Introducing Solid Foods to a Baby

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Doctor David Hill and today we're going to talk about how to introduce your baby to solid foods. Now, for the first four months of life, babies really need nothing but human breast milk and, in the case where you need to supplement or can't breastfeed, formula will do fine but some time between four months and six month of life, your baby is likely to show some interest in solids. What if they don't show interest? That's ok because up to age six months, they're going to do absolutely fine with nursing or formula feeding but it's very likely, at this period of time, that your baby is going to develop some important skills that's going to enable them to eat solids. First of all, he or she is going to be able to sit up and keep the head stable enough to swallow safely. Second, they're going to be hungry, even after they've had their liquid feed, and they're going to see your food and begin to recognize it as something that they could eat. Thirdly, they're going to lose, what's called, the suck reflex. This is a motion of the tongue that's great for nursing but really lousy for feeding solid foods, it tends to push solids back out. How are you going to know when you're baby is ready for solids? It's very simple. You're going to be holding your baby in your lap, during a meal, and he or she is going to lean over and try to take your food, you're not going to miss this, it's going to be obvious. When that happens, don't necessarily feed them off of your plate but mix up a little baby cereal, preferably, a single grain cereal like a rice or oatmeal cereal. Just make an ounce or two and try it on a spoon, if all of it comes out, wait a few days and try it again, you're waiting for that suck reflex we talked about to go away. Gradually, over the next couple of months, your baby is going to pick up interest in other things like fruits and vegetables. What do you start first? How do you progress? There's not really a science to this. You don't really want to start meats until about nine months of age but anytime from four months to nine months, you can start bringing in fruits and vegetables. Try for one at a time so that you can identify an allergy, if it does occur, but otherwise, just pick whatever looks good. Also, don't worry if your baby rejects a particular food once, twice, even five times, it often takes between ten and fifteen tries for a baby to get used to a particular flavor so don't give up. With introducing your baby to solid foods, I'm Doctor David Hill."