Starting Baby-Food With Your Baby
Advice and Tips

Is Your Baby Ready for Baby-Food?

• Turns from red to blue
• Not making any sounds(i.e.coughing or crying)
• Loss of consciousness
• Stops breathing

Learn the basics of First Aid, CPR and Heimlich Maneuver. Call 911 if your baby has these symptoms.

Now that I have scared you even more with these little safety tips lets talk about feeding solid foods to your baby.

• The ability to eat baby-foods is connected to your baby's motor skills.
• Your baby should be able to hold his head up when held in a upright position and push-up on his elbows when on his tummy to be ready to start baby cereal and purred baby-foods (jarred foods).
• To start eating solid foods your baby should be able to roll over and sit up with support.

• Your baby can generally start soft finger foods around the time they start to crawl(9-12 months).
• Crawling indicates your baby has developed the strength in his neck and trunk to suck and gum soft foods. Crawling also helps develop the finger skills to pick up small pieces of food and put them in his mouth.

Starting Soild Baby-Food

• Generally baby rice cereal is the first solid baby-food introduced. Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons with baby formula or breast milk to the consistency of yogurt.
• Do not mix any other pureed baby foods with cereal yet.
• Use an infant spoon to feed your baby. I like the ones with the rubber coating. They are a good size and shape for little mouths.

• Here's a today's mommy tip for you. Have the camera and/or a video recorder ready. You are going to get some great pictures of funny expressions during this time.
• Place a small amount of food on the infant spoon and put the spoon on you baby's lips and tip of tongue just barely giving your baby a taste.
• Your baby will most likely push most of the food back out of his mouth with his tongue making a nice mess. His tongue and lips are learning what to do with this new stuff.
• The first few attempts are mainly an introduction for your baby. Don't worry about the amount of solid baby-food your baby eats at this point.
• Babies don't come pre-wired to know instantly how to eat solid food. It takes time and practice for him to get the hang of this new skill so take it slowly.
• Stick to rice cereal in the beginning. Later as your baby matures you can add other cereals like oat or bran.

Introducing Fruits and Veggies

• The introduction of food at this point is more about learning and less about nutrition. Your baby should still be receiving his nutritional requirements from baby formula or breast milk.
• Try to give your baby a small amount of solid baby-food at your family's regular meal times. This is a great way to establish a normal eating pattern for the future and it includes baby in the family meals.
• This is also a good time to introduce the high chair. There are a lot of different baby high chairs to choose from and I don't find one that stands out above the rest. Shop for ease of clean-up, ease of use(how hard is the tray to remove with one hand ?), space saving characteristics and price.
• When your baby is taking rice cereal without any problems for a few weeks you can start introducing jarred baby foods.

• The rule for starting jarred baby-foods is not to begin with the fruits. Your baby will get used to the sweet taste and not want to eat veggies.
• Choose a yellow or orange veggie like squash or carrots to begin with. These are milder tasting and babies generally have fewer tummy issues with these.
• Begin by making your rice cereal like you have been and add the food directly to the mixture. Start out slow by only adding about 1-2 tablespoons of the baby food.
• As your baby accepts this consistency without problems increase the ratio of cereal to baby food. There is no right or wrong way of doing this just let your baby guide you.
• Don't food bounce. Stay with one food for 3-5 days allowing your baby to get used to the taste and for you to watch for food allergies. You most likely will see reactions like rashes or diarrhea if your baby is allergic.
• Add one light colored veggie at a time waiting and watching each time. After he is doing well with all of the light colored veggies start with mild fruits like apples or pears. Follow the same procedures as you did with the veggies.
• Save green beans and peas for later due to the fact that they are harder to digest and may cause gas.
• If you make your own baby-foods the same food rules still apply.
• After your baby has a few solid baby foods he eats well try giving him a different one at each meal. Variety is the spice of life and this begins early. How would you like to eat the same thing for a whole day?-Boring.
• Never feed your baby directly from a jar of baby food unless you are fairly certain he will finish the whole jar at that meal. Instead pour the needed amount into a bowl. Saliva from the spoon carries bacteria and the food left in the jar will break down.
• Throw away any left over food in the bowl do not save it.
• Refrigerate remaining jarred baby food and discard after 48 hours.
• You can begin to give your baby soft table foods around the age of 10-12 months. Start with soft noodles,veggies and fruits.
• Meats can be introduced around this time too. Small pieces of chicken or beef (well done). Avoid seafood at this age.

Try to relax and make meal time a fun time. Children can sense your anxiety and will become anxious too.

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