Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, medical professional, or nutritionist. I am just a mom sharing her experience. You should always consult with your pediatrician prior to starting solids with your baby.
So you have arrived at the starting solids stage. Congratulations! Starting your baby on solids can be intimidating in the beginning. Most new mamas are concerned about food allergies, choking, etc. but but starting solids is seriously one of the most fun parts of the baby stage in my opinion. I will warn you now. It’s messy! But you make so many good memories watching your little guy or gal try new foods.
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If you are brand new to the game of solid foods, you have probably realized there are several ways you can go about it. From deciding on store bought versus home made baby food. Do you feed them traditional purees or try baby led weaning? Do I expose them early to high allergy foods like eggs and nuts or wait until they are over a year old? So many decisions!
For my boys, I chose to do a combination of purees and baby led weaning and make their food from scratch. I know making baby food probably sounds labor intensive but it is actually very easy! I stay home with my kids now but I also made baby food from scratch with my first while working full-time so I know it can be done. At the same time, I am a firm believer of doing whatever is best for YOUR family. This space is a 100% a judgement free zone and there are many good baby foods on the market now if you choose to go the store bought route. Just make sure to do your research so you can go with a high-quality brand. When on the go, I typically have a store bought pouch with me for convenience and either use these or these.
Why I chose to make my own baby foodI am admittedly a bit overprotective when it comes to what I feed my kids. There alarmingly high amounts of heavy metals and pesticides found in many store bought baby foods. Mindbogglingly that the FDA allows this right?! In fact, glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, the most heavily used weed killer in the world. Even the organic brands. Yep- you read that right. For this reason alone, I just feel better controlling what I put into my baby by making their first foods from scratch. Sure, it takes a little extra time but I feel so much better knowing EXACTLY what they are eating.
A few additional facts about how I introduce solids:
Just in case you are not familiar with BLW (baby led weaning), it is simply feeding your baby table food right from the start. No purees.
Until your baby is over a year old, the primary source of nutrition is still breast milk or formula so this is the perfect time to let them have a little fun with food. Allowing the baby to explore certain foods on their own is a great way to expand their pallet leading to them being a less picky eater as they grow older. And it is so fun to watch as they will eat what they like and spit out what they don’t.
The reason I like to do a combination of purees and BLW is because I want to make sure my baby is getting used to eating from a spoon. Purees also give me more control of getting them to eat a wide variety of foods as I can easily puree veggies with a fruit to ensure they are eating their veggies since most babies are not huge veggie fans when they are given to them plain.
For BLW, I stick to foods that are soft, plain, and easy to cut into tiny pieces like bananas, avocados, and homemade pancakes. Keep reading for a printable list of BLW suggestions!
-Start with oatmeal or rice cereal to get their tummies accustomed to digesting solids. You can mix your breast milk or formula with it or simply use water. The consistency should start off more liquidy and gradually get chunkier
-Move onto to a single vegetable
-Feed the baby the same food for at least 3 days to make it easy to identify potential food allergies
-Move on to a single fruit
-After you have successfully tried a wide variety of single fruits and vegetables, you can introduce combinations!
Click here for your free BLW printable and if you are interested in learning more about homemade purees and want to see some recipes of what I feed my littles, let me know in the comments!
