Love At First Bite - How to Start Your Baby On Solid Foods

Here are a few important tips and expert opinions for starting your baby on solid foods.

You're likely to receive more advice and help regarding the first few months of parenthood than you will know what to do with. Those well-intentioned family, friends, and neighbors will no doubt have many stories and advice to help you get your baby going on the transition of getting your baby ready for solid foods. How do you know whose advice to take? When is the right time?

No one can tell you when it's the right time. This one comes down to you trusting your instincts and paying more attention to your baby's cues than that calendar everyone keeps reminding you of. That's not to say that first feedings don't come with a healthy measure of trial and error as well.

MAKE YOUR BEST GUESS
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you offer nothing but breast milk or formula until your baby is at least 6 months old. Your neighbors and grandma will tell you 3 to 4 months. On average, most babies start solids between 4 and 6 months of age.

Look for some of these cues from your baby to indicate if your baby is ready for real food:

1. Baby is able to eat sitting up and has good control of her head.
2. Baby is showing an interest in the food on your plate and grabs at your fork or your food.
3. Baby's tongue does not stick out; she can keep food in her mouth, and move it to the back of her mouth and swallow it. This indicates a loss of tongue-thrust reflex.
4. Her mouth opens easily when a spoon touches her lips or if food is being offered.
5. Baby wakes often at night or wakes earlier and earlier in the morning after having a regular sleep routine.

TAKING THE PLUNGE
Once you've decided to try your baby on solids, pick a time when both you and she are relaxed and rested. Make sure she isn't too hungry either-try after she's had a good portion of her normal feeding. Even though this can be an exciting time, it can also be stressful. Don't seem too eager or stressed, plan to take the time and come at it with the right attitude. Expect some degree of mess and confusion from your baby. A successful first meal of solid foods is not likely to happen the first time around.

Have the food prepared before you get your baby safely and comfortably seated in her high chair. A good first choice for baby's introduction to solids is fortified infant rice cereal that has been mixed with hot water, formula or breast milk. The consistency should be quite thin at first. Have 2 spoons on hand, a bib and a wet cloth. After you've tested the food's temperature on your lips, feed your baby the first small bite and BAM! she'll spit it out!

Not to worry-rejection is going to be a normal response for a few tries. Be patient and try again. If baby seems to be having a hard time with spoon-feeding, try rubbing a little bit of food on her lips with your finger, or letting her suck some cereal from your finger to get used to the flavor and texture. Next time you try the spoon, slowly put the spoon inside her mouth up against the roof of her mouth and gently pull the spoon up and out, so that the gums help remove the food. This will help her to grasp the new art of swallowing from a spoon. Remember to smile, have patience and be positive. If you seem nervous or frustrated during this learning process, your baby is going to pick up on that anxiety and not be relaxed.

Once your baby has gotten used to cereal, you can begin to introduce soft-cooked, pureed

vegetables and fruits. Offer a single ingredient, one new food at a time for three days. This allows your baby to get used to the flavor and texture and allows you to see if she has an allergic reaction to this particular food. Try to get your baby use to vegetables before fruits. If baby gets used to eating more savory types of foods before sweeter ones, the risk of developing a sweet tooth are less.

If your baby refuses a certain food, stop feeding it and try another, but reintroduce the refused food at a later date. The more different foods your baby is exposed to early in life, the better eater you'll have for years to come.

Remember, feeding time is a learning experience and can be fun and rewarding.