by Helium01

Created on: April 25, 2009   Last Updated: April 26, 2009

Introducing your child to solid food

Introducing your child to solid food is something that you will want to do once your baby reaches six months of age. The notion of solid foods is a little bit misleading, because at this age, your child will most certainly not be chomping down on a carrot or breadstick. The introduction of solid foods at this age means simply that your baby will be consuming something more than just formula or breast milk.

Below are some steps in the process of beginning to feed your baby solid foods.

Choose the Food

In terms of feeding your baby you can choose to buy prepared baby food from the supermarket or prepare your own food at home. There are many advantages to preparing your own food, and the process is not nearly as difficult as it might sound. Home-prepared food will likely cost you less, last you longer (in the freezer), expose your baby to a greater variety of flavors, and provide your baby with valuable nutrients. If you go with store-bought food, you can skip the food preparation step that follows.

Prepare the Food

If you are preparing your own food at home, some good first choices for your baby include banana, avocado and sweet potato. Food mills can be purchased inexpensively and provide you with an easy way to process the food into a fine puree that your likely-toothless baby can handle. Once the food is pureed, spoon it into individual sized portions in an ice cube tray and place in the freezer. Once the cubes are frozen, transfer them into Ziploc bags marked clearly with the date and type of food.

Prepare to Feed

What do you need in order to feed your baby? You should have a high chair of some sort, a bib, a baby-sized spoon, a bowl for food, and a wash cloth. If you are feeding your baby store-bought food, you need only open the food jar. If you are feeding homemade food, you need to quickly defrost one of your prepared cubes in the microwave. Ten seconds on high power should be more than enough time. Then, mix the food cube with enough formula, breast milk or water to create a thin liquid. Ideally, the food will be thin enough that it will pour off of a spoon.

Feed Your Baby

Once you have chosen a food, prepared or bought the food, and have everything ready to feed, it is time for a meal! New foods should only be introduced every four days in order to gauge for allergic reactions. If your baby does not seem to like a food, try it again another day to be sure. In the beginning your baby does not need more than a teaspoon or so of food. She should still be getting most of her nutrition from breast milk or formula.

These are just some basic steps to get started feeding your baby. For more complete ideas and instructions you should consult a book on the topic. One such option is "Super Baby Food", which contains a wealth of information to get started feeding your baby. Bon appetit!

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