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Explore nutrition tips, kids’ meal plans, kids’ activities, recipes and more from pediatric nutritionist, Melissa Halas, MA, RDN, CDE.

Part 1 of 2: Feeding Solids to Your Baby During the First Year of Life

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Part 1 of 2: Feeding Solids to Your Baby During the First Year of Life

Learning how to feed your baby his or her first foods can be tough! We got answers!

It’s time to start weaning your baby off of breastfeeding and to introduce new foods, but where do you start? When it comes to serving sizes, how much of each food group should you be feeding your baby each day? Should you be giving full-fat, or low-fat dairy? We’re here to break it down for you and give you quick tips to make sure you’re on the right track to feeding a growing, healthy baby!

Let’s start at the beginning.

Solids are introduced to your baby between 4-6 months. Some practitioners recommend waiting until 6 months, so you’ll find different practices. Before this, your baby should only get breastmilk or infant formula. But remember, even once solids are introduced, breastmilk or formula should still be the main part of your infant’s diet! As your baby gets older, you’ll help him develop feeding skills, and will introduce solid foods to meet his increasing nutritional requirements and developmental needs. (1)

Breast Milk/Formula + Baby Food = Nutrition for growing baby!

Starting to introduce solids while continuing to breastfeed or formula feed can be both an exciting and an anxious time. Read more about your baby’s first foods to ease some of those nerves, while also keeping these few things in mind as you start making food decisions:

  • Think about the texture. After 6 months, baby food provides more textures and exploration. Each baby reaches milestones at different times, but you can start by giving your baby smooth, soft textures like mashed, pureed, and strained foods. Stay cued into what she can tolerate. Use a blender or food processor to get things to the right consistency! (2)
  • Go for color. Offering a variety of foods comes hand in hand with a variety of color. Each color food has different beneficial phytochemicals. These will provide the needed nutrients and calories for optimal growth and brain development.
  • Keep tabs on when you offer food. It is recommended to slowly increase the number of times a day that food is offered. This will help them digest the foods you are giving them and can reduce gas and fussiness as well. (3,4)
  • Remember that not every day is the same. If your baby seems hungry, it’s okay to make adjustments. Weight increases during the first year by 200%, body length by 55% and head circumference by 40 %. Increased growth means increased appetite. Remember, steady growth is important, whether your baby is big or small. (5)
  • Include your baby in family meals. Remember that your baby can eat almost all the same foods as you as long as the food is the right texture – just make sure to keep these few food safety tips in mind. Get out that blender and throw in a mix of foods you cooked up for the rest of the family, or make sure to chop them up into small pieces. Remember to salt after cooking and at the table, not before, so you can avoid excess sodium in your child’s diet. You want your baby to create good habits young, which includes observing your healthy habits during family mealtime.

Babies Eat Intuitively

One of the most difficult tasks is to trust our babies to know when they have eaten enough. Remember that they are intuitive eaters – they know when they are hungry and when they are full. If we don’t trust them then we can end up with unsuccessful feeding. Here are three other things to keep in mind:

Now that you have these main tricks under your sleeve, check out Part 2 of this series to become a baby-feeding master!

  1. Nutrition for healthy term infants. Paediatrics & Child Health. 1998;3(2):109-112. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851281/
  2. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Do’s and Don’ts For Baby’s First Foods. Retrieved from: https://www.eatright.org/food/nutrition/eating-as-a-family/dos-and-donts-for-babys-first-foods
  3. Critch JN, Canadian Paediatric Society, Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee. Nutrition for healthy term infants, six to 24 months: An overview. Paediatrics & Child Health. 2014;19(10):547-549. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276390/
  4. Hoy-Rosas J. Constipation & Your New Baby: Tips for moms (and their babies under 6 months old). https://www.superkidsnutrition.com/wh_constipationbaby/
  5. Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School, by Jill Castle and Maryann Jacobsen, 2013, p 32.
  6. Maternal controlling feeding styles during early infancy. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2011; 50(12):1125-33. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21757773
  7. Ellyn Satter Institute. Feed Your Child With Love and Good Sense. Retrieved from: https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/how-to-feed/

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About the Author

Picture of Melissa Halas, MA, RD, CDE

Melissa Halas, MA, RD, CDE

Melissa is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with a master's in nutrition education. She is the founder of SuperKids Nutrition Inc. Read more about her Super Crew children’s books and her experience as a registered dietitian on the About Melissa and Shop page. Discover how nutrition can help you live your best health potential through her plant-based books and newsletter on Melissa’s Healthy Living.

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