When babies are in their first year, they grow quickly and thus need a lot of energy (kilojoules) and nutrients. As a child’s growth might not always be steady and even, their hunger and appetite may be unpredictable to you.
Your baby’s eating habits and interest in food may change from day to day. Since it is normal as long as your baby is growing well, you do not need to worry about it. You just have to make sure they are eating healthy. When you are new to introducing solid foods to your baby, try to remember the following tips.
Why Do Babies Need to Consume Solid Foods?
As newborns age, they must consume solid foods in order to obtain the necessary nutrients for development and growth. Zinc, Iron, and others are included among these important nutrients.
Throughout the first six months of their lives, babies utilize the iron they collected during gestation. In addition to breastfeeding and the best formula for babies, newborns receive iron. However, baby iron stores decrease as they mature. Infants must start eating solid foods at about six months of age to fulfill all the nutrient requirements.
Introducing solids is, however, necessary for teaching newborns how to eat by providing them with a range of tastes and textures. It enhances their jaws, teeth, and other skills essential for their future language development.
When to Introduce Solid Foods?
Your baby is ready for solid foods when he seems to have good head and neck control. It is when your baby sits upright if supported. He also tends to show an interest in food, such as looking at what’s on the plate, reaching out for the food, or opening his mouth in case you offer them any food using a spoon. Most babies begin to show these indications when they are six months, although exceptions might be seen.
How Much to Offer?
Give your baby 1-2 teaspoons of food daily when you first start giving them solids. First, your baby may take only a small bite and not swallow much. As the baby grows, you may also give them more based on how hungry they are and what other signs you see. By the time your baby is 12 months old, he should be eating about three small meals daily, along with breast milk or infant formula.
What to Offer?
There are several types of food to offer when introducing solids to your baby. But, remember the key is to add iron-rich foods to the baby’s first foods. Serenity Kids have some great ideas for stage 1 baby foods. You can include the following iron-riched foods to ensure a healthy diet for your baby:
- minced poultry, meat, and fish
- iron-fortified infant cereal
- cooked, mashed egg (try avoiding runny or raw egg)
- cooked legumes and tofu, etc
Grains – for example, bread, rice, oats, and pasta can be a great addition. To get the right texture you can include vegetables such as cooked potato, sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, broccoli, or spinach to them. You can also add fruits like banana, pear, apple, melon, or avocado.
You can add dairy foods as well. For instance, yogurt or full-fat cheese will be great. You can add any number of foods at a time or in any order. Offering your baby a diverse range of foods will help them taste plenty of new items and consume different nutrients at a time.
What Are the Right Textures?
When the baby is ready to start eating solids, the first foods should be finely mashed or smooth, based on what the baby likes. In the following weeks and months, your baby may start eating roughly minced or mashed foods and then foods that are chopped. Everything they eat needs to be very soft.
Your baby needs to eat foods with different textures. This will teach your baby how to chew, which is important for speech development and learning to feed themselves. It also keeps your baby from having trouble eating as he grows. Remember, even before getting their first teeth, babies can chew.
Your baby can be eating the very same foods as the entire family by the time he is 12 months. But you may still have to cut up some foods as well as cook vegetables till they are soft.
Introducing Water
At six months of age, you can begin to serve your infant boiled, cooled water in a cup at meals and throughout the day. This is so your child may practice drinking from a cup, but breast milk or formula is the only fluid your child needs at this age. Once the baby has reached 1 year, you can provide unboiled pure tap water as well.
Combining Breast Milk and Infant Formula to the Solids
Continue using infant formula like Holle baby formula or breastfeeding for at least one year. When you begin introducing foods, infant formula or breast milk needs to remain your baby’s primary source of nourishment.
Your infant might consume more foods and less formula or milk in the coming months. The frequency of this occurrence may vary. By the time they are nine months old, most infants have the swallowing and chewing skills to transition from consuming milk before solids to drinking milk after solids.
You can be sure that the baby is receiving enough nutrition from both breastmilk or formula and solids during this time by seeing he is wetting plenty of nappies. You will find him alert and mostly happy between and after feeds as well. Also, you will notice your baby is gaining weight at just about the right rate.
After 12 months, solids need to be your baby’s primary source of nutrition. Your baby no longer needs infant formula when he is 12 months, but you may continue breastfeeding for as long as your baby and you wish.
Food allergy and Introduction to Solid Foods
Early introduction of allergenic foods may lessen your child’s chances of developing a food allergy or intolerance. Allergenic foods are those that may trigger allergic reactions.
All infants, especially those with a high allergy risk, need to begin consuming potentially allergenic solid meals about when they are six months. These foods consist of wheat, peanut butter, cooked egg, other nut butter, and cow’s milk. After introducing an allergic food, it is advisable to add it to your baby’s diet on a regular basis.
But, remember before you start giving such food, it will be better if you get advice from your GP, dietitian, pediatrician, child, and family health nurse, or immunology and allergy specialist. Because your baby might already have a food allergy. You need to know whether he has severe eczema or not.
In case your family has a history of severe food allergy or intolerance, it will be helpful if you contact any of the above. To lessen your concern while starting solids, it might be a great idea to know if your child could have an adverse reaction to such foods.
What to Avoid?
There are some foods you need to avoid giving your baby until he gets a certain age. You need to avoid honey until he is one year to lower the risk of infant botulism. Runny or raw eggs must be avoided too until he becomes one as bacteria in raw eggs might harm your baby.
Do not offer him reduced-fat dairy until he is two. Ensure your baby has full-fat dairy as it is necessary for his proper growth. To avoid choking hazards, try not to give your baby whole nuts or similar hard foods.
You need to avoid giving some drinks as well until he is a certain age, such as dairy alternatives like soy, sheep’s, goat’s, rice, almond, oat, and coconut milk until he gets two. You should also avoid giving coffee, tea, sugar-sweetened drinks, or unpasteurized milk to your child to make sure he is not having any digestive problems.
Final Words
According to research, the first few months of solid food consumption are the optimum time to introduce a kid to new, healthful foods. You may opt to prepare and puree foods before offering them to your child, or you may choose to mash soft foods gently.
Additionally, you can give prepared baby purees that are available in the market. Just be sure about its quality. When you observe your baby eating more and getting well with purees, it’s time to advance his foods to more solid textures.
Slowly but effectively add a variety of foods to your child to ensure proper nutrition. Also, teach him appropriate mealtime behavior from the start. Remember, developing a healthy relationship with food and family is never too early.
