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Home › Articles › Starting Solids and Supplementation › Ready or Not?

Ready or Not?

The Real Scoop on Solids

Part One

By Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  

les and the dairy and the protein groups? Well, guess what? As a parent, you are in charge of the pyramid. Oh my gosh! Even if you have lived on fast food and frozen dinners for the past few years, you now have the responsibility to feed your baby healthy foods and teach him good eating habits to last a lifetime. (All of a sudden breastfeeding seems so easy!)

This is a perfect time to improve your own diet and take charge of your own pyramid as well. (If you take care of your pyramid, you will most likely take care of your spouse's pyramid, as well.)

When it comes to healthy eating, do you hightail it to the grocery store to stock up on those colorful little jars of baby food? How do you know which ones to buy? Perhaps you will buy them, and perhaps you will decide not to buy them.

Many moms skip over the colorful little jars entirely and prepare their baby's food. It isn't difficult. Home-prepared food is also very nutritious and fresh. It has less water and is much less expensive. You can omit salt and sugar and preservatives.

But where do you start? How about with a fresh banana? A slice of a real fresh banana mashed with a fork and offered to your baby is a sweet, fresh first food. Some moms will cook a sweet potato or yam and offer a spoonful of that as the first food. Your baby's diet can even be careful portions of the family's diet. If your baby has met the list of developmental cues, he is probably going to be pleasantly surprised to be getting something a little different.

By the way, breastfed babies are much more accepting of different flavors than their artificially-fed buddies, because breast milk changes flavors constantly, preparing Baby for a whole range of different foods.

La Leche League, who has been teaching parents how to start solid foods for more than 48 years, suggests this progression when starting solid foods:

  • Ripe banana, avocado, yam or sweet potat (sweet and mild)
  • Meat (Remember the need for iron?)
  • Whole-grain breads and cereal (not sweetened, mixed with a little breast milk)
  • Fresh fruits: grated apple, apple sauce, pear or peach (fresh or cooked)
  • Vegetables: grated raw carrot, cooked potato, chopped green beans or squash
  • Cottage cheese, unsweetened yogurt and soft cheeses (after 9 to 10 months of age)

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