Introducing solid foods to babies can be a stressful experience even for confident parents. There is a lot of information available, and you may get many different advises from your loved ones as well.

In this blog I will explain most suitable way to start solids in babies and the sign of solid readiness. We have collaborated with a certified dietitian and nutritionist to provide you with the latest evidence-based nutritional guidelines for your little one’s solid journey.

When to Start Solid food for babies

The recommended age for introducing solid foods varies from child to child. However, the World Health Organization advises introducing solids between 4 and 6 months of age. At this stage, your infant may show some indications of being prepared for solid foods.

Below are some of the signs of solid readiness that your baby can give:

•  Babies start sitting independently or with limited assistance.
• Show control over their neck and head. Good head and neck control are crucial to minimize the risk of choking, making this a significant sign of readiness.
• The infant is interested in the food when they see someone eating.
• Baby attempts to grab and put objects, such as toys and food in mouth.
• The infant opens their mouth when they see food.
• Baby starts swallowing food and don’t take it out of mouth.
  

What Are the Recommended First Foods for babies when starting solid?

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According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is no prescribed order for introducing foods to most children.

Infants can start solid food at approximately 6 months of age. Infants aged 7-8 months can consume different foods from different food categories. The foods recommended for babies include cereals, proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yoghurts, cheeses, and other options.

It is recommended to provide a wide range of fortified infant cereals, including oat, barley, and multi-grain, rather than solely relying on rice cereal when starting solids.

There are no guidelines for selecting a baby’s first food or meal. However, it is advisable to choose foods from the following three categories:

How and when to start baby on solids. Sample schedule to follow.

• Iron-rich foods include meat, eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, tofu, and iron-fortified infant cereal. Ensure that the texture of all foods provided is developmentally suitable for your infant.

• Energy-dense foods, such as meat, eggs, oily fish, avocado, sweet potato, white potato, full-fat dairy products, and banana, are high in calories.

• Infants experience rapid growth and have limited food intake due to their small stomach capacity. Energy-dense foods provide a high amount of energy per gram.

The period between 6 and 9 months is very important for introducing various textures and flavors of fruits and vegetables. It is recommended to take advantage of this time when babies are more adaptive to these foods by providing different options.

• Allergenic food items.

All protein-containing foods can have allergenic reactions on babies, but some of the below specific foods are more commonly associated with allergic reactions. These items are:

• Dairy product cow’s milk
• Egg
• Peanuts and tree nuts.
• Sesame
• Soy
• Aquatic animals such as fish and shellfish.
• wheat

Is It Recommended to delay the Introduction of Potentially Allergenic Foods Until After 12 Months of Age?

No it is not recommended in fact there is no answer to this question.  Studies indicate that introducing common food allergens to kids at approximately 6 months, rather than before 4 months, may decrease the development of the infant food allergies.

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If a family member of a young child, such as a sibling or parent, has a food allergy. In that case, it is advisable to consult a physician before introducing solid foods or that food item.

How should you start your child on solid foods?

Here are the few steps and point to remember when starting solid for babies:

• Always start slow and gradually increase the frequency. Start feeding a small quantity of food, approximately 1 teaspoon, to prevent over-feeding the infant during the initial feeding sessions. Gradually adjust the amount of food based on the child’s hunger or satisfaction signals.

• Introduce single-ingredient foods to your child one at a time initially. This helps the identification of potential food-related issues in children, such as allergies.

• Keeping a waiting period of 3 to 5 days is recommended before introducing a new food. Soon, children will start consuming various types of food.

• Introduce allergenic foods simultaneously with other foods. Try to avoid completely cow’s milk or fortified soy beverages until the child reaches 12 months of age. However, other cow’s milk products, including yoghurt, can be introduced before the child turns 12 months old.

• Always consult with your child’s healthcare provider regarding the appropriate timing and method for introducing peanut-containing foods if your child has severe eczema or egg allergy.

• Try to introduce new solid food during lunch and gradually introducing new food items one at a time.

• This helps in monitoring the infant’s response to particular foods, including solid foods and allows for sufficient digestion time before sleep. This can aid in preventing digestive discomfort for infants.

Should solid food be served before milk feeds?

Although milk remains the primary source of nutrition until 12 months of age, solid food becomes increasingly crucial in meeting the nutritional requirements of infants starting at 6 months old.

Breast milk or formula alone is insufficient in providing all the necessary nutrients, especially iron, for babies from 6 months onwards. Achieving a balance between prioritizing milk feeds and introducing solid foods is important.

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Still you can prioritizing milk over solids until approximately 8 months of age. At 8 months, infants are typically proficient in consuming solid foods and gradually decreasing their milk intake. Therefore, it is an good time to introduce a new feeding pattern by providing solid foods before milking during certain meals.

What is the Appropriate Amount of Food for a Baby? How much your baby should eat?

There is no fixed quantity for the food intake of young children. Like adults, the required amount of food for children varies based on their appetite, type of food, prior food intake, and milk consumption within the last two days.

Infants are considered to have transitioned to solid foods when they consume 2-3 meals daily, each consisting of roughly 1/2 cup of solid food. Infants typically achieve this milestone at approximately 8 months of age, although there may be variations in individual cases.

It is crucial to see your children’s hunger and fullness cues to provide them with appropriate meals.

Signs that baby is hungry

Here are few signs to looks for baby’s hunger cues.

• Kids exhibited a gesture of clenching their fists over their chest.
• Exhibiting muscular contractions in the limbs.
• Bringing their hands to their mouth.
• Filling their mouths with objects
• The behavior of smacking or licking one’s lips.
• Rotating the head.
• The individual’s indication or physical movement towards food.
• Gesturing towards the elevated seating apparatus designed for infants and young children.
• Making suction sounds.
• They exhibit restlessness or lack of focus.

Signs that a child can give when not hungry

• They are exhibiting a self-touch gesture by placing their hand on their face.
• Babies don’t open their mouths when the spoon is near their lips.
• Shows negative facial expressions such as grimacing, pouting, or frowning.
• Avoid eye contact.
• Expel food from their oral cavity.
• Shows signs of dissatisfaction or annoyance.
• They exhibit signs of agitation or restlessness.
• Turning their heads away.

What Food Preparation Techniques Should I Use for My Child?

Initially, it is advisable to introduce your child to foods that are smooth in texture, such as mashed, pureed, or strained foods. Children may require a period of adjustment to adapt food textures. Infants may start coughing, gagging, or regurgitation while feeding as well. Providing appropriate textured foods to children is crucial to avoid choking hazards.

To reduce the risk of choking, preparing foods which are soluble in saliva and do not extensive mastication is advisable. Offer small portions and promote gradual eating in infants. Supervise your child during meals.

Food preparation tips

• Combine cereals and cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to create a smooth, easily ingestible consistency for infants.
• Process foods into a smooth consistency by mashing or pureeing them.
• For hard fruits and vegetables, such as apples and carrots, steaming is necessary to mash them and make them puree.
• Cook the food until it reaches a soft consistency that allows easy mashing with a fork.
• Before cooking, trim the excess fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish.
• Fruit should be cleaned of seeds and tough pits before being chopped into small pieces.
• Slice or dice soft food into small pieces.
• To prevent airway obstruction, slice cylindrical foods such as hot dogs, sausage, and string cheese into thin strips rather than round pieces.
• Dice spherical foods such as grapes, cherries, berries, and tomatoes.
• Cook and pulverize whole-grain kernels of various grains such as wheat, barley, and rice.

FAQs when starting solid food for babies

1. What happens if we start solids at 4 months?

Recent studies suggest that introducing solid foods to infants at 4 months may enhance their acceptance of various fruits and vegetables in the future, reduce the likelihood of feeding difficulties and food allergies, and not elevate the risk of childhood obesity. You should not start solids before 4 months and after that it is crucial to check the sign of solid readiness, if your child is ready to start solid then you can start else you can wait until they reach to 6 months.

2. When can you introduce water to the baby?

Water can be introduced to babies who have started consuming solid foods (around 6 months old) by providing them with a cup or beaker during meals. If your child is not  eating solids, breastfeed will help them to keep hydrated and there is no need to introduce water before that. 

3. Is 5 months too early for solids?

Medical professionals advise waiting the introduction of solid foods until the infant reaches approximately six months of age. Introducing solids before a period of four months is not advisable. Infants require the additional nutrients, including iron and zinc, found in solid foods at approximately 6 months of age.

The post When to Start Solid Food for babies and FAQs appeared first on YourHealthyMom.

Starting a baby on a solid schedule can be an exciting time for you and your baby. But before that, many questions come to mind like how and when to start baby on solids and what schedule to follow initially.

What method is the best way to start? What foods should you introduce first? and What to do if your child will not love solids? But don’t worry, here is everything you need to know about starting a baby on solid, including sample schedules.

Things to consider before starting this solid journey for babies

Knowing the best way to feed your baby is essential as a parent. You want them to eat on a schedule, not just whenever they feel hungry.

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Feeding times should be consistent throughout the day—not just for one meal but also for snacks between meals. Make sure each time slot corresponds with peak activity levels so that when hunger strikes during those times of day, baby will show more interest in solid.

Starting your baby on a solid schedule is an excellent way to ensure that they get the right amount of food and water at the right times every day.

You must also follow a regular schedule for feeding, sleeping, and playtime with your baby. By keeping these things consistent, you can help their brain to develop properly and ensure they will get all the nutrients they need to grow up healthy.

When to start baby on solids

Solid food refers to either traditional baby food or baby-led weaning finger foods—anything besides breast milk or infant formula. Watching for developmental signs is the best way to tell if your baby is ready to start solid foods.

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Some of the development signs to look for are, as soon as you’re sure your child has mastered sitting up and holding the spoon, start feeding them solid foods at least once a day and then move it to twice a day.

Primary source of nutrition is still breastmilk

Breast milk offers all the nutrients a baby needs to grow and develop normally and keeps them healthy. Most mothers will continue to breastfeed their babies until they are 12 months old.

Breastfeeding lowers the risk of diseases and improves immunity. It also helps with weight gain, healthy brain development and immune system function. Breast milk contains antibodies that help your baby to develop a strong immune system—essential because they’re born without one! Breast milk also contains special fats called colostrum which is the first milk.

Colostrum has many antibodies that protect against bacteria in newborns’ intestines; it’s like medicine for an infant’s digestive tract.

Small babies will eat very small portion

The first few weeks are the most crucial time for introducing solid foods into your baby’s diet because their body takes time to adapt to this new change. This might be possible then initially they will not like it or have only 1 or 2 tbsp, which is completely normal.

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This journey will go slow, and they will adapt to this by the time. Make sure, not to force them to eat bigger portion and introduce one food at a time so that you can identify any allergies as well.

Benefits of solid foods for young babies

Here are few of the benefits of solid foods for young babies

Solid foods help aid digestion

Solid foods are an excellent way to help an infant’s digestive system get used to solids and develop healthy eating habits. It is digested more slowly than breast milk or formula, so that babies can get the nutrition they need from their meals.
This helps prevent digestive issues like diarrhea and constipation in babies who can still not digest the proteins found in breast milk or formula easily.

Important for nutrition

The food that you feed your baby will provide them with energy, vitamins and minerals, fiber, protein and fat, which are necessary for healthy development. Energy: Your baby needs a lot of calories each day to keep up with their growth, and they need about 1,000 calories per day to grow and develop properly.
This is why giving them whole milk instead of formula or diluted juice is essential because it has more nutrients than other liquids like water or fruit juice, which are low in nutrients.
Vitamins: Your baby needs vitamins like A & D and B12. These come from the food you eat.

Essential for physical growth and development

Solid foods are essential for physical growth and development. A baby’s skeleton, immune system and nervous system benefit from adding solid foods to their diet. The bones built during infancy are important because they will continue to grow throughout childhood.

If you do not provide your child with adequate nutrients during this period of rapid growth, it can lead to osteoporosis (weak bones) later in life. Solid food also helps build a strong immune system which is necessary to protect against disease.

Help them to be independent

The first thing to know about babies is that they are very much in touch with their bodies. They can sense hunger, thirst and other sensations through the skin.

So, if you offer him a variety of textures and food at every meal—from soft fruits like bananas and melons to hard vegetables like carrots or potatoes—your child will begin to appreciate different kinds of flavors as well textures.

This will help him gain greater control over his food intake and become more independent when it comes time for him to eat solids.

Signs to looks for before starting babies on solids

Here are a few signs that babies give as they grow which are called developmental signs before starting solid journey.

• Your child is reaching for your food.
• They open their mouth voluntarily to accept food.
• They can sit up straight without assistance and has good head and neck control.
• They’re curious about your food or what’s on your plate.
  

Sample schedule for starting solids at the age of 4 month

If your baby is displaying signs of readiness for solid foods at the age of 4 months, you may want to start with solids introduction.

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Here is just one point to remember, don’t be in a hurry, they are still small and can have one meal a day or by the time 2 meals a day. The portion will remain small and introduce one food at a time in the interval of 2 to 3 days.

foods to introduce to your four-month-old include:

• Smooth pureed cooked vegetables such as squash, sweet potato, carrot and zucchini,
• Smooth pureed cooked fruits like apples and pears,
• finely mashed fruit like banana or avocado,
• unsweetened, full-fat yogurt.
• Infant cereal

Sample Schedule at 4 month old

• 7:00 AM Wake and nurse or bottle (6 to 8 ounces breast milk or formula)
• 7:45 AM: Breakfast (1 to 4 tablespoons infant cereal/1 to 4 tablespoons mashed banana)
• 8:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.: Nap
• 10:45 AM– Wake and nurse or bottle (6 to 8 ounces breast milk or formula)
• 12:00PM- Nurse or bottle (6 to 8 ounces breast milk or formula)
• 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.– Nap
• 2:30 PM– Nurse (6 to 8 ounces breast milk)
• 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.– Nap
• 5:00 PM– Nurse or bottle (6 to 8 ounces breast milk or formula)
• 5:45 PM– Dinner (1 to 4 tablespoons mashed avocado/1 to 4 tablespoons puréed peas)
• 6:45 PM– Nurse or bottle (6 to 8 ounces breast milk or formula)
• 7:00 PM—Bed

Sample schedule for starting solids at the age of 6 month

Here are few food options to introduce to a 6 month old baby

Fruits

• Pear
• Apple
• Banana
• Avocado

Vegetables

• Butternut Squash
• Sweet Potato
• Green Peas

Sample Feeding Schedule for A 6-Month-Old Baby

• 7:00 AM – Wake Time; Nurse or Bottle Feed
• 8:00 AM – Eat Pureed Solids
• 9:00 AM – Nap
• 11:00 AM – Nurse or Bottle Feed
• 12:00PM – Eat Pureed Solids
• 1:00 PM – Nap
• 3:00 PM – Nurse or Bottle Feed
• 4:00 PM – Eat Pureed Solids
• 5:00 PM – Nap
• 6:30 PM – Bath time
• 7:00 PM – Nurse or Bottle Feed
• 7:30/7:45 PM – Bedtime

Sample schedule for starting solids at the age of 9 month

Food options to consider at the age of 9 month while starting on solid
Fruits

• Apricot
• Mango
• Nectarine
• Peach
• Plum
• Prune
• Pumpkin
• Orange
• Banana
• Melon

Vegetables

• Carrot
• Parsnip
• Peas
• Squash
• Zucchini

Foods

• Smashed black beans
• tofu strips drizzled with thinned nut butter
• Pancake Strips

Sample Feeding Schedule For A 9-Month-Old Baby

• 7 AM: Breastfeed/bottle feed
• 8 AM: Breakfast – Pancake strips, chopped raspberries and bananas
• 11 AM: Breastfeed/bottle feed
• 12 PM: Lunch – Penne pasta with tomato sauce, green peas, melon slices with skin and seed removed
• 3 PM: Breastfeed/bottle feed
• 5 PM: Breastfeed/bottle feed
• 6 PM: Dinner – Smashed black beans, tofu strips drizzled with thinned nut butter, sliced orange sections with outer membranes and pith removed
• 7 PM: Breastfeed/bottle feed

The best feeding schedule for your baby will require some trial and error, but as long as he is eating a variety of foods and growing healthy, you can be confident that he is well-fed

The post How and when to start baby on solids. Sample schedule to follow. appeared first on YourHealthyMom.