Starting Babyfood
From Mommyplace.com WiKI Page
The age at which Pediatricians recommend starting solids seems to change every few years. The most current recommendation is not to start before 6 months of age.
Rice cereal is the most common food to start with. Mix the rice cereal flakes (about 2 Tablespoons) with the breast milk or formula The consistency of the mixture should be almost liquid-like the first few times so that Baby can get use to it. Use a spoon though. Try this 1-2x per day at first. Make sure each feeding is supplemented with breast milk or formula. The rice cereal is not where Baby will get her nutrients, rather she is just getting use to food.
After about a week or 2 of rice cereal, you can start trying other babyfoods such as applesauce, bananas, or sweet potatoes. There are some Moms who feel that starting off with the sweet stuff (applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes) is a mistake b/c Baby will only like the sweet stuff. Who knows if that is true!
Wait 4-6 days after trying one food before starting your baby on something else he's never had to make sure he's not sensitive to the first food.
Some people recommend skipping the traditional first food of rice cereal and starting with more nutritious, easily digestible foods, such as organic chicken liver paste, pureed bananas, avocados, etc.
You should ask your Pediatrician what type of foods they recommend starting with.
See the book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sallon Fallon for more great ideas for feeding babies.
You can easily mash or puree babies first foods with a fork and mix them with a little breast milk or some of their regular formula to make them very soupy.
Don't obsess about getting your baby the correct nutrients or the right amount of food each day or meal at this point - each feeding is more about learning and experiencing the tastes/textures. Babies don't digest solids well until after the age of 1. Their main source of nutrition until then should be breast milk or formula. Some babies don't eat ANY solids until after the age of 1 and do just great!
Only introduce a new food every 4-5 days. This will allow you to isolate if a new food is causing your baby problems (e.g., food allergies).
Also, skip the top allergens until your baby reaches 2-3 years old, especially if food allergies run in your family. Avoid eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, etc. Wheat and soy are also top allergens but those are more difficult to avoid especially once Baby reaches 18 months or so and starts eating cracker, cheerios, etc.
