Your baby's first meals should be an easy introduction to solid foods. Offer just one food at a time to start. It need not be bland, but it should be easy to digest. Whatever the food, puree it well and thin it to a runny, liquid consistency with breast milk, formula, or water. Here are a best advice & tips for feeding your baby.
How to Start
Although fortified rice cereal is traditionally recommended as an ideal first food because it's easy to digest, unlikely to trigger allergies, and a good source of iron, it's fine to offer other foods first. In fact, if your baby has been exclusively breastfed, consider meat; it's a particularly rich source of iron and zinc. A baby's stores of these minerals are depleted by 6 months, and breast milk alone doesn't supply enough of them. Some parents swear by fruit as a first food; it's sweet like breast milk and can be an easy transition. Ask your doctor whether she prefers a specific schedule or pattern.
Pick a time when your little one is in a happy mood -- right before the second feeding of the day is a good possibility. Take the edge off her hunger with a short nursing session or a small bottle. Start with a dollop of food on a fingertip; after a few days, increase the meal to a teaspoon and eventually a tablespoon. Don't worry if most of it dribbles down her chin--for the time being, she's getting used to the new flavor and texture.
How to Progress
After a few days of the first food with no adverse reaction, go on to another food. On the menu are single-grain baby cereals like oatmeal and barley, pureed fruits and veggies, and pureed meats--feed a spoonful or two once a day.
According to a recent Babytalk poll, pureed fruit is the first mush of choice for most parents. Here are current favorite first foods, ranked in order of popularity:
1 bananas
2 sweet potatoes
3 apples
4 carrots
5 peas
6 squash
7 green beans
8 pears
How to Start
Although fortified rice cereal is traditionally recommended as an ideal first food because it's easy to digest, unlikely to trigger allergies, and a good source of iron, it's fine to offer other foods first. In fact, if your baby has been exclusively breastfed, consider meat; it's a particularly rich source of iron and zinc. A baby's stores of these minerals are depleted by 6 months, and breast milk alone doesn't supply enough of them. Some parents swear by fruit as a first food; it's sweet like breast milk and can be an easy transition. Ask your doctor whether she prefers a specific schedule or pattern.
Pick a time when your little one is in a happy mood -- right before the second feeding of the day is a good possibility. Take the edge off her hunger with a short nursing session or a small bottle. Start with a dollop of food on a fingertip; after a few days, increase the meal to a teaspoon and eventually a tablespoon. Don't worry if most of it dribbles down her chin--for the time being, she's getting used to the new flavor and texture.
How to Progress
After a few days of the first food with no adverse reaction, go on to another food. On the menu are single-grain baby cereals like oatmeal and barley, pureed fruits and veggies, and pureed meats--feed a spoonful or two once a day.
According to a recent Babytalk poll, pureed fruit is the first mush of choice for most parents. Here are current favorite first foods, ranked in order of popularity:
1 bananas
2 sweet potatoes
3 apples
4 carrots
5 peas
6 squash
7 green beans
8 pears
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