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| Introducing Solids |
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Starting solid foods is an exciting stage in your baby's development, but it also brings lots of questions:
- When should my baby start solids?
- What foods do I use?
- How much?
- Does it mean I have to stop breastfeeding?
Every baby and family is different. Following is some basic information. More detailed information is in the Australian Breastfeeding Association booklet Introducing Solids.
When do I begin with family foods?
Breastmilk is your baby's most important food during his first year or two. A healthy, full-term baby needs only breastmilk for at least the first 6 months. Your milk contains the right amounts of fluid, protein, fat, sugar, iron and other minerals and vitamins. It is the normal and complete food for a human baby.
There are good reasons for waiting until your baby is 6 months old before starting him on other foods. Babies will not benefit from starting solids or other fluids until their bodies are ready.
Young babies have a natural tongue-thrust reflex that makes their tongue push out food when it is put in their mouth. Babies begin to lose this tongue-thrust reflex at about 6 months making it easier for them to swallow solid food.
You are not giving your baby a better start by giving solids earlier than 6 months. A young baby's digestive system cannot cope well with the fats and proteins that are in other milks, eggs, meat, fruit, vegetables and cereals. Your baby's kidneys cannot easily handle the large amount of salt found in some processed foods designed for children and adults. Young babies do not need the extra kilojoules that solid foods may give them.
Research shows that a baby will not necessarily sleep any longer when solids are started Some babies need regular night breastfeeds for longer than others. Babies wake for many reasons, of which hunger may only be one.
Signs that your baby is ready
Somewhere around 6 months your baby will let you know when he is ready for extra foods. He may seem hungry, even after a few days of more frequent breastfeeds. He may try to take food from your plate (or somebody else's) or show interest in eating when you do. If your baby is not interested in family foods when you decide to start, wait a week or two before trying again. Make suitable foods available to your baby and let him decide what he wants. Some babies are 7 or 8 months, or older, before they start eating more than a taste of family foods.
You may be worried about your baby's intake of iron. Research has shown that the risk of low iron is small in healthy full-term babies still exclusively breastfed between 6 and 12 months. It is a good idea to offer foods that contain iron, such as baby cereal or meat, as one of his first foods. Meat is particularly good as it contains zinc, which is also important.
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Noah was totally breastfed and loving it. At 6 months he began playing with pasta shells in my bowl while breastfeeding at the table. I began to put small cubes of cooked pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato within his reach. By 9 months, Noah was taking foods from my plate and tasting them and he was happy to have a small bowl of whatever the family was eating. He especially liked thin strips of steak to suck and yes, orange-coloured vegies as well as pasta, are his very favourites.
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Let your baby set the pace
There is no point in forcing or coaxing your baby to eat. Just be willing to give help when it is needed. Always stop when your baby does not want any more. His appetite is the best guide to his needs.
It is best to breastfeed your baby before you offer other foods when you start to serve family foods.
After your baby has tried one food, try another a few days later. The amount she takes at first may be quite tiny - perhaps only a quarter of a teaspoon - but once she gets the idea, your baby may eat one or more teaspoons of a well-liked food. At this stage, solids are a learning activity for your baby - learning about tastes and textures - and breastmilk will still be meeting her nutritional needs. Don't worry if your baby does not like some foods. No single food is essential to the diet. There are always other choices. Do you eat absolutely everything?
Take care
Always stay with your baby while she is eating or chewing. Be aware of the possibility of choking. Wait for a few days after introducing each new food before introducing another. Reactions to new foods may include a rash or eczema, diarrhoea or constipation, or your baby crying more than usual, maybe from a tummy ache. An allergy reaction usually occurs straight after the food is eaten or even touches the baby's skin, but other reactions may take 2-3 days to occur. Spacing out new foods will help you work out which food caused a reaction if one does happen.
It used to be thought that some foods should be delayed until a baby is 9-12 months or older, to reduce the risk of the child developing food allergy. Recent research has shown that this does not reduce the allergy risk, even for babies from families with a history of allergies. Experts currently advise that almost any foods, including egg, wheat, cows' milk and fish, can be introduced from 6 months onwards. It is now thought that small amounts given often from about 6 months of age help to reduce allergies rather than causing them. One exception to this is nuts, but only if there is a family history of nut allergy.
Some ideas for foods
- Some easy spoon meals
- Fruit: Mashed banana, ripe pear or raw avocado; unsweetened pureed cooked apple or other fruit; fruit puree mixed with cereal. Many babies also love summer fruits like peaches, mango, watermelon and rockmelon (cantaloupe).
- Vegetables: Baked or steamed sweet potato, white potato, pumpkin or carrot; dried peas or beans, soaked and simmered, or baked beans from a can (choose the 'no added salt' type), mashed or sieved; any cooked vegetable, mashed or sieved if necessary.
- Meat: Meat from the family casserole (mashed or sieved if necessary); meat, scraped to a pulp with a knife, wrapped in foil and steamed or baked; grilled meat cut up finely or you can use a blender.
- Soups: Homemade soups based on stocks that have had the fat skimmed; vegetables can be sieved into the stock and, later, small pieces can be left in the soup for your baby to chew.
- Fish: Any cooked fish without bones.
Milk products: Yoghurt, cottage cheese or homemade custard.
- Eggs: Soft-boiled eggs scooped out of the shell and mixed with fresh breadcrumbs; poached or scrambled eggs.
- Pasta and rice: Shell shapes and larger noodles are fun. Rice, overcooked and mushy, sticks well to a spoon.
Often the best food for your baby to have at a particular meal is the one you are preparing for the rest of the family, adapted for your baby.
- Some ideas for finger foods
- Fruit: Piece of banana; peeled and cored apple or pear. (If your baby keeps losing the piece of apple, try tying a clean ribbon through it and pinning it to your baby's shirt. Grated apple or other fruit; pieces of melon or pawpaw (without seeds); an orange quarter, minus peel and seeds; stone fruit with stone removed.
- Meat or alternative: A small amount of meat on a safe bone, neither sharp nor brittle, for example, chicken leg bone, lamb chop; fingers of grilled or baked liver or kidney; rissoles or slices of homemade meat loaf; firm tofu cooked in long thin slices.
- Fish: Homemade fish fingers or fish cakes; flakes of cooked fish with every bone removed.
- Vegetables, for babies with teeth: A piece of raw celery or other salad vegetables; fresh, raw, or cooked green stringless beans; grated raw carrot; fingers of cooked potato, carrot or other vegetable.
- Bread: Preferably wholemeal if baby is over 9 months - homemade rusks (bake thick slices or crusts in a very slow oven until they are quite crisp and dry); toast, plain or buttered, sometimes use a spread thinly; sandwiches.
- Pasta: Boiled, cooled, pasta shapes.
- Cheese: Fingers of cheese; grated cheese.
- Eggs: Pieces of hard-boiled egg yolk or whole egg; strips of omelette.
In summary
Your breastmilk alone will provide all the nutrients your baby needs for at least the first 6 months. Look for your baby's signs of readiness for family foods and introduce them slowly. Be relaxed and flexible in your approach to beginning solids. Don't aim to follow a rigid order of foods and remember that he is being introduced to your family diet.
If you think of your baby as the youngest member of the family, who will gradually join in all family activities, you should not have any problems with his learning to share what the rest of the family eats. It is just a natural part of growing up!
Further resources
- Some of the booklets:
- Especially for Grandparents
- Expressing and Storing Breastmilk
- Increasing Your Supply
- Sleep
- Survival Plan
- Weaning
- Why Is My Baby Crying?
- Books:
- Breastfeeding … naturally (2nd edition), Australian Breastfeeding Association
- NMAA Cooks, Australian Breastfeeding Association
- Mothers Direct products:
- Puddle Feeder (the ultimate bib; long-sleeved to protect clothing and a catch-all pocket)
- Messy Mat (an easy-to-clean mat to place under a high chair or table, to help keep the floor clean)
- Solids Starter Kit (recipe book and freezer trays with lids)
- A variety of books and baby-care products
May 2009
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