Starting your baby on solid foods is an adventure that you will want to document with pictures. This is a fun time for you and your baby - but when is the right time to start solid foods?
The American Academy of Pediatrics is very clear in their guidelines that breastfeeding is the best way to feed your baby for at least the first 6 months. They suggest waiting until 6 months or older to start solid foods.
Some people believe that starting baby food earlier will help a baby to sleep through the night, or that mother's milk is not sufficient to meet a baby's nutritional needs. Human milk is designed for one thing - growing babies! While a baby's appetite will vary as they grow, breast milk provides everything they need for those first few months. While breast milk is low in iron, exclusively breastfed babies need less iron since their digestive systems operate differently than formula-fed babies do.
Very young babies are not designed to sleep through the night, they actually need to waken more often so they can get the nutrition and care that they need. While this is a tough stage for parents, it too shall pass. Before you know it your baby will be grown and those wakeful nights will be nothing but a memory. Studies show that feeding a baby solid food does not make them sleep more soundly - it just happens that babies tend to start sleeping longer around the time that parents are most likely to start feeding them cereal.
Once your baby has reached that 6 month mark, you can choose to start introducing food if your baby is ready for it. While most babies find those first few bites of food strange, a baby that is truly not ready yet will push most of the food back out with their tongue. This is because they are not ready yet to swallow textured food and they need a little more time to lose that instinctive tongue thrust.
Some parents choose to wait until 9 months or more to introduce those early meals. Waiting is fine if your baby is happy and growing well. However, you won't want to wait too long. For some little ones, waiting too long can make those initial foods seem too strange and they will reject food.
When you do start feeding your baby, begin with very smooth purees so they can learn to swallow properly before they need to negotiate lumps and textures. Experts now recommend starting with vegetables instead of sweeter foods like cereal or fruits so baby develops a taste for healthier foods.
Introduce one item at a time, then wait a few days to be sure there is no rash or upset tummy that could indicate an allergy. If you give baby too many foods at once, there is no way to tell which one caused the reaction.
Keep in mind that little belly is tiny, so a few teaspoons is sufficient for each meal in the beginning.
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