Chapter Two – Feeding Baby Solid Foods

spoonbabyIt’s time to feed your baby solid foods – let the fun begin!

Grab the dog, a plastic suit, a drop cloth, a mop and plenty of napkins: here is where the fun and the folly of feeding your baby begins!   Actually, you probably won’t need the aforementioned accessories until a few weeks after baby has been eating solid foods.  In the very beginning stage of introducing solid foods, he will not be eating a lot of food nor will he be making a huge mess as you will be in control of the spoon.  Things change when your little one moves onto to “table foods” and begins to show interest in feeding himself.   At that point, you can say good-bye to calm and controlled mealtimes and bid a fond farewell to neatness and clean floors too.

When your baby is self-feeding, all bets are off and you’ll be running to find solace and friendship in those cloths and the mop.  These will become steadfast allies as it is likely that more food will be in baby’s hair, on her clothes, on the chair and on the floor, than will be in baby’s tummy!

Now that you’re ready for that exciting first feeding, it’s time to decide what solid food you are going to start with and decide when you are going to start.  In chapter one, several different options for baby’s first food were outlined.   Beginning with a vegetable like sweet potato is great choice because it is easily digested and most babies find the taste very pleasant; if your baby doesn’t like it at first, you can eat it for dinner.  Of course, the choice of food is yours to make and you should talk it over with your baby’s pediatrician as well.

There are a few important things that you should know before you begin this adventure into solid foods.   Food allergies, constipation, diarrhea and other tummy troubles are just some things that you will need to watch out for when starting solid foods.  Learning ahead of time about these curve balls will help keep you from unnecessarily worrying about some issues that may take place.