Baby’s First Foods – Stage 1

After our failed attempts at rice cereal, we took a break from giving Annabelle any real food. In my opinion, she was getting everything a four month old needed for nutrition from my breastmilk. I didn’t want to scar her for life by shoving nutrion-less rice cereal in her face! We tried also tried oatmeal, but that was another f-a-i-l.

After a few weeks, and consulting various people and literature about how to approach feeding baby her first foods, we were ready to try again. One of my favorite websites to consult for anything and everything is KellyMom. You can read what she has to say about first foods here.

1. First foods should be smooth in texture. Whether it is store-bought or made at home, baby food shouldn’t be chunk, but rather strained, pureed, finely mashed, or thinned with liquid.

2. All foods can be served room temperature, which most babies prefer.

3. Stage 1 foods have a single ingredient and are pureed. Read more: http://www.justmommies.com/babies/babys-first-foods-chart#ixzz37dLiG6s6

4. Babies usually start with less than half a teaspoon and then work their way up to two to three tablespoons.

5. Recommended first foods:

Annabelle is a lover of homemade applesauce and sweet potatoes – both cooked, pureed in the food processor, and sprinkled with a little bit of cinnamon. I store the food in ice cube trays in the freezer. When it is time for a little something to eat, I allow the cube to soften to room temperature. OR, I stick the frozen cube in a mesh food ring and let her feed herself. She likes it both ways.

We tried avocado and bananas mashed by hand. She didn’t go too crazy for either one, but every time one is available for us to eat, I offer it to her. She usually turns her little head away. So we stuck to applesauce and sweet potato.

During Stage 1, always offer one new food at a time and wait about 3 days before trying another new food. This allows time for any allergies to appear. We offered her food in the evenings while we were eating dinner ourselves. Some nights she wanted to eat and others she would kindly pass.

Now that Annabelle is 7 months old, we’ve actually moved on to Stage 2 foods. I’ll discuss that tomorrow!

What was your baby’s favorite first foods?

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