What baby food do you introduce first

Feeding Your 4- to 7-Month-Old (for Parents)

Most babies this age are ready to try solid foods. Experts recommend starting solid foods when a baby is about 6 months old, depending on the baby's readiness and nutritional needs.

Be sure to check with your doctor before giving any solid foods.

Is My Baby Ready to Eat Solid Foods?

How can you tell if your baby is ready for solids? Here are a few hints:

Does your baby swallow food or push it out of their mouth? Babies have a natural tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food back out. Wait until this reflex disappears (typically when babies are 4–6 months old).
Can your baby support their own head? To eat solid food, an infant needs good head and neck control and should be able to sit up.
Is your baby interested in food? Babies who stare, reach and grab, and open their mouths for food are ready to try solid foods.

If your doctor gives the go-ahead but your baby seems frustrated or uninterested in solid foods, try waiting a few days before trying again. Breast milk and formula will still meet nutritional needs as your baby learns to eat solid foods. But after 6 months, babies need the added nutrition — like iron and zinc — that solid foods provide.

Do not add cereal or other food to your baby's bottle because it can lead to too much weight gain.

Watch for signs that your child is hungry or full. Respond to these cues and let your child stop when full. A child who is full may suck with less enthusiasm, stop, or turn away from the breast or the bottle. With solid foods, they may turn away, refuse to open their mouth, or spit the food out.

How Should I Start Feeding My Baby Solid Foods?

When your baby is ready and the doctor says it’s OK to try solid foods, pick a time of day when your baby is not tired or cranky. You want your baby to be a little hungry, but not so hungry that they’re upset. So you might want to give your baby a little breast milk or formula first.

Have your baby sit supported in your lap or in a high chair with a safety strap.

Most babies' first food is iron-fortified infant single-grain cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. Place the spoon near your baby's lips, and let the baby smell and taste it. Don't be surprised if this first spoonful is rejected. Wait a minute and try again. Most food offered to your baby at this age will end up on the baby's chin, bib, or high-chair tray. Again, this is just an introduction.

When your little one gets the hang of eating cereal off a spoon, it may be time to try single-ingredient puréed meat, vegetables, or fruit. The order in which you give them doesn't matter, but go slow. Offer foods that are high in iron and zinc — such as meat, poultry, eggs, and beans — especially if your baby is breastfeeding. Try one food at a time and wait several days before trying something else new. This will let you identify any foods that your baby may be allergic to.

Which Foods Should I Avoid?

Foods that are more likely to cause allergies can be among the foods you introduce to your baby. These include peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies. Talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about food allergies, especially if any close family members have allergies, food allergies, or allergy-related conditions, like eczema or asthma.

Infants with severe eczema or egg allergies are more likely to have allergies to peanuts. Talk to your doctor about how and when to introduce these foods to your child.

Possible signs of food allergy or allergic reactions include:

rash
bloating or an increase in gassiness
diarrhea
vomiting

Get medical care right away if your baby has a more severe allergic reaction, like hives, drooling, wheezing, or trouble breathing.

If your child has any type of reaction to a food, don't offer that food again until you talk with your doctor.

Babies shouldn't have:

foods with added sugars and no-calorie sweeteners
high-sodium foods
honey, until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
regular cow's milk or soy beverages before 12 months instead of breast milk or formula. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts

Tips for Feeding Your Baby Solid Foods

With the hectic pace of family life, most parents try commercially prepared baby foods at first. They come in small, convenient containers, and manufacturers must meet strict safety and nutrition guidelines.

If you prepare your own baby foods at home, here are some things to keep in mind:

Follow the rules for food safety, including washing your hands well and often.
To preserve the nutrients in your baby's food, cook it in ways that keep the most vitamins and minerals. Try steaming or baking fruits and vegetables instead of boiling, which washes away the nutrients.
Freeze portions that you aren't going to use right away.
Whether you buy the baby food or make it yourself, texture and consistency are important. At first, babies should have finely puréed single-ingredient foods. (Just applesauce, for example, not apples and pears mixed together.)
After your baby is eating individual foods, it's OK to offer a puréed mix of two foods. As babies get older, they will learn to eat a greater variety of tastes and textures.
If you use prepared baby food in jars, spoon some of the food into a bowl to feed your baby. Do not feed your baby right from the jar — bacteria from the baby's mouth can contaminate the remaining food. If you refrigerate opened jars of baby food, it's best to throw away anything not eaten within a day or two.
Around 6 months of age is a good time for your baby to try a cup. You might need to try a few cups to find one that works for your child. Use water at first to avoid messy clean-ups. Do not give juice to infants younger than 12 months.

Over the next few months, introduce a variety of foods from all the food groups. If your baby doesn't seem to like something, don’t give up. It can take 8 to 10 tries or more before babies learn to like new foods.

When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods | Nutrition

For more information about how to know if your baby is ready to starting eating foods, what first foods to offer, and what to expect, watch these videos from 1,000 Days.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children be introduced to foods other than breast milk or infant formula when they are about 6 months old. Introducing foods before 4 months old is not recommended. Every child is different. How do you know if your child is ready for foods other than breast milk or infant formula? You can look for these signs that your child is developmentally ready.

Your child:

Sits up alone or with support.
Is able to control head and neck.
Opens the mouth when food is offered.
Swallows food rather than pushes it back out onto the chin.
Brings objects to the mouth.
Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or food.
Transfers food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow.

What Foods Should I Introduce to My Child First?

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that for most children, you do not need to give foods in a certain order. Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months old. By the time he or she is 7 or 8 months old, your child can eat a variety of foods from different food groups. These foods include infant cereals, meat or other proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurts and cheeses, and more.

If your child is eating infant cereals, it is important to offer a variety of fortifiedalert icon infant cereals such as oat, barley, and multi-grain instead of only rice cereal. Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration because there is a risk for children to be exposed to arsenic. Visit the U. S. Food & Drug Administrationexternal icon to learn more.

How Should I Introduce My Child to Foods?

Your child needs certain vitamins and minerals to grow healthy and strong.

Now that your child is starting to eat food, be sure to choose foods that give your child all the vitamins and minerals they need.

Click here to learn more about some of these vitamins & minerals.

Let your child try one single-ingredient food at a time at first. This helps you see if your child has any problems with that food, such as food allergies. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new food. Before you know it, your child will be on his or her way to eating and enjoying lots of new foods.

Introduce potentially allergenic foods when other foods are introduced.

Potentially allergenic foods include cow’s milk products, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, and sesame. Drinking cow’s milk or fortified soy beverages is not recommended until your child is older than 12 months, but other cow’s milk products, such as yogurt, can be introduced before 12 months. If your child has severe eczema and/or egg allergy, talk with your child’s doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods with peanuts.

How Should I Prepare Food for My Child to Eat?

At first, it’s easier for your child to eat foods that are mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. As your baby’s oral skills develop, thicker and lumpier foods can be introduced.

Some foods are potential choking hazards, so it is important to feed your child foods that are the right texture for his or her development. To help prevent choking, prepare foods that can be easily dissolved with saliva and do not require chewing. Feed small portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always watch your child while he or she is eating.

Here are some tips for preparing foods:

Mix cereals and mashed cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to make it smooth and easy for your baby to swallow.
Mash or puree vegetables, fruits and other foods until they are smooth.
Hard fruits and vegetables, like apples and carrots, usually need to be cooked so they can be easily mashed or pureed.
Cook food until it is soft enough to easily mash with a fork.
Remove all fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish, before cooking.
Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit, and then cut the fruit into small pieces.
Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices.
Cut cylindrical foods like hot dogs, sausage and string cheese into short thin strips instead of round pieces that could get stuck in the airway.
Cut small spherical foods like grapes, cherries, berries and tomatoes into small pieces.
Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.

Learn more about potential choking hazards and how to prevent your child from choking.

Top of Page

Complementary food introduction: homemade or canned baby food? Choosing the best

Canned baby food or homemade food? This question inevitably arises before all parents when it is time to introduce complementary foods. It is impossible to get a clear and unified answer for everyone, because the choice will still be yours. After all, only you know what is best for your baby and more convenient for you.

Usually, discussions about baby food begin with a discussion of its benefits. But we would like to first of all remember the time. There are a lot of ready-made jars with all possible flavors in any store today. Moreover, in the right consistency and with an indication of the age from which you can definitely offer this product to the child. Perhaps this plus of canned food cannot be questioned. So if you are really pressed for time, this option automatically becomes the best.

If you have the opportunity to independently prepare the first, almost “adult” food for the baby, you should consider and try to eliminate some possible disadvantages. First of all, it is difficult to vouch for the quality of vegetables and fruits that we buy for preparing children's food. What conditions did they grow up in? Are these really organic products? Alas, these questions are very, very relevant today. In addition, vegetables and fruits bought out of season often do not contain a very large amount of vitamins. Accordingly, the feeding itself becomes inferior.

Now let's talk about canned food. At the very beginning we praised him. But here, too, there are points that are worth paying attention to. For example, consistency. Baby purees come in two types - homogenized and pureed . If your baby is only 4-5 months old, and you are just introducing complementary foods, homogenized products are suitable for him, that is, carefully crushed and having a uniform structure. And the mashed potatoes are intended for babies over 6 months old. The controversy about preservatives in baby food has also not subsided. It is reassuring that the use of chemical preservatives in its production is prohibited. But it is still difficult for a young mother to be sure of the quality of all the products on the store shelf. To protect yourself from low-quality baby food, give preference to large well-known manufacturers: such companies set high quality standards and have the resources to meet them.

Parents are also worried about the ubiquitous allergy. It often happens that a mother buys apple and pear puree for her baby, knowing that he is happy to eat regular apple. But the child suddenly develops an allergy. To avoid such situations, offer your baby monocomponent nutrition. Switch to two types of fruit, and then to their mixture, only when you are completely sure that each of the products does not cause an allergic reaction in the child.

Be sure to think in perspective. Sooner or later, the baby will need to give up jars and go to the common table. Therefore, gradually, starting from 9-12 months, introduce coarsely ground foods into the baby's diet. In general, both canned food and homemade food are good for babies, if certain rules are followed. When choosing the latter, try to buy the highest quality products. And also strictly monitor the sanitary conditions in the kitchen while preparing food. If you buy canned food, check the integrity of the packaging, the expiration date of the product and carefully read the composition on the label.

To make it easier for mothers to provide their child with all the nutrients necessary for healthy development, professional manufacturers of baby food have also worked hard. So, within of the "Tema" product line, a huge range of products is produced that help to create a complete diet for even the most capricious child in food - from the first complementary foods to the moment of transition to an adult table. All ingredients used are strictly controlled and processed according to the most modern technologies.

10 rules for preparing safe baby food for your baby

Pro nutrition

Photo: Ibrakovic / iStock / Getty Images

1. Watch your baby to tell you when to start solid foods

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months, after which complementary foods begin. But it may happen a little earlier or later. Signs of a child's readiness include:

Good head control and sitting with little support.
Baby may turn away, push bottle or breast away to let you know he is full and finished eating.
The baby is shortening the intervals between feedings and it seems that breast milk or formula is no longer enough for him.
And the most important clue: when you eat, your child looks down at you and seems to be begging for food with his eyes (or maybe even snatching it out of your hands).

2. Don't get hung up on what food to give first

There is no one food to start with - even pediatricians can disagree. Most recommend that parents start with the simple whole fruits and vegetables that the family is accustomed to eating—bananas, apples, peas, zucchini, carrots, or potatoes.

You can boil or roast your favorite fruits or vegetables until soft, then mix them with enough breast milk, formula or water to get a runny consistency.

It is advisable to follow the rule: give the child one new product for 3-5 days, so that in the event of an allergic reaction, it would be easier to identify the "culprit". As soon as the child begins to eat one food well, you can move on to another, or to new combinations of foods that he has already tried. For example, give your child mashed bananas for 3 days, and then you can switch to baby oatmeal with bananas.

Photo: blyjak / iStock / Getty Images

3. Avoid certain foods until the baby is 1 year old

Due to the risk of botulism, honey or foods containing honey should not be given to the baby. You should also avoid unpasteurized foods: milk, undercooked meat, eggs, fish or poultry. The child can eat yogurt. However, whole milk should be introduced into the diet after one year, as it is not as nutritious as breast milk or formula and is low in iron.

4. Don't waste your money on fancy kitchen equipment

There are many gadgets designed to prepare baby food. They are expensive and will only be needed for a short period of time. Instead, just use what you already have on hand—a hand blender, immersion blender, or food processor.

5. Store Food Properly

Strained fruits and vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days, and in the freezer for up to one month. Keep vegetable purees in the refrigerator for no more than a day, and in the freezer for a month. The same applies to strained meat, poultry, fish and eggs.

6. Store food in ice cube trays

It is convenient to freeze puree in ice cube trays. Each cube contains 2 tablespoons of puree—the perfect serving size to start with. After freezing in the tray, you can transfer the cubes to labeled freezer bags and put them in the freezer.

Photo: Getty Images

7.

Be sure to include meat in complementary foods

Meat is an excellent source of protein and iron. If you decide to make your own baby food at home, you can mix boiled meat (beef, chicken, or turkey) with breast milk, formula, or another puree (such as mashed potatoes) until it's the consistency of soup, without chunks. Older children can be given pieces of minced meat. It is important to avoid meats with a higher salt content, such as bacon and deli.

The iron stores with which a child is born are depleted after about 4-6 months. Therefore, iron-fortified baby cereals or mashed meats are an important complementary food for breastfed babies.