"When should I start feeding your baby real food"

Guidance has gone back and forth over the past few decades as to when parents should start complementary foods, a.k.a. solids. Most pediatricians and pediatric dietitians agree babies should start between 4-6 months, depending on their readiness. According to Dr. Muth most babies show signs of readiness between 5-6 months.

"Baby food" feeding

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that for most children, you do not need to give foods in a certain order. Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months old. By the time he or she is 7 or 8 months old, your child can eat a variety of foods from different food groups.

These foods include infant cereals, meat or other proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurts and cheeses, and more.

If your child is eating infant cereals, it is important to offer a variety of fortified alert icon infant cereals such as oat, barley, and multi-grain instead of only rice cereal. Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration because there is a risk for children to be exposed to arsenic.

How Should I Introduce My Child to Foods?

Did You Know?

Your child needs certain vitamins and minerals.

Your child needs certain vitamins and minerals to grow healthy and strong. Now that your child is starting to eat food, it is important to choose foods that give your child all the vitamins and minerals they need. Click here to learn more about some of these vitamins & minerals.

Let your child try one food at a time at first. This helps you see if your child has any problems with that food, such as food allergies. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new food. Before you know it, your child will be on his or her way to eating and enjoying lots of new foods.

The eight most common allergenic foods are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Generally, you do not need to delay introducing these foods to your child, but if you have a family history of food allergies, talk to your child’s doctor or nurse about what to do for your baby.

How should I prepare food for my child to eat?

At first, it’s easier for your child to eat foods that are mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. As your baby’s oral skills develop, thicker and lumpier foods can be introduced.

Some foods are potential choking hazards, so it is important to feed your child foods that are the right texture for his or her development. To help prevent choking, prepare foods that can be easily dissolved with saliva and do not require chewing. Feed small portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always watch your child while he or she is eating.

Here are some tips for preparing foods:

• Mix cereals and mashed cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to make it smooth and easy for your baby to swallow.

• Mash or puree vegetables, fruits and other foods until they are smooth.

• Hard fruits and vegetables, like apples and carrots usually need to be cooked so they can be easily mashed or pureed.

• Cook food until it is soft enough to easily mash with a fork.

• Remove all fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish, before cooking.

• Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit and then cut the fruit into small pieces.

• Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices

• Cut cylindrical foods like hot dogs, sausage and string cheese into short thin strips instead of round pieces that could get stuck in the airway.

• Cut small spherical foods like grapes, cherries, berries and tomatoes into small pieces.

• Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.

Solid Food feeding

The best time to introduce solid foods is when your baby has developed the skills needed to eat. Doctors recommend that breastfeeding moms wait until their baby is 6 months old.

But sometimes babies are ready for solids sooner than that. How will you know? To eat, babies need good head and neck control and should be able to sit up in a high chair. This usually doesn't happen until they're 4 to 6 months old.

Also, if you try to feed your son solids before this age, you may notice that he pushes food out of his mouth as quickly as you put it in. Babies start to lose this natural tongue-thrusting reflex at the 4- to 6-month mark, which makes it easier for them to start eating solid foods.

Other signs that babies are ready to eat solids foods:

• They're interested in foods. For example, they may watch others eat, reach for food, and open their mouths when food approaches.

• They have the oral motor skills needed to move food to the throat and swallow it.

• They usually weigh twice their birth weight, or close to it.

Wait until your baby is at least 4 months old and shows these signs of readiness before starting solids. Babies who start solid foods before 4 months are at a higher risk for obesity and other problems later on. They also aren't coordinated enough to safely swallow solid foods and may choke on the food or inhale it into their lungs.

How Should I Start Solids?

When the time is right, start with a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal. Rice cereal has traditionally been the first food for babies, but you can start with any you prefer. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with breast milk, formula, or water.

Another good first option is an iron-rich puréed meat. Feed your baby with a small baby spoon, and never add cereal to a baby's bottle unless your doctor recommends it.

At this stage, solids should be fed after a nursing session, not before. That way, your baby fills up on breast milk, which should be your baby's main source of nutrition until age 1.

When your baby gets the hang of eating the first food, introduce others, such as puréed fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, or yogurt. Wait a few days between introducing new foods to make sure your baby doesn't have an allergic reaction.

Experts recommend introducing common food allergens to babies when they're 4–6 months old. This includes babies with a family history of food allergies. In the past, they thought that babies should not get such foods (like eggs, peanuts, and fish) until after the first birthday. But recent studies suggest that waiting that long could make a baby more likely to develop food allergies.

Offer these foods to your baby as soon as your little one starts eating solids. Make sure they're served in forms that your baby can easily swallow. You can try a small amount of peanut butter mixed into fruit purée or yogurt, for example, or soft scrambled eggs.

Fruit juices are not recommended for babies. Juice offers no health benefits, even to older babies. Juice can fill them up (leaving little room for more nutritious foods), promote obesity, cause diarrhea, and even put a baby at risk for cavities when teeth start coming in.