 |
|
|
Pregnancy & Baby Moving Beyond Cereal: Introducing New Foods Once Baby has mastered eating thickened infant cereal and is taking it twice a day—usually at 6 months old—you can start pureed fruits and vegetables. Then, a few weeks or months later Baby can start to eat protein foods. Before long she’ll be feeding herself! Checking for allergies Introduce foods one at a time, waiting 2 to 4 days before starting another new food. This will let you see how the baby reacts to each food, and will help identify any allergies or intolerances. Don’t be concerned if the color and texture of your baby’s stool changes during this time. These changes are normal and don’t indicate a problem. Signs of allergy or intolerance to look for include a new skin rash, vomiting, or diarrhea. If you think Baby is allergic to a food, eliminate it from her diet and see if the symptoms also disappear. Ask your pediatrician about any new symptoms or if you suspect a food allergy. Though the vast majority of babies will never develop a single food allergy, many pediatricians recommend delaying the introduction of certain foods just in case. These foods are the ones most likely to cause an allergic reaction, along with common guidance regarding when to introduce them:
Other foods that may not be well tolerated by younger babies or that may cause allergic reactions include chocolate, strawberries or other berries, tomatoes, and any food that a baby’s parent is allergic too. If your baby has a strong family history of allergies (i.e. she has a parent or sibling with food allergies), talk to your pediatrician about when to introduce potentially allergenic foods, as it may be best to wait longer than the guidelines stated above. Fruits and vegetables Besides offering wonderful new tastes and exciting variety to Baby’s diet, these foods provide many nutrients for your growing baby, including vitamins A and C. Orange and dark green vegetables like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and spinach will be the main sources of vitamin A. Apples, pears, potatoes and broccoli, among others, offer vitamin C. You may have heard that offering fruits before starting vegetables will encourage a sweet-tooth, but research doesn’t support this theory. Introduce these foods in whichever order you prefer. Start with 1 to 2 tablespoons of a single fruit or vegetable and give it when Baby eats her cereal. Then, slowly work up to 2 to 4 tablespoons of fruits or vegetables per meal, given in 2 or 3 meals during the day. Texture Once Baby is used to taking pureed foods, around 7 to 8 months, she is probably ready for more variety of textures. Foods can be pureed or mashed with a few lumps. Giving Baby more texture will help her development of mouth skills like moving food around the mouth, chewing motions, and safely swallowing. By 8 or 9 months she will probably be ready for more new textures - chopped soft foods and finger foods. Protein foods Between 7 and 9 months old, after exploring many new fruits and vegetables, Baby can try protein foods. These include pureed or finely ground meats and poultry, mashed beans, mashed tofu, plain whole milk yogurt, mashed egg yolk (wait until 1 year to offer the white), and mild cheeses. Start by offering 1 to 2 tablespoons of these foods. Then, work up to 4 to 6 tablespoons of these foods, given in either 1 or 2 meals per day. Self-feeding and finger foods When Baby can sit up without help and is good at eating varied textures from a spoon, you can start giving her finger foods so she can learn to feed herself. Finger foods may be soft cooked vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces or other foods that are soft and do not require any chewing. As teeth begin to come in she’ll be able to handle even more finger foods. But be sure to note the list of potential choking hazards, below, for foods to avoid until Baby is 2 or older. This stage will probably be messy at first, but letting Baby learn to feed herself is important for her development. Until she is proficient at it, you may find that offering spoonfuls of food in between her self-fed bites works well. Foods to avoid: Choking risks and honey Foods that can cause choking are hard foods that require too much chewing for young babies, and small round foods that can lodge in the throat. Avoid these choking hazards until age 2 or older: nuts, seeds, popcorn, snack chips, pretzels, raw carrots, raisins, whole grapes, hot dogs or sausage links, hard candy, or large chunks of meat or other tough foods. Soft but sticky foods like chewing gum, marshmallows and jelly candies can also get lodged in the throat and should be avoided. Honey may contain spores of Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism. Adults’ immune systems can handle a small amount of these spores but babies under 1 year are susceptible to a life-threatening reaction to the toxins they produce. So, no honey for your honey until she’s at least 12 months old. What should Baby drink? Most babies don’t need extra fluids in addition to their breastmilk or formula. However, around 7 or 8 months old it’s a good time to introduce a cup (e.g. a sippy cup) so that Baby will begin to learn how to drink. Parents often find that Baby is skeptical about drinking her beloved breastmilk or formula out of this new cup. If that’s the case, offer water or diluted juice instead. Once she starts accepting the cup, offer a cup with water at mealtime. Baby can wash down her food and will hopefully develop a taste for the water. Whether or not you want to serve fruit juice to Baby is up to you - it’s not nutritionally necessary. If you prefer, you may offer 100% fruit juice any time after she reaches 6 months old. Juice is a good source of vitamin C, but too much juice can cause a stomach ache, hyper behavior, and in the long run, it can contribute to weight problems. If you choose to serve juice, give Baby 100% juice only (apple juice is a good choice) and dilute with a little water to make it less concentrated and sweet. Offer juice in a cup (not a bottle) and serve with a snack rather than a meal so it doesn’t interfere with her appetite. Babies and young children should have no more than 4 ounces of juice per day.  Article provided by HAPPYBABY Food. Learn more at www.happybabyfood.com |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||