When Can You Start Feeding a Baby Food
Past the time your baby is 4 to 6 months one-time, you've probably got your breastfeeding or formula drill down to an fine art. Don't go too comfortable, though—your child will soon be set for "real" nutrient. Here's everything to know almost starting Baby on solids, with tips for mastering mealtime.
When to Start Solids
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says yous should start your child on solids between four and 6 months, simply the answer really depends on your baby. Here are some signs that your little one may be prepare for baby food:
- They tin sit upright and hold up their head.
- They are curious, looking at everything around them—especially what y'all're eating!
- They lost the tongue thrust reflex that automatically pushes nutrient out of their oral fissure.
- They still seem hungry after getting a full mean solar day's portion of milk (eight to 10 breastfeedings or about 32 ounces of formula).
Call back, there's no need to rush this milestone. Most babies are gear up to start solids between 5 and half-dozen months. Don't start solids earlier iv months.
- RELATED: When Do Babies Start Eating Baby Nutrient?
How to Introduce Baby to Solids
The AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for half-dozen months, also as supplemental breastfeeding until your infant turns one. (Formula is also a dandy choice for moms who can't or don't want to breastfeed). Introducing solids is more than about getting them used to chewing and swallowing food than providing any significant nutritional do good.
Requite your baby the chest or bottle first thing in the morning, earlier or later meals, and before bedtime. At the beginning, you lot'll have to experiment to find what works best. If they're a big drinker—say, if they'd drink a whole bottle before a meal, given the chance—feed them first with food and then with a canteen. If they're a moderate drinker, try the contrary.
- Up to 9 months, feed your baby xx to 28 ounces of formula daily or breast milk every 3 to iv hours.
- At ix to 12 months, feed them 16 to 24 ounces of formula daily or breast milk every 4 to 5 hours.
Equally soon as your little i understands the concept of eating and shows interest in mealtime (this normally happens between half dozen and 9 months), start them on a routine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Fifty-fifty if they aren't hungry at times, they'll become used to the idea of eating on a schedule. (That said, never force or pressure your baby to eat. If they aren't interested, simply have them out of the high chair and move on.)
- RELATED: Introducing Baby Nutrient? Here are xx Things to Feed Your Baby
"My goal for the babies I care for is to get them on a big-male child or large-girl eating schedule by the time they turn 1," says pediatrician Sara DuMond, M.D. "This ways they should consume three meals a day with two to three snacks in betwixt."
- At 4 to half-dozen months, feed your baby two meals, each 2 to four tablespoons.
- At 7 to 12 months, feed them three meals, each the size of your baby's fist.
Every bit your babe adjusts to eating solids, know that at that place may be days when they're more interested in peas and carrots than in the chest or bottle and, on the flip side, days when all they'll want to do is nurse. This is all normal equally your baby begins to grow more contained, but for at present, they still need their normal day's worth of chest milk or formula.
Baby'south Kickoff Foods past Age
There are no hard and fast rules for a infant'south first foods. It's more than important to offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, and meats in whatsoever order to get your baby used to unlike tastes. Hither are some suggestions.
4 to 6 months: Unmarried-grain cereals
The level of iron that's stored in utero drops after birth, and a baby reaches an all-fourth dimension low at effectually 9 months. That's why cereals fortified with iron are an platonic early food. Combine one teaspoon of single-grain cereal with four to v teaspoons of breast milk or formula.
At first, most of the cereal will end up on your baby's chin. "The bespeak is to go your babe used to a different blazon of eating," says W. Allan Walker, M.D., director of the Partition of Nutrition at Harvard Medical Schoolhouse, in Boston. "Although information technology'due south sloppy and frustrating, you demand to become through this process."
- RELATED: How to Cull the Best Baby Food
Don't force your babe to keep eating if they milkshake their head no, plough away, or refuse to open upwards afterward only one mouthful. And if they seem completely uninterested in trying cereal, wait a week or then and try once more.
Once your baby is used to swallowing runny cereal, thicken it past using less water or chest milk and more cereal.
4 to 8 months: Pureed veggies, fruits, and meats
You may accept heard that eating fruits before vegetables can cause a lifelong preference for sweet foods, just there's no enquiry to back that up. So it'due south up to you to decide whether you begin with bananas or carrots—or pureed chicken for that matter.
The AAP also believes that introducing allergenic foods early tin can reduce the risk of developing a food allergy, especially if your child is at take chances. Mutual allergenic foods include peanuts, eggs, and dairy. Bank check out this article for more data.
- RELATED: The All-time Finger Foods for Babe
6 to viii months: Single-ingredient finger foods
Whether y'all've begun with purees or are starting solids with finger foods, many babies enjoy experimenting with self-feeding from an early age. Don't offering any hard, raw foods (such as apple slices or carrot sticks) at this betoken. Make sure fruits and veggies are soft plenty to mash with gentle pressure between your pollex and forefinger.
The shape matters likewise. Younger babies will be picking foods up with their whole palms, then a mound of mashed potatoes or a wedge of avocado will be easier to handle than smaller foods. Don't put salt or sugar in their nutrient—it's best if your babe learns to like information technology without the added seasonings.
9 to 12 months: Chopped, basis, or mashed foods
Equally presently as your child is able, transition them abroad from smooth purees. Incorporate more finger foods with texture like yogurt, cottage cheese, mashed bananas, and mashed sweetness potatoes. They tin also use more iron, so endeavour pureed meats similar beefiness, chicken, and turkey.
- RELATED: How to Wean Your Babe Off Breastfeeding
Solid foods to avoid
Yous should avoid giving infants the following foods:
Moo-cow's milk: Stick with breast milk and formula as a master beverage until your baby is one yr old. It'due south fine to use cow's milk in cooking or baking, though.
Choking hazards. Avoid these choking hazards during your baby's first yr: nuts, seeds, raisins, hard candy, grapes, hard raw vegetables, popcorn, peanut butter, and hot dogs.
Tips for Managing Mealtime
Create a routine. A baby needs focus to eat, and then start a routine where you lot wash their hands, soothe them, and so sit them downward to consume. And maintain the calmness past turning off the Television set and any loud music. "This will help your baby become witting of eating and learn to recognize when he'due south full," says Marilyn Tanner, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
Empathize that starting solids takes time. It will accept time for your baby to feel comfortable with the new sensations that continue with eating—the feel of a spoon in their oral cavity and the tastes and textures of different foods. "I reassure parents that you might become grimaces and horrible faces," says Laura Jana, M.D., co-author of Food Fights. "My daughter used to shriek when I put a spoonful of food in her rima oris. Just she wanted more than."
Prepare for messes. Your baby will likely fling food everywhere, especially if you lot're practicing babe-led weaning. This is common and doesn't necessarily indicate a dislike. "Getting nutrient into his rima oris takes coordination and practice for the infant," Tanner says.
- RELATED: What is Infant-Led Weaning? How to Assistance Your Baby Feed Himself
Watch out for allergies. To make pinpointing allergies easier, give your child only one new food at a time and await three or four days before trying another. Go on an center out for signs of an allergic reaction or intolerance, like a rash, hives, wheezing, difficulty breathing, vomiting, excessive gas, diarrhea, or blood in their stools. Call your pediatrician if you notice any of these symptoms (they tin can take minutes or days to appear), and become to the ER if the reaction seems serious.
Baby Food Nautical chart for Starting Solids
Take a page from our healthy-from-the-start handbook and have the guesswork out of what foods to introduce, and when. Print information technology out...and showtime feeding!
Credit: Christina Minopoli
Source: https://www.parents.com/baby/feeding/solid-foods/starting-solids-guide/
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