Time to start your Baby on solid food.
Many doctors will tell you that you can start introducing solids or baby purées as early as 4 months but is your baby really ready?
Most babies stomach is not fully developed for any other food than milk until they are about 6 months old.
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Signs of being ready for solid food
Introducing solid food too early can result in stomach aches and baby refusing food.
The WHO (world health organization) suggests to exclusively give your baby milk for the first 6 months of their life.
Their little digestive systems have to be ready to digest food other than milk.
We can’t really observe when that is the case but different studies showed that around 6-8 months is the best time which covers the same suggestion that WHO gives.
Luckily your baby will show you when it’s ready.
You should look for the following signs:
– sitting with little help
– Can safely hold own head up
– lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids back out
– shows a lot interest in your food
– makes chewing motions
– tries to grab food by itself
Once you see all of those sign you can be sure your baby is ready.
Buying or cooking?
Now you can go to the store and buy lots of purées or you can make some solid food on your own.
When you make your own purée you will have to add some oil (canola oil or coconut) – this is important that the baby’s little body gets the most nutrients out of the food you feed them and helps digest.
Also you can mix it with breast milk or formula for a creamier texture.
Carrots are a classic as starter but you can really introduce anything with one ingredient.
Why only one? So you can find out if your baby may be allergic to anything.
If you slowly introduce one food after the other you can see if your baby reacts to it in form of a rash.
This may also be interesting:
– Baby Led weaning
– How to save money on groceries
– Hunger cues
What to do with leftovers?
At first your baby will only eat 1-2 spoons if that. It’s not worth to only make that much or open a whole jar of food to end up with most of it leftover.
You can store baby food in the fridge for 24 hours or you can do what I did and put it in a ice tray to freeze.
Once frozen I put it in zip lock bags and wrote on them what kind of purée is inside.
That way you end up with the perfect amount for a feeding.
Simply pop out one cube and slowly heat it in the microwave (10 seconds at once, repeat 2-3 times until warm) or slowly let it defrost at room temperature.
Before you give anything to your baby makes sure the food is not too hot. You can check by holding it to your lips.
Alternatively you can use the savory ones as a sauce for noodles later when your baby is eating them.
The fruit ones can be made into a tasty meal with Greek yogurt and oats – my toddler and I love to eat that with fresh fruit.
When you buy baby food do your research – according to studies Plum organics is THE best baby food out there. Their food is pretty pricey tho.
You can save buying in bulk on amazon.
If you still want good organic food for a little less I recommend beech nut organics or beech nut naturals.
That is what i gave my baby and chose it because there is nothing but the good ingredients inside.
We still use snacks from the same brand and she loves it.
I really like that they come in pretty big glass jars – no plastic waste and you can see right away if there is something wrong with it.
You can see the food tells you for what stage it is. Stage 1 is for a baby that’s ready for solids. Stage 2 for babies that sit up by themselves and stage 3 for crawlers.
You can switch to a different stage when your baby is ready for new texture.
Always offer some water with food.
If you don’t have it yet and you shop at target regularly get target circle – I see discount on Baby food and snacks there on a regular basis.
And on top of that you make cash back on your purchases that you can use for future purchases. Score!
What was your baby’s favorite first food?
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