From around 4 months of age your infant may show interest in solid foods. Be ready to try them with solid foods - but very slowly at first. Your baby's digestive system may not be developed enough to handle solid food. Starting solid foods sooner can increase the risk of an allergic reaction and even make it more difficult for your baby to learn to self-feed. Some tell-tale signs that will let you know your baby is ready are:
1) Watches you eat. Have you noticed your baby staring at you with puppy dog eyes as you eat? Maybe even reaching out to take food from your hand or plate? This is a sign that they are ready to try solids.
2) Sitting with good head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep its head steady and upright.
3) When feed baby is able to eat and swallow happily and does not push the food out of its mouth with tongue all the time - when introducing new foods, expect baby to spit it out until they become accustomed to the taste.
The best food to start with is rice cereal. It is mild and easy to digest. Mix a small amount of cereal with enough water, breast milk, or formula to make it the consistency of a thick soup. Put a little on the tip of a spoon and let your baby look at it and smell it. Gently put it in your baby's mouth and let them taste it.
Don't expect baby to immediately start chewing and swallow. This is a new experience for them. They have seen you do it - they have wanted to do it - now give them time to learn the hows. Expect them to expel some, however if they just let the food sit in their mouth and don't try to swallow it, they are probably not quite ready yet.
Once your baby is doing well with the rice cereal, you can start introducing other foods. What sort of food. Generally speaking, keep it bland, keep it well pureed and make sure it is fresh (you can freeze but freeze from fresh).
when introducing new foods, introduce them one at a time and where possible, blend it with another food that they seem to like. Don't try to overpower them with new foods too quickly. This is also a good time to test for allergies. Allow baby to eat a small portion of something new increasing the amount over a few days. If there is no reaction you can then move onto the next food.
How Much? Feed baby the formula or breast first then allow baby to eat a small portion - to start with only the equivalent of a couple of desert spoons. Baby will soon tell you when enough is enough. Take care not to over feed.
You can prepare babies food in quantities and freeze. My experience however is that baby will want what you are eating. If you use spices, take a small portion out for baby before adding the spice.
Babies want to be a part of the family. They want to eat what every one else is eating. Let them!
