Everything You Want to Know About Baby’s First Foods
Starting baby’s first foods is an exciting time for both baby and parent(s). This is also an important time to build the foundation of a “family meal” and solidify healthy habits of conversation, eye contact, and routine. As always, make sure to check with your physician before entering this stage of development.
Breast milk and/or formula are still the primary source of nutrition before the age of one. However, the introduction of solids plays an important role in your baby's development. There is a critical window between 6-9 months where babies need to learn how to chew food. Additionally, fine motor skills evolve as the child learns to develop and perfect their pincer grasp when interacting with different foods. Exploring and experimenting with food is also an important sensory experience for babies, allowing them to appreciate the different textures, flavors and colors. At this stage, babies are typically babbling and making a variety of sounds. In order to help facilitate speech development, manipulating foods in their mouth allows the baby to exercise the over 100 muscles they have in their mouth/face. Regardless of feeding methodology, it’s important to provide your baby with whole-foods, and avoid processed foods. Thus, AVOID the packaged teething crackers, yogurt melts, etc which have no nutritional value to your baby. These packaged foods fill your baby up, and result in a poor solids food journey.
Once your baby is ready for solid food, your first question may be… are you doing baby led weaning, puree, combo, or don’t know? There is a lot of confusion about what baby led weaning is, let's talk about both methods…⠀
Baby Led Weaning (BLW)
1. Your baby self-feeds, so instead of spoon- feeding your child, they are in charge of picking up the food or grabbing the spoon and getting it into their mouth. From the start, your baby has full control over if they eat and how much they eat. The best self-feeding spoon is from @ezpzfun ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2. Your baby eats what you eat (to an extent). This is one of the benefits of BLW as you aren't making different meals.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3. Your baby eats at the same time as everyone else. Modeling is so important for the baby. One of the ways your baby learns to eat is by watching you pick up the food, put it into your mouth, chew it and then swallow it. ⠀⠀
If you go the BLW route your child must be able (6 months +):
1. to sit unassisted
2. have lost the tongue thrust reflex
3. need to be able to grasp and hold on to items ⠀
Puree⠀
1. If you go the puree route, it is important NOT to scrape the spoon to the roof of the baby’s mouth, as this increases the likelihood of choking. I personally prefer the baby to self-feed, even if doing puree.
2. Begin with pureed meats (bone marrow/liver), then vegetables, and then fruit. Typically I hold off on dairy and grains until 10 months when a child’s gut is more developed. I also like to start with the yolk of an egg before introducing the entire egg.
3. Around 7/8 months, you can transition to mashed foods. At 8 months, it’s important to transition to chewing foods. If you are unsure of how to serve a specific food, you can look it up on the starting solids website/app.
So what foods do you start with?
While it depends what you eat in your family, there are some important foods to give in the beginning. I will say, NEVER serve your baby rice cereal, as most of the time it is high in arsenic and it does not add much nutritional benefit.
Bone marrow/liver/lamb chops - great sources of heme-iron
Avocado - great source of high quality fat and fiber
Egg yolks- rich in choline
Steamed broccoli dipped in organic olive oil or raw butter
Steamed beets with organic olive oil or raw butter or unrefined coconut oil (pairing it with fat helps with digestion)
Banana- helps with loose stools (stop giving if baby is constipated)
Steamed peaches and pears help with constipation (p foods). Papaya does not need to be steamed (steaming can help break down the pectin which for some babies can be hard to digest)
Steamed sweet potato with fat
Raw goat milk kefir/whole milk yogurt around 7 months
Sautéed zucchini in a high quality fat
By 8 months, I like to introduce more dairy like cottage cheese and a mild harder raw cheese.
If your baby is not exhibiting any allergies or showing signs of eczema, I like to give the whole egg at this point.
At 10 months, I like to introduce ancient grains like barley, quinoa, farro etc and fermented sourdough.
“A baby’s earliest solid foods should be mostly animal foods since his digestive system, although immature, is better equipped to supply enzymes for digestion of fats and proteins rather than carbohydrates.1 This explains why current research is pointing to meat (including nutrient-dense organ meat) as being a nourishing early weaning food.” From https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/childrens-health/nourishing-a-growing-baby/
Getting the right vitamins and minerals in your baby’s diet is important, especially when starting solids. In breastfed babies, iron levels drop around 6 months, so you need to supplement with food. Typically, your doctor will check your baby’s iron levels by doing a toe prick at 9 months. At 6 months, I like to really up the iron intake when they have more of a handle on eating food. When giving iron rich foods, they need to be paired with something that is high in vitamin C, otherwise it’s not as bioavailable, meaning your body can’t absorb it as easily (lemon, orange, berries, tomato, greens, etc). Also, when giving iron rich foods, do not serve it with dairy as dairy blocks absorption.
It is best to serve animal protein for the baby’s developing digestive system, but below is a list of vegan sources of iron.
Vegan Iron rich foods:
Lentils
Beans- I soak my beans with a piece of kombu or with a splash of ACV for 24 hours before cooking in order to remove the phytic acid, making it more digestible. Can also sprout them, but I don’t always have the time. When cooking, can skim off the white gunk on top to make it more digestible.
Pumpkin seeds (I make pumpkin seed butter or throw the seeds into smoothies or grind/mix into plant based yogurt).
Beet leaf greens- they have 15% more iron than the actual beet, but very salty so I mix into veggie sauce & don’t add salt.
Quinoa- can make sweeter as a porridge or mixed with plant based yogurt or savory (I mix it with mashed butternut squash or sweet potato).
Chickpeas- hummus is a go to when I’m in a rush.
Hemp seeds- I mix into guacamole or in a smoothie.
Buckwheat- I use this flour in my pancakes as it’s nutrient packed.
Kale- love throwing into pasta veggie sauce. Kids love ripping it & throwing into pot. Or can add to smoothies too.
Blackstrap molasses organic & sulphur dioxide free (I put in my kids oatmeal, pancakes & smoothies)- on my amazon shop
Supplements:
I always start with vitamin d3/k2 at birth (use code DRORGANICMOMMY). Love the one from Mary Ruth Organics.
When starting solids, I like to give Carlson Cod Liver Oil, which is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. I start with 1/4 teaspoon, but of course check with your doctor. My kids have always taken it straight by spoon, but can use a dropper is easier.
Calcium can be a difficult topic as every individual is different. It is tricky based on types of calcium you are taking because the bioavailability may be different. Everyone's bones are different and your needs can be different based on genetics.
Calcium guidelines:
7-12 month old: 260mg/day
1-3 years 700mg/day
4-8 years 1,000 mg/day
9-13 years 1,300mg/day⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Some of my favorite calcium sources:
• Kefir (I buy mine from nourish cooperative)
Whole milk yogurt (love Bulgarian mountain yogurt or can get raw yogurt from nourish cooperative or another local regenerative farm)
Kale
• Broccoli
• Collards
• Bok Choy
• Mustard greens
• Turnip greens
• Sesame seeds
• Blackstrap molasses
• Tofu
• Chia seeds- high levels of calcium.
• Salmon
• Sardines ⠀⠀⠀⠀
While spinach, beet greens and swiss chard are high in calcium, only about 5% of the calcium gets absorbed. This is due to the presence of oxalates as this is an anti-nutrient which inhibits calcium absorption. One way to reduce the presence of oxalates is to lightly sautee these greens. When consuming greens like Kale, Turnip, Mustard Green and bok choy about 50% of the calcium can be absorbed by the body.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
One important thing to highlight with calcium absorption, you need enough vitamin D (specifically D3) in order for calcium to be absorbed. Additionally, cellulose (often found in pre-shredded cheese) has been found to hinder calcium absorption. Some may find that dairy is a great source of calcium which it is but realize that you can only absorb about 30% of the calcium.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Before Starting:
Before starting your solid food journey, it’s important to YouTube the difference between choking and gagging. Gagging is a natural reflex that’s important for your baby to do.
Also when trying new foods, make sure to do it during the day time at least an hour before nap to ensure no allergic reaction. If there is one, this also ensures you can get a hold of your pediatrician.
Make sure you have Genexa Childrens diphenhydramine (aka the cleaner version of Benadryl without artificial dyes) on hand in case of an allergic reaction. It is for older children, so you will need to ask your pediatrician for the dosage.
Here is a list of items I like to have when starting my solid foods journey:
High chairs:
Nomi high chair (*my favorite)
Stokke trip trapp
Stokke steps
Bibs:
Bapron bibs - love that they tie around the back instead of the neck so they don’t pull the baby’s head forward. The baby’s natural reaction is to lean back, opening airway and increasing likelihood of choking
Cups:
Ezpz tiny open cup or can start with a glass shot glass- it’s important to begin with an open cup pouring only an ounce of liquid. At 6 months, can use breastmilk or formula. At 8 months, I will introduce water.
Ezpz straw cup- I like to use this at 9 months practicing with a smoothie first as it’s easier to suck a thicker liquid vs water.
Ezpz plate mat- make sure to wash by hand and use a half a lemon to scrub it clean in addition to soap. Do not put any high fat foods
Catchy tray- optional