What Foods Should I Start My Baby on

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Breastfeeding has been shown to better babe, kid and maternal health outcomes and help command healthcare costs, but how long should breastfeeding final and when should parents introduce solid foods?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend sectional breastfeeding, significant the infant receives merely chest milk, during the first six months of life for optimal nutrition and health benefits.

Once solid foods are introduced, health professionals recommend continuing breastfeeding through 12 months of historic period and, afterward that, as desired by female parent and babe. Introducing your baby to solid foods is an heady milestone. When you beginning introducing children to the earth of solid foods, you are helping them shape their relationship with food and establish a healthy eating mode. The timing for introducing solid foods will depend on the infant, but it is not recommended before the age of four months or afterward the age of six months.

Not sure how to go your baby started on solid foods? Consider these helpful tips.

Is Your Baby Ready to Transition?

Each child'south readiness for solid food depends on their own rate of evolution. Signs a baby may exist gear up to start solid foods include sitting up with minimal support, demonstrating good head control, bringing objects to the oral fissure or grasping at small objects. Check with your pediatrician earlier starting solid foods.

Getting Started With Solids

Solid foods may be introduced in whatever guild. However, puréed meats, poultry, beans and fe-fortified cereals are recommended equally offset foods, especially if your baby has been primarily breastfed, since they provide key nutrients. Only one new unmarried-ingredient food should be introduced at a fourth dimension.

Softer textures are very important when kickoff introducing foods. Infants unremarkably start with pureed or mashed foods around six months. As infants develop chewing and motor skills, they are able to handle items like soft pieces of fruit and finger foods. As the child ages, a variety of healthful foods is encouraged.

Weaning From Breastfeeding

When deciding if you should wean your baby to a bottle or a loving cup, consider their developmental readiness. Between 7 and 8 months, virtually infants will drink small amounts of liquid from a cup or a glass when someone else holds it. Older babies and toddlers often have the coordination to beverage fluids from a cup by themselves.

If your babe is under 12 months of age and yous are not standing to breastfeed, wean from breast milk to iron-fortified infant formula. If your baby is 12 months or older, whole cow's milk is appropriate.

Food Safe Do's and Don'ts

Food safety concerns for infants and toddlers include nutrient allergies, choking and risks for foodborne illness. Proceed the following safety tips in heed:

Do talk with your pediatrician about the gamble of food allergies. Introducing one new food at a time, every several days, allows time to monitor for allergic reactions. Current evidence does not bespeak needing to wait beyond iv to vi months before introducing potential allergy-causing foods such as eggs, dairy, soy, peanuts and fish. In fact, introducing peanut-containing foods as early as four to 6 months of age may help foreclose a peanut allergy. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends introducing potentially allergenic foods when other complementary foods are introduced to an infant's nutrition. Parents with concerns about food allergies should hash out how to include these foods with their pediatrician.

Don't feed your baby solid foods from a canteen. It tin can be a choking hazard and despite a popular misconception, putting cereal in a baby'due south bottle won't help with sleeping through the night. Other foods that are considered to exist choking hazards are listed beneath.

Practise supervise your child while eating. Infants should exist able to sit down upright and face forwards when you showtime introduce solid foods. This makes swallowing easier and choking less likely.

Don't feed straight from the jar of food but instead spoon some nutrient into a separate dish first. Feeding directly from the jar may introduce leaner from your baby's mouth to the spoon and dorsum into the food, creating a food safety issue.

Don't feed dearest to children nether 12 months of historic period due to the risk of foodborne illness.

Examples of appropriate solid foods listed past age:

six months:

• Well-cooked and pureed meat, poultry or beans
• Ground, cooked, single-grain cereal or baby cereal with breast milk or formula
• Cooked and pureed vegetables
• Mashed banana or avocado

nine months:

• Well-cooked, minced or finely chopped meat, poultry or beans
• A variety of cooked vegetables cut into small, ½ inch pieces, such as squash and green beans
• Sliced and quartered bananas or pocket-sized pieces of other soft fruits

12 months:

• Soft, shredded meat, poultry or fish
• Modest pieces of cooked vegetables
• Pocket-sized pieces of soft, piece of cake to chew fruits
• Mixed food dishes the family is eating in appropriately sized pieces

Not recommended for those under iv years of age due to the risk of choking:

• Popcorn and whole kernel corn
• Nuts and seeds
• Big chunks of meat, poultry and cheese
• Candy, mucilage drops and jelly beans
• Hard, raw fruits or vegetables such every bit apples, celery and carrots
• Whole grapes and cherry tomatoes, unless cut into quarters
• Hot dogs, unless cut into strips and age appropriate, bite-size pieces
• Viscid foods, such equally peanut butter, which tin get stuck in the back of the mouth – peanut butter is okay if spread thinly on breadstuff

For toddlers and preschoolers, chop grapes, meat, poultry, hot dogs and raw vegetables and fruits into small-scale pieces (nearly ½ inch or smaller).

Nurturing Healthy Relationships with Food

Establishing a positive feeding relationship during infancy can have lifetime benefits. Keep in mind that children are responsible for how much and whether they eat then always wait for your babe to pay attention to each spoonful before y'all feed them. Don't be afraid to allow your baby impact the food in the dish and on the spoon. You wouldn't desire to swallow something if you didn't know anything about it, would you? In addition, know the cues that your baby is done eating. A common cue babies are full is head turning.

Whatever happens, don't get discouraged and enjoy the experience. With a little patience and creativity, you tin can make your baby'southward first solid nutrient eating experience fun for everyone involved!

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Source: https://www.eatright.org/food/nutrition/eating-as-a-family/dos-and-donts-for-babys-first-foods

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