Guide to Beginning Solid Foods
Author: Stef Daniel
The high-chair has been assembled and has been sitting in the corner of your kitchen for months. To date, it has been used for little more than a place to set the casserole. Then one day, after your routine visit to the pediatrician, you are told that it is time to start solid foods. The excitement, joy, and anticipation are more than you can handle, and your first instinct is to stop at the grocery store to pick up all sorts of bland and tasteless jars of baby food! On the way home, you become disappointed that your baby is falling asleep as you were hoping to serve your bundle of joy their first real bite of lunch, solid food style!
Get your video recorders and cameras ready because beginning solid foods is definitely one of those things you will want to record for prosperity's sake. Many babies seem to take to the spoon and pureed carrots like a duck does to water, while others seem genuinely confused about what they are supposed to do with the mushy stuff once it hits their lips. If your baby does the latter, it may be a sign that they have not lost the extrusion reflex that naturally causes them to use their tongue to push things out of their mouth. If your baby seems eager and interested to eat - you are in for the wishy washy ride of your life.
Certain criteria should be met before beginning solid foods. Your baby should have mastered head control and be able to sit up well. One sign that your baby is ready is that they are beginning to chew on things, which indicates their digestive system is beginning to work. Chewing means much more than just putting things in their mouth. Another green light to beginning solid foods is that they show a genuine interest in the grown up foods that others are eating. Another impending sign is the inability to satisfy your baby with the breast or bottle. Doctors will usually say that it is time to start solid foods when your baby has doubled their birth weight. Once this criterion is met, it is time to move on to stage one solids.
The first solid food should be some sort of iron fortified cereal mixed with formula or breast milk to just the right consistency. Although this tastes bland to us, there is no need for flavoring as the baby's taste buds are not well developed (which is why they can actually eat the butternut squash). If you begin sweetening foods early on, you will train your baby to prefer certain tastes over others, and this can lead to poor nutrition. From cereal, the next step should be vegetables. Starting with the orange vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes) then moving to green vegetables (sweet peas, green beans) is sometimes recommended. Introduce one vegetable at a time for a 3-4 day period to ensure your baby is not allergic to it. Next, you can move to fruits. Eventually, you will be able to introduce all the basic vegetables and fruits and mix and match to form meals using the cereal as a mainstay. As your child's ability to eat and process the foods increases, you can begin moving up to the stage 2 foods, which are not as refined as the first foods.
With the high-chair at the table and a spoon in hand, you are ready to feed your baby. Don't rush it! Put small amounts of food on the spoon, and offer it for as long as your baby seems interested. If after one or three bites your baby seems to shy away, you can assume meal time is over. Similarly, if they seem excited about the food and are giving you clues that show you they want more, offer it to them. How much your baby eats depends largely on your baby's eating habits. The trick is not to force food or offer too many kinds too quickly. Teething biscuits and other finger food, even though they are labeled for beginners, are not recommended due to a choking hazard. Keep in mind, as you introduce solid foods, your child's bowel movements will change accordingly. Offering small amounts of water may help them transition to the solid food diet. Just be sure to ask your pediatrician how much is safe.
Now that the high-chair is pushed to the table, the trick is learning how and finding the time to keep it cleaned. It may no longer hold casseroles and is a genuine indicator that the baby in your life is growing up fast. As you bring them to the table, never forget to relish in these first moments of your baby's life!
