You will be pleased to know that the first six month’s of your baby’s life is a relatively easy one for you when it comes to feeding. There are no spoons, no bowls, no splatter of porridge on the dining room wall or a trail of Honey Stars all over the house. The only thing which you will need is your breasts and/or bottle.
Then your baby will start to grow, and the time will come when you will need to think about solid foods and how to go about introducing this to your baby.
Like all baby-related products, there are whole aisles just for baby food at your local supermarket. Surveying this staggering range of baby-food products can be daunting – what is the ideal first food for your baby? Cereals? Fruits? Vegetables? And, along with the number of items on these shelves, there are an equal number of experts with opinions on the topic.
Back in the “good old days”, there was no question. Babies migrated from breast/bottle to cereal mixed with breast/bottle milk. But allergies are increasingly playing a larger role in infant foodstuffs and further research has shown that the hard-and-fast cereal rule is no longer so hard and fast.
However, the biggest and most agreed-upon advice is to wait until your infant is 6 months old (or until your pediatrician gives you the go-ahead). This will ensure that your baby is developmentally ready and that their digestive system has matured enough to handle something other than milk.
So what are the choices?
Most experts do agree that there are 4 foods with which to start your baby on: cereal, banana, avocado, or sweet potato.
• Cereal: Rice cereal specially formulated for babies is digested easily and is not a common allergen, making it a good first food. It is usually prepared with warm water, formula, or breastmilk. Rice cereal is bland, with very little taste (resembles the milk your child is already getting), so your infant only needs to get used to the new texture. There are a variety of brands, but try to stick to those made with (organic) whole brown rice.
• Banana: Ripe banana is also simply prepared with the mash of a fork and is easy to digest. Do your best to buy certified organic bananas, so that you know they have not been sprayed with a fungicide, which can permeate the banana skin. NOTE: There is some concern that the sweet taste of ripe bananas can cause your infant to develop a sweet tooth, causing difficulty when introducing non-sweet foods.
• Avocado: Ripe avocado is another item that is easily prepared and digested, but may not be as readily available as other options.
• Sweet potato: You can prepare your own sweet potato (bake, steam, microwave) and mash up, thinning with breastmilk/formula if need be. Or, you can buy commercially prepared sweet potato baby food jars. If you make your own, you can mash the whole thing and have enough for several meals, and is really quite easy to do. Less sweet than bananas, more readily available than avocado, this is a good first food.
The rule of thumb when starting out on solids is to give your infant their normal breast/bottle feeding and try the solid after they have finished. This way they are guaranteed nutrition. Just make a small amount-a tablespoon should do it to start, and introduce the food with your finger. Those sensitive gums aren’t ready for a metal spoon yet. If you are averse to finger feeding, you can try a soft baby spoon or plastic spoon.
Choose one food and stick to it for 4-7 days. Too soon and you may not spot an allergic reaction. Introduce only one food at a time. Once a food has cleared the 4-7 day test, you can mix it with another cleared food (rice cereal and bananas, for example). Watch for signs of irritability, rash, excessive gas, and other signs of allergy. Bowel movements will begin changing, and additional water will probably be necessary once solid food becomes a regular habit.
And one more thing: DON’T FORGET THE BIB!
