Transition To Solid Foods
Transitioning your infant to solid foods can seem daunting not knowing where to begin and how to get your little one to love food and try new things! In this blog post we want to share some tips for starting this transition and making it fun and successful for you and your baby.
Are You ready?
The first step for transitioning to solid foods is making sure your baby is ready for it. A few simple ways to recognize this is their interest in your food: Is your baby reaching for your food or tracking it from your plate to your mouth? Do they open their mouth, lick their lips and/or try to eat your food? All signs that your baby is ready to try some of the yummy stuff you are eating!
A second and more important way to know if your baby is ready for solids is their own physical development. Can your baby hold their head up? They should be able to sit assisted in a high chair/feeding chair with good head control. Can they move their tongue back and forth? Being able to move the food from the front of their mouth to the back is an important development for starting solids.
If your baby meets all these criteria they are ready to try solids!
Don’t forget to make sure you are ready as well. Be patient and flexible; remember that your baby's growth and development doesn’t follow an exact timeline. Don’t put stress on yourself or your baby in this process. Remember to have fun with it! The experience of eating is important for babies so let them play with their food and be messy.
The Menu:
Now we get to the fun part. You get to be the one to introduce your baby to new, yummy, and exciting foods! The healthier the food the better, you want to start your baby off on the right foot to gain healthy habits for life. Your baby's first foods are your choice. Whether you decide to make your own baby food or buy premade baby food, you have many options but here are some tips:
Start simple and Go Slow: Start by offering your child single-ingredient foods one at a time that contain no sugar or salt. Offer this food to your baby multiple times and wait three to five days between each new food to see if your baby has any type of allergic reaction. After introducing multiple single-ingredient foods, you can begin to offer them together.
Necessary Nutrients: Along with fruits and veggies your baby needs Iron and Zinc. These are both important nutrients for growth in the second half of your baby's first year. These specific nutrients can be found in meats and single-grain, iron-fortified cereal.
Cereal Basics: You can utilize pre-prepared baby cereal or make your own by cooking and finely grinding/mashing whole grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice and other grains. Mix the cereal with breast milk/formula and offer it with a small spoon. Once your baby gets the hang of swallowing runny cereal, mix it with less liquid and gradually increase the serving sizes.
Fruits, Veggies, and Everything Else: Just like we mentioned at the beginning, gradually introduce single-ingredient pureed vegetables and fruits that contain no sugar or salt. Babies can also handle small portions of finely chopped finger foods, such as soft fruits (like bananas), vegetables (softened and/or mashed) , pasta, cheese, well-cooked and/or pureed meat, baby crackers and dry cereal.
Remember, if your child doesn’t seem interested in solids, it’s ok to stop and wait a couple of weeks and then try again.
Tips for Success:
Now that you have an idea of what to feed your baby here are a few extra Do’s and Don'ts.
Do’s
Do follow your baby's cues on how much he or she wants to eat.
Do let your baby get messy! Enjoy your baby's sloppy tray, gooey hands and sticky face. You're starting the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating.
Do be present! Create a routine for meals, this is a great time to start doing family dinners together.
Do introduce utensils! Not only does using utensils help your baby learn how to feed themselves but it also works on their pincer grasp and hand-eye coordination as well!
Don'ts
Don’t put food in a bottle. It is important to teach your child to spoon and finger feed and not to continue to rely on a bottle.
Don’t walk away. Make sure to be there while your baby is eating, not only is this important with choking and allergy issues but it is also such a good bonding time between you and your little one!
Don’t stay away from food that causes allergies. It's actually recommended that you give your baby potentially allergenic foods when you introduce other complementary foods. Did you know early introduction of foods containing peanuts might decrease the risk that your baby will develop a food allergy to peanuts? Potentially allergenic foods include: Peanuts and tree nuts, Eggs, Cow Milk Products, Wheat, Crustacean Shellfish, Fish, and Soy
Remember, transitioning to solid foods is the time to focus on the quality of experience for your baby, not the quantity of what they are eating. Your baby will strengthen their oral motor muscles/coordination, practice swallowing, and learn how to chew!
Baby Led Weaning:
Baby led weaning is a popular idea of transitioning infants to solids that encourages offering babies finger-food from the family table for self-feeding. A lot of people do this and completely cut out purees and infant cereals etc. This does not have to be an either or situation for your baby. You can do a mix of baby-led weaning and spoon feeding, feeding purees and finger foods, etc. It is up to you to decide what is best for your baby and your family!
Drinks:
Water: Along with introducing solids it can feel weird not to add water into your baby's diet. Breast milk and formula provide all the fluids that a healthy baby needs but it is ok to offer a little bit of water when introducing solids. There is no need to force the water, but feel free to offer your baby water with meals or in very hot weather.
Juice: It’s not recommended to give babies juice before the age of one. It is not a necessary part of a baby's diet and it is not as nutritious as whole fruit. Juice can also contribute to tooth decay, weight problems, and diarrhea. If you do decide to offer juice to your baby make sure it is 100% fruit juice!
Cows Milk: Just like juice, it is not recommended or necessary to offer your child cow’s milk before the age of one. They are getting all of the nutrients they need from breast milk and/or formula.
The transition to solid food can seem daunting but hopefully these tips help set you ,and your baby, up for success in this new food journey! Do you have any other suggestions? Dm us on Instagram, we’d love to hear them.
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