Starting Solids for Babies – List of Best & Worst Foods

When starting solids with infants, the objective isn’t filling up their tummies. It would be a learning curve for mother & baby, hence starting off with small quantity & seeing the baby’s reaction. Mothers must be aiming for exposing their little ones to novel types of texture & taste, not substituting inferior-quality foods like cereals, (for instance) for better-quality victual like breast milk. Bear in mind that when the infant is famished, he/ she wouldn’t be game for trying any novel food. Hence offering solids post-breastfeeding, alike offering desserts post-meals and generally the ideal timings are mid-mornings or mid-afternoons. Following the infant’s leads & eventually increasing the quantity you are offering.
For those mothers who are conservatively approaching the situation (particularly advised for those having a kin past of allergy) begin introducing new-fangled food items one item at an instant, permitting around seven days prior to introduction of a novel food. The bigger the infant, lesser importance this is since by then greater defence mechanisms would have been developed against the allergen. In case a certain food appears to be triggering reactions like nasal dribbling, rashes on facial & butt areas, fussy behaviour & gassiness the cut out that item for seven days & then re-trying. In case the infant is experiencing the analogous reactions twice or thrice then stop giving the food for a minimum of 6 months.
Blender or infant food grinders could be deployed at the onset. In case one waits till a minimum of 6 months then there’s no necessity of spending on Stage 1, 1st foods among others which several infant food firms promote so aggressively. Simply mashing using forks & moistening the foods one serves to the rest of the kin is all that is needed to make infant food. Certainly, one would also require separating the infant’s food prior to any addition of sodium & spice mixes. Commercially available infant foods are ideal when one travels – for instance, when one eats out in restaurants, then offering the baby strained peas instead of the hot burritos you would be eating.
Get geared for massive messiness when starting solids – that includes the slobbery face, mane, mittens of the little one and his/ her bowel motions also changing.

Recommended 1st Foods when starting solids

• Peach  • Pear  • Apple sauce  • Avocado  • Carrot  • Banana  • Sweet Potato  • Squashes  • Cereal (barley/ rice)
Note that cereals are the final item in the listing since they undergo high processing & would be offering empty calorific worth when they aren’t fortified with vitamin forms & iron. Even though conventionally, cereals have been deemed as 1st foods for infants, however solely since formula-fed infants require additional iron which nursed infants do not require.
Subsequent to have introduced the above mentioned food items, one could then try offering meat (coalesced alongside some item just mentioned which the infant is accustomed to eating in case instant liking to it is not noticed). Tofu is a wholesome addition & could be diced into squishy, chomp-sized cube pieces (particularly fine for vegans). Fishes are high in proteins though being watchful of the bone.
Multigrain breads sliced into smallish pieces; sans addition of eggs, sugar or milk too function as great 1st food.
Evade milk from cows or milk items particularly when there’s a kin history of allergy. Majority of the infants are capable of tolerating yoghurts & innate cheese once they are 9 to 10 months of age. In case there is a kin history of allergy then waiting till the infant is a minimum of one year in age.
Also offering supplementary fluid like juices or water in moderation is advisable. Nursed infants do not require additional water as breast milk offers the needed fluids. In case the baby is ingesting water excessively it could in fact be causing a type of water-intoxication that could lead to the salt in blood to dilute thus leading to improper body functioning. Fruit juices have empty calorific worth & nutritionally lesser as compared to whole fruits due to absence of wholesome pulpiness. Trials have found that excess intake of juiced fruits could be contributory to obesity in infancy. During some stage amid 6-9 months, several infants develop a liking to drink from cups, hence offer some breast milk or water (milk of cows mustn’t be offered till the infant is a year old) & atypically giving the baby some juices for drinking (post-dilution with water at the onset).

Foods to be Avoided

• Sodium since it is capable of stressing underdeveloped kidneys.
• Chemical additive.
• Chocolates – that mostly contains sugars, caffeine & could trigger allergies in some. Unadvisable for kids below 2 & in spare amounts beyond that.
• Caffeine – it isn’t food though a stimulant elevating blood glucose levels and detrimentally stimulating lung & heart organs.
• Prevalent allergen listing – wheat, whites of eggs, corn – ideally waiting till the infant is a year old, particularly in the presence of kin history of allergy.

Completely Proscribed Foods (since they could cause choking in babies)

• Popcorn  • Firm candies  • Hot dog or chunk-sized meat pieces  • Potato chip  • Berry whole or de-seeded  • Cookie  • Grape  • Whole nut/ seed  • Apple chunk-sized pieces or sliced  • Dried cereals  • Carrots sliced or whole stick  • Peanut butter

Source : http://www.bornbabies.net/starting-solids-for-babies-list-of-best-worst-foods.html