Baby Weaning – Ideas for A Successful Transition to Food
Once your baby reaches about 6 months of age, your baby’s Doctor will recommend you start introducing foods. Following a proper plan of baby weaning is very important to make sure you don’t develop a fussy eater. Here’s a few tips to get you started.
The first food you are likely to introduce to your baby is rice cereal.
With the smooth texture of rice cereal, and the ease in digestion, it is great starter in baby weaning. The challenge many parents run into with rice cereal is their babies just don’t like the flavor. Don’t be tempted to add sugar or other artificial sweeteners, you don’t want your baby to develop a sweet tooth, even before they have teeth. You can try substituting other cereals, and even try one flavored with banana to make your baby more accepting of the cereal. Most times you want the cereal to be mixed very wet, so it is easy for your infant to swallow.
The second food you should consider during baby weaning is pureed vegetables.
You can make your own, or buy baby food at your local markets. To have the highest success with your baby accepting a wide variety of flavors, start with green vegetables. Pureed peas and green beans are very healthy for your infant. It is easiest to introduce green vegetables prior to allowing your child to taste the sweeter vegetables and fruits.
During the start of baby weaning, introduce one new food every few days. Waiting a few days in between new foods allows you to watch for any possible allergic reactions, and be able to identify the food immediately.
After your baby becomes accustomed to green vegetables, you can introduce yellow and orange vegetables. Carrots and squash are vegetables most infants are very fond of. They enjoy the tasted and texture.
Once you have firmly established vegetables, your baby weaning can move onto fruits.
Your baby is sure to love the sweeter flavors of pureed bananas, pears, apples, and other fruits. The reason to wait until this stage for fruits is to keep your baby from only desiring fruits. They are the dessert of your babies menu, and will quickly become a favorite. Don’t neglect the other important foods, just because this may become the easiest one to have them eat.
The final group in your pureed selection is meats.
Usually you will wait until about 7 or 8 months old before introducing meats. Again, watch your baby for reactions when introducing new foods.
During the first year of life, baby weaning does not remove the need for breast milk or formula, but is the starting transition to eating other foods. As your baby matures further, you can start introducing thicker, and chunkier foods. With the development of teeth, you baby will want to start experimenting with harder cereals, biscuits, and other finger foods.
You will quickly find baby weaning is one of the most enjoyable times in your life. Watching your baby experiencing new foods, new flavors, and new textures is very exciting. Just watch out, sometimes those new foods can go flying across the kitchen.
