It is so exciting to watch your baby grow up.
But a baby is constantly hungry because they have such a little stomach and need to grow.
You’re probably feeding your baby the whole day, so it’s no wonder you’re asking yourself if your baby is ready for solids.
Maybe there are other signs, like…
your baby has already shown some interest in solid food.
Or you had a conversation with another Mom and their baby already had their first experience with food…
Or maybe you think it’s about time that your baby eats solid food, but you don’t know if it’s your mother’s instinct or just plain impatience…
Time to shed some light onto the world of solid food…
Quick Links
1. Introducing Solids Too Early Can Lead to Allergies
2. Learn First Aid on Your Baby
3. Look at Your Baby’s Signs of Readiness
4. Different Approaches to Introducing Solids
6. Introducing Solid Food to Your Baby Takes Time
7. Journal Your Baby’s Food to Know What They Can Eat
1. Introducing Solids Too Early Can Lead to Allergies
Studies show that introducing solids too early can lead to allergies.
Your baby should be at least 4 months old to start with solid food. Until then their stomach can’t digest other food than breast milk or infant formula.
The Who recommends starting with complementary feeding around the age of 6 months when your baby shows Cues of Readiness.
Don’t worry Mama, you’ll soon know what those Cues are.
But first…
2. Learn First Aid on Your Baby
Knowing what to do when your Baby chokes on something before you start introducing solids to them, is necessary to keep them safe.
Being prepared for the worst case will also ease your mind when feeding your baby.
You could watch this video from the British Red Cross, which is less than 3 minutes long.
Feel free to share it, because that could save a Baby’s life one day.
Now to the more fun part…
3. Look at Your Baby’s Signs of Readiness
When your baby is around 6 months old, you can slowly start to introduce solid foods when they show the following Signs:
- Your Baby can sit with support
- Your Baby weighs at least twice their birth weight
- Your Baby can hold their head upright for the duration of a meal
- Your Baby is aware of their hands and fingers
- Your Baby is interested in food (they watch you eat and open their mouth when you present them food)
- Your Baby has a reduced tongue thrust reflex (not a must, but helpful)
Now that you know, if your Baby is ready for solid food, it’s time to learn about the…
4. Different Approaches to Introducing Solids
There are 3 Methods for introducing solid food to your Baby:
- Baby Led Weaning (or short BLW) Your Baby self-feeds from Day 1 with soft and squishable foods that are cut in little pieces (around the size of a pinky finger)
- Spoon-Feeding the Parent holds the spoon and feeds the Baby with pureed or mashed food
- Combo Feeding -a Combination of Baby Led Weaning and Spoon Feeding
Don’t worry, Mama.
Neither Method is better than the other.
Which method you choose to feed your Baby is totally up to you and your preferences.
5.Prepare for a Mess
When introducing solid food to your Baby, you need to be prepared for a mess.
There is going to be food everywhere – on the floor, on your baby’s clothes, obviously on their face, and in places you can’t even think of right now.
You can reduce the mess by having a splash mat, smocks or bibs, and lots of washcloths at hand.
Pro Tip: Try to only clean your Baby’s face after they are finished with their meal.
Otherwise, you might irritate them by having that washcloth constantly in their face and eating will be a less pleasurable experience for them.
6. Introducing Solid Food to Your Baby Takes Time
When you choose Baby Led Weaning as your preferred method of feeding, your Baby has to learn to grab the food and put it to their mouth.
When the food comes close to their mouth they have to open it.
Then your Baby has to keep the food in their mouth and adjust to the new flavour and texture.
And then they have to swallow it.
Sounds simple to us, but we learned it long ago.
Spoon feeding is also a complex process your baby has to learn.
Your Baby needs to know to open their mouth, when the spoon comes close – that also takes trust.
They have to learn to keep the food in their mouth and swallow it. That’s why a reduced tongue thrust reflex is helpful.
But it’s not only the brain of your Baby that has to adjust.
Even the bacteria in their gut have to change to digest solid food properly.
So it’s okay when your Baby only eats one teaspoon of their puree on Day 1.
Introducing solids is a process that takes time – and with time I don’t mean days, but weeks or months.
7. Journal Your Baby’s Food to Know What They Can Eat
You need to know what your baby can eat and what they can’t stomach that well. I’m talking about allergies but also about constipation or diarrhea.
When I introduced solids, I used a calendar.
I sketched a little carrot because carrot puree was the first food I introduced to my Baby.
I fed that puree for days and watched my baby boy closely.
Was he constipated?
How often did he poop?
What did that poop look like?
It was always a little success to find out the foods my Baby liked and his body could digest properly.
Journaling also helped me on sleep-deprived days, because I knew what my Baby had for lunch weeks ago.
I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel every week.
8. Ease Your Baby’s Gas Pain
I already touched on that topic briefly…
When introducing solids to your Baby, you need to know that their digestive system has to adjust.
That takes weeks or even months.
Babies often get constipated or feel uncomfortable while digesting solid food.
But you can ease their pain and comfort them during their time of digesting.
Easy things you can to do help your Baby through Constipation:
- Add more tummy time to your Baby’s day, because that massages their belly when they move. But don’t do it right after feeding, because lying on a full belly could make them feel uncomfortable
- Let you Baby drink more (water, tea, breast milk or infant formula…whatever your Baby prefers)
- Massage your Baby’s belly with Cumin Oil
Now we’re at the end of my list of things you need to know before introducing solids to your Baby.
What do you think?
Is your Baby ready for solid food?
Let me know in the comments and follow me on Pinterest to know when a new Post is up.
xo
Jenny
Leave a Reply