Feeding Your Baby
Think your baby might be ready to start solid foods?
Feeding
your baby real solid food after six months of breast milk (or formula)
is an exciting time, for you and for him. As you 
approach this
transition, there are some questions you'll want to ask yourself.
1. Is my baby actually ready for food, or is this my idea? Some babies are grabbing at mom's food by five months. Others are completely disinterested when you offer them rice cereal at nine months. There is no rush on this. Babies who are breastfed are getting the perfect food and don't actually need solid food until the end of the first year or later. Discuss this with your pediatrician, but don't be concerned if your baby shows little interest in solid food. It's good to get clear right from the start that your child is in charge of how much he takes into his body. Your job is just to make sure what he's offered is healthy.
2. What do I want my baby taking into his body? This is worth some thought, and every family will make different decisions, regarding questions like:
- Is organic food worth the extra cost?
- How long do we want to wait before introducing sweets?
3. How can I manage introducing new foods to reduce the risk that my baby will develop food allergies by eating certain foods too early?
4. How much time do I want to put into food preparation? Is making my own babyfood worth it? You'll be interested to know that the longer you wait to introduce solid foods, the more your baby can handle "real" food instead of purees. But even a little food grinder will help you convert the family dinner into a baby-friendly puree if your six month old is grabbing for your spoon. There's no reason to buy baby food.
5. What are my goals for my baby's eating? This may sound like a strange question -- obviously, you want your child to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and to enjoy her food. But there are some other essential goals that you'll want to think about.
To reduce the risk of power struggles and other issues around food, you want your baby to take charge of her own eating as soon as possible.
That may well conflict with another goal most of us have: a clean kitchen, dining room, high chair, and baby! It may even conflict with an image you have of yourself as a nurturing mother bird spooning food into her chick's open mouth.
But the latest research shows that the sooner babies assume control of their eating, the better. I'm not saying you shouldn't feed rice cereal to your six month old, or that she is ready to handle her own spoon immediately. I'm just suggesting that you see the time period of spoon-feeding as very limited, and instead emphasize foods she can feed herself.
Why not strips or soft chunks of sweet potato, cheese, banana, avocado? Or thawed frozen peas, or cheerios to practice her pincer grip. There's no law that babies have to eat food that requires a spoon.
If you do feed her cereal or other food that requires a spoon, she will almost certainly want to grab it and feed herself. Give her a spoon of her own and let her go at it, even if you keep holding a spoon and feeding her as well. Over time, your baby will start to prefer to feed herself, probably first with hands, and then with a spoon.
In the beginning, babies use their whole fist to grab food, but his motivation to eat will help him develop a pincer grasp, which is an important developmental step. Do you have a child who hates to get his hands messy? Cut up small pieces of dryer food such as bread, hard boiled egg, and vegetables.
Your little one really wants to learn to feed himself. If you get out of the way, he will. And the mess? He'll get neater with practice, I guarantee.
6. How does beginning to eat "real" food impact my baby's current food intake, which is nursing or formula?
Your baby will wean from breast or bottle eventually, and all other food intake leads inexorably toward that weaning. The practice of "Baby-Led Weaning" is simply letting little ones decide for themselves when they're ready to explore "eating" and what foods they want to try. That also means they're naturally "weaning" themselves over time.
In other words, you don't ever need to puree baby food and convince your baby to open her mouth and let you feed her. When she's ready, she'll be grabbing food off your plate. Presuming that what you're eating is healthy, that's perfect. At first, she'll just mouth and suck on that piece of egg, but eventually she'll gum and chew and swallow. Won't she choke? Not likely. Obviously, you won't be letting her start with nuts or carrots or chicken. But since she's in charge of how much she puts in her mouth, and sitting upright, she's probably the best judge of how much to put in her mouth. And of course you would never leave her alone to eat.
Research shows that babies who are allowed to feed themselves, rather than being fed purees with a spoon, are more likely to try and enjoy a range of foods. They're also happier and more willing to sit with the family at dinner. That's what I call a healthy foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating!
