor baby’s mood.
- Make baby to sit in a place( Using high chair/feeding chair).
- Know enough is enough.
- Don’t worry too much on the portions.
Introducing water – Once your baby has reached six months, you can start offering water to them. It is better to give boiled water after it cools down. It can be given in a cup during mealtime and also when required during the day.
Breast Milk or infant formula milk is important even when the solids are introduced. Give them breast milk or formula milk as the first food in the morning, before or after every meal and before bedtime. At the first stage, you will have to experiment to find what works best for you and your baby.
What are the best first stage single ingredient foods?
The best first food that can be fed to baby are cereals, vegetables and fruits which contains more nutrients like vitamins and iron. These foods must be smooth pureed so that babies would not feel difficult to swallow. Here are some of the easy homemade first stage baby foods.
What should I know about food allergies when introducing solids?
To make pinpointing allergies easier, give you baby single ingredient food, so that you can keep an eye out to find if any food causes an allergic reactions. If any food causes an allergy, stop feeding that food for a while and try them after few weeks. Once single ingredient food runs okay for your baby, you can try with combinational food or adding some spices like nutmeg or cinnamon powder or any other ingredients that adds more flavor and taste and thus makes baby to love and enjoy their meal time. Some serious signs of allergic reactions like severe rashes, hives, wheezing, difficulty breathing, vomiting, excessive gas, diarrhea or blood in stools are found, get medical attention right away.
The Takeaway
Introducing solids to your baby is an exciting milestone as your baby enters into next stage. Having solid food gives baby additional nutrients like vitamins and iron which helps for their further stages of growth and development. Eating different and colorful food makes baby more excited and happy and also make them to learn how to chew and swallow. Eventhough, solids are introduced to your baby, it is more important to give breastmilk or formula feed between every meal as they are rich in nutrients. The key is to do a healthy diet by experimenting, mix and match different food choices to create meals that are appealing and nutritious. Be a happy parent by giving your baby a healthy food and make the babies enjoy eating.
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