Things You'll Need:
- Bottles
- Breast pump (if breastfeeding)
- Formula (even if breastfeeding, have a few cans on hand for emergencies)
- High chair
- Bibs
- Sippy cups
- Small plastic bowls and spoons
- Iron-fortified rice cereal
- Pureed fruits and vegetables (commercially prepared or homemade)
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Step 1
Do your research or just go with your gut--either way, you'll need to make up your mind about whether you prefer to breastfeed or use formula before your child is born. If you do choose to breastfeed, though, be aware that some women's bodies do have problems producing enough milk, so you will need to have a few cans of formula on hand for backup just in case you run into difficulties. Even if things go great right from the start, though, don't throw them out. You may need them in case you get sick or need to be on some type of medication.
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Step 2
Warm your formula or refrigerated breast milk by letting it sit at room temperature or by immersing the bottle in a pan of warm water or even using a bottle warmer. Do not microwave the bottle as this may create "hot spots" that may burn your baby's mouth--even if you shake the bottle after microwaving, it still isn't the safest method. Feeding a baby lukewarm or even slightly cool formula or breast milk is far preferable to letting him drink anything that is too hot.
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Step 3
Introduce solid foods when your child is about six months of age. Although people used to try introducing solids earlier, research now shows that infants' gag may be too strong to allow them to swallow non-liquids safely.
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Step 4
Place your child in a sturdy high chair with a safety belt and a tray, then place a few small toys on the tray to amuse her while you prepare her food. Use small plastic bowls and plastic spoons for feeding. You may buy special plastic infant feeding speeding spoons if you like, or you can use small disposable plastic spoons or even the tiny "taster" spoons that many ice cream stores keep on hand to allow you to sample different flavors.
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Step 5
Start off with an iron-fortified rice cereal. This type of food is one readily accepted and easily digested by most babies. To help ease the transition away from formula or breastmilk (although you will be needing to continue with these until your baby is around 12 months old), you can mix a little of this into the cereal to reconstitute it instead of using water. Tis also provides a little added nutritional boost.
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Step 6
Introduce new foods one at a time, at intervals of about three days. This allows you to see is any one particular food causes your baby to develop an allergic reaction. Many parents, after achieving success with cereal, will mix in a little pureed fruit. You may continue to do so (one fruit at a time) for a few weeks, then switch over to pureed vegetables.
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Step 7
Add yogurt and cottage cheese when baby is around eight to 10 months old. Table foods like pasta, small pieces of banana, cooked carrot pieces and other appropriate foods can be introduced when baby is at least seven months old and can handle them without gagging.
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Step 8
Give your baby juice mixed with water in a sippy cup after she is used to eating fruit. She will probably not want to take her formula or breast milk from a sippy cup, but small amounts of diluted juice will allow her to drink from a cup without providing too much sugar. If you are really concerned about feeding juice, you can give her water in her sippy cup, but she may be less enthusiastic about this.
