The Real Deal on Transition - Solid Foods!
Disclaimer: as with all major baby-related decisions, consult your primary health care provider. This blog entry is meant to describe our particular situation and perhaps spark a few ideas. Info as interest only! Also, the following entry discusses the transition into solid foods, not actual food choices or preparation. Wholesome Baby Foods is a comprehensive resource you may want to check out, and a shoutout to Stories of Suburbia for similar info!
Our preemie daughter was seen by a nurse practitioner for her 4 month vaccination. The NP was both kind and knowledgeable but knew very little about our gal beyond what was written on her chart. She thus suggested we begin solid foods at her corrected age of 6 months which would make her just over 7 months old chronologically. My friend whose baby had already begun this gastronomical journey wondered about this recommendation, as delaying the introduction of solid food is usually reserved for babies with gastrointestinal issues of which our daughter had none. Armed with this insight, we sought the advice of our regular family physician who not only said we did not have to wait until 6 months corrected, but also stated that starting solid foods is less about the calendars and more about the children themselves.
The number one tip is to observe the baby. Are they showing interest in food? Watching you while you eat? We sat our little one at the dining table during meals and she would track our utensil movements from plate to mouth and back, eyes round and mouth open. It was a comically obvious sign that she was developing an interest in food! Not to mention the time she made licking motions when she saw me eating an ice cream cone.
There are also physical and developmental signs that show baby may be ready for solid food. Firstly, he or she should be able to sit up. Now for us, we started her in a Bumbo as she could not (and still CANnot) completely sit up by the power of her own core muscles. However, she was able to maintain the posture with her head up independently and that seemed sufficient to start. As an aside, it is recommended that Bumbo sitting be limited to activities such as feeding because the "round" sitting that the Bumbo creates does not encourage the core muscular development needed for actual sitting. Secondly, your little one should no longer demonstrate the tongue-thrust reflex, an instinctual movement babies have to prevent choking which disappears somewhere between months 4 and 6. To test this, I would occasionally bring an empty spoon towards my baby's mouth to see if she would accept it and make movements akin to chewing and swallowing; when she did, we felt it was a good time to try it with food.
Parents are often quite keen to begin their little one on solid food. Some may feel it will help him or her sleep through the night, but we found that she turned into such a gassy little fart-monster that it disturbed her sleep more! But because she was still having regular soiled diapers, we knew it was okay to continue. And really, rookie mamas like me, there's nothing wrong with taking a break after an unsuccessful attempt and trying again in a week's time!
Our preemie daughter was seen by a nurse practitioner for her 4 month vaccination. The NP was both kind and knowledgeable but knew very little about our gal beyond what was written on her chart. She thus suggested we begin solid foods at her corrected age of 6 months which would make her just over 7 months old chronologically. My friend whose baby had already begun this gastronomical journey wondered about this recommendation, as delaying the introduction of solid food is usually reserved for babies with gastrointestinal issues of which our daughter had none. Armed with this insight, we sought the advice of our regular family physician who not only said we did not have to wait until 6 months corrected, but also stated that starting solid foods is less about the calendars and more about the children themselves.
The number one tip is to observe the baby. Are they showing interest in food? Watching you while you eat? We sat our little one at the dining table during meals and she would track our utensil movements from plate to mouth and back, eyes round and mouth open. It was a comically obvious sign that she was developing an interest in food! Not to mention the time she made licking motions when she saw me eating an ice cream cone.
There are also physical and developmental signs that show baby may be ready for solid food. Firstly, he or she should be able to sit up. Now for us, we started her in a Bumbo as she could not (and still CANnot) completely sit up by the power of her own core muscles. However, she was able to maintain the posture with her head up independently and that seemed sufficient to start. As an aside, it is recommended that Bumbo sitting be limited to activities such as feeding because the "round" sitting that the Bumbo creates does not encourage the core muscular development needed for actual sitting. Secondly, your little one should no longer demonstrate the tongue-thrust reflex, an instinctual movement babies have to prevent choking which disappears somewhere between months 4 and 6. To test this, I would occasionally bring an empty spoon towards my baby's mouth to see if she would accept it and make movements akin to chewing and swallowing; when she did, we felt it was a good time to try it with food.
Parents are often quite keen to begin their little one on solid food. Some may feel it will help him or her sleep through the night, but we found that she turned into such a gassy little fart-monster that it disturbed her sleep more! But because she was still having regular soiled diapers, we knew it was okay to continue. And really, rookie mamas like me, there's nothing wrong with taking a break after an unsuccessful attempt and trying again in a week's time!
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