Starting Solids
Parents often tell me that once they got the hang of it, learning to feed a newborn was a relative breeze compared to introducing solids to an older infant. I agree. As someone who has been through the transition three times, I know that it is rarely smooth and certainly not predictable. The security and ease of nourishing your child with breast milk or infant formula vanishes when solids enter the picture, particularly when babies develop teeth (and begin biting you during nursing) or become distracted by what's going on around them when you're giving them a bottle. Then there's the uncertainty of each meal: Will she eat? How much cereal should she eat? Will she like this or that new fruit or vegetable? And how long should I try to get her to accept food at any meal before giving up?When you worry about your infant's opposition to solid foods, or think that your baby is not eating enough, you can end up stressed at mealtime. This is especially true when you're trying to simultaneously monitor other children and eat your own meal. Alleviate some of the tension by arming yourself with a few simple facts and tips about introducing solid foods into baby's diet.
Satisfy calorie needs. Until baby reaches six months, he requires about 650 calories a day; from six to twelve months, about 850 will suffice. Even if your infant begins solids at four months, chances are breast milk or infant formula will continue to supply the majority of his energy until at least six months. By the time he reaches twelve months, he should be taking in more than half of his calories as table food.
Keep it relaxed. Feeding a well-rested baby who is hungry but not ravenous is easier and more rewarding that trying to feed a cranky or tired one. Your child should be interested in eating, not irritated by it.
Sit her up. Your baby must be able to hold up her head to be ready to receive solids. Sit your baby upright in an infant seat or prop her in a highchair supported by towels.
Feed baby first. Whenever the baby ate before the rest of the family, I had more time to spend with her without worrying about what the other kids were eating during the meal. Of course, time (and baby's hunger level) does not always permit this type of one-on-one feeding. But I recommend it when you are starting solids with your baby and you have older children, because it relieves some of the pressure, reduces distractions, and keeps baby and you more relaxed. When you're not constantly jumping up from the table to get a family member a fork or a glass of milk, or to wipe up a spill (as Tom and I are), you have more time to talk with your baby about the food she's eating or about anything else you please, you can better assess her hunger level, and you can pay attention to the cues she's giving you about what and how much she wants to eat. As time goes on and your baby eats more consistently at meals, it will become easier to feed her with the rest of the family. Even when she eats before or after the family meal, always seat her at the table with you for the social interaction.
Make it nutritious. Begin your foray into solid foods with fortified rice cereal mixed with formula or breast milk. Mix about one teaspoon dry infant cereal with four or so teaspoons of breast milk or (premixed) infant formula for each feeding.
It's not written in stone that baby's first solid food must be rice cereal, but it's surely a sound idea. Although most types of baby cereals are fortified with iron and other important minerals and vitamins, rice cereal is gluten-free, making it a safer alternative. Gluten is the part of wheat that can cause allergies in some people.
Why not try pureed vegetables or fruit before cereal? Because they lack the iron baby needs for good health. By six months of age, an infant's body has gone through much of his iron stores, which is why he requires additional daily iron from foods.
Keep it varied. Once baby becomes accustomed to infant cereal, move on to pureed fruits and vegetables (see Infant Feeding Guide). Serving baby a variety of foods encourages a healthier diet from the get-go. Expand your child's eating horizons by encouraging her to try foods you don't normally eat because you dislike them. Serve up small portions. Initially, your baby won't recognize solid foods as nourishment, so don't expect him to polish off a bowl of baby food during the first few weeks of eating solid foods. More than likely, your child will take just a small amount of food at each meal, at least to begin with. As infants become increasingly familiar with eating solids, they readily open their mouths to take larger bites.
One at a time. Introduce single ingredient foods, such as rice cereal, instead of a blend of baby cereal grains and do it one at a time. Feed just one new food to your child for five days or so before adding others. Why wait? It's your chance to see whether your baby has trouble tolerating a particular food. When you add too many foods at once, it's harder to pinpoint food allergies or other sensitivities should they occur. For example, once your baby has tried the different types of cereal grains without incident, then you may use a mixed grain infant cereal with confidence. Look for baby foods marketed as "First Foods" as they tend to contain just one ingredient. Even so, it may be difficult to tell which foods contain single ingredients, so read the ingredient label carefully. As your child matures, he can move on to mixtures such as tropical fruit blends, but he should avoid toddler foods until about a year. Toddler foods may contain chunks of food that could result in choking.
Come back to it. My kids would give me a "What's this?" face each time I put the spoon in their mouth at a meal, even when they had eaten the food before. Don't be daunted. It doesn't mean your child isn't hungry or that she won't eat. Babies often spit out the first bit of food you give them at each meal, as if they are getting adjusted to eating from a spoon all over again. This reaction gradually disappears as eating utensils become a regular part of their meals. Your baby may reject a food the first time you offer it, but accept it days, weeks, or months later. That could mean he's trying to adjust to a new taste or texture. Try serving a new food with an old favorite to increase acceptance, and don't give up!
Food Allergy Red Flags
Will your child be allergic to food? You won't know until you try feeding him. Food allergy symptoms can make themselves known within minutes or up to a few hours after eating a food for the second time. Always alert your pediatrician if any of the following signs of food allergy appears:
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Don't be a clean freak. You child will dribble mashed fruit down her chin, plunge her tiny mitts into a bowl of cereal and smear it on her face, and methodically toss food to the floor, just to see it fall. Be prepared for a mess, but don't worry about it. Order is not your first priority as a parent trying to foster acceptance of a well-balanced diet. Wiping your child's face and hands after every bite can turn him into a fretful being who becomes too concerned with your reaction to his messiness to try out his eating skills.
For safety's sake. Never leave children unattended when eating. Don't allow older kids to feed the baby without you around, either. Older children can be overzealous when feeding little ones, causing choking.
Unless you intend to use the entire amount of baby food or throw away the remainder, don't feed an infant directly from a baby food jar. The bacteria from baby's mouth gets into the food, multiplies, and can cause illness when you feed the leftovers to her later on. Instead, spoon some food into a separate dish and refrigerate the rest. If you go back to get more food from the same jar, use a clean spoon, not the one you are using to feed baby during the meal.
In My Experience: Babies Don't Need Fruit Juice
Parents perceive juice as healthy, and, in general, it is. Depending on the brand, 100 percent fruit juice products can be rich in calcium, vitamin C, and disease-fighting phytochemicals, substances exclusive to plant foods. But is juice necessary for infants? The answer is no. In fact, juice can be quite detrimental, especially when it replaces milk in a baby's bottle. While juice provides calories, vitamins, and minerals, it should never pinch-hit for the more nutritious fortified infant formula or for breast milk, which contains the nutrients babies require to flourish. Substituting juice for milk may stunt a child's growth. And infants allowed to suck on a bottle full of any carbohydrate-rich fluid such as juice or milk for prolonged periods risk baby bottle tooth decay. That's because the bacteria in the baby's mouth uses the constant supply of carbohydrate coming out of the bottle as an energy source to produce acid that rots tooth enamel. Letting a baby repeatedly fall asleep with a baby bottle full of juice in his mouth is problematic for this reason. I have never filled up a baby bottle with juice and fed it to any of my girls, and I don't recommend you do, either. When children are ready to use a sippy cup, then they can have fruit juice, but no more than six ounces a day, and preferably less. It's OK, but not required, to mix fortified 100 percent fruit juice with infant cereals beginning at four months, as long as you don't serve baby orange, grapefruit, or tomato juice. And forget about special juices designed for babies. They are expensive, and they are no better for your child. In fact, "baby" juices can cost upwards of two and a half times more than regular juice.
Copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth M. Ward. Excerpted from Healthy Foods, Healthy Kids with permission of its publisher, Adams Media Corporation.
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