My daughter is 5 months old and I am about to start letting her try some baby food.. it says from 4-6 months you can introduce baby food but I know you should start with a certain one... (green beans, carrots, fruits???) Which one?? Thank you!!!
I would also recommend the book Super Baby Food. It was great for knowing what foods to give at certain times. Both of my girls first food was avocado, at about 6 mo. I just mashed it up and mixed in some of my breastmilk. Next we did banana and sweet potato.
I would also recommend you to check with your pedi also. I waited until my baby was 6 months old to start. The very first food is usually rice cereal then you should always have a 4-day wait rule for every new food introduced. She could have bananas, sweet potatoes, avocado. Those are some of the first foods that are recommended in the book Super Baby Food, it gives you a lot of suggestions on what foods to introduce when. It primarily is a book for making your own baby food, which by the way is super easy.
This is the website with a chart that I printed out and kept handy in the kitchen for which solids to give when...http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm. It worked out very well for us. Our son is now almost 3 and generally likes most foods, including fruits and veggies. He'll at least try everything and often likes foods a lot of children his age don't generally like.
I agree with everyone else, get your Pedi's advice and then work your way through the cereals first waiting at least 4-5 days before you try something new. Those first few cereal feedings be sure to mix the cereal so that the consistency is very soupy (almost all breastmilk or formula) until your daughter gets the hang of it. I started mine with the orange veggies first (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots)though because I have heard that if you start with the fruits first (which taste better) that some babies are then pickier about eating the veggies. Then we moved on to the green veggies (peas and green beans) and then added fruits after we had made our way through the veggies. Be aware too that some of these things or just the change in diet may constipate your little one (bananas were bad at this for mine). At my Pedi's advice we gave ours an ounce of prune juice mixed with an ounce of water in a bottle when we noticed this happening. Have fun it's a whole new world!!! Keep lots of stain remover on hand and be ready for their poop to be the color of whatever they ate that day.
I gave my son avocado for his first solid food. It has a very creamy texture and there isn't any pulp or grainy feel to it. Also, how many people are allergic to avocado?? Very safe to try. We skipped the whole rice cereal thing as it is so over processed and of no nutritive value. After about a week you can move on to squashes, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. I made my own food by boiling or steaming and then pureeing. It was lots of fun and he loved it. I made my own medleys as well. Pear and green beans was a huge hit. Makes them not so strong tasting.
K.,
Start her with vegetables. Then later on,give her fruits. You want her to like vegetables. If you start with fruits, she'll favor them over the vegetables and you'll have yourself a picky eater. The orange fruits are sweeter so she'll like them more,therefore start with the greens. I'd start with green beans, then peas,...and then carrots,sweet potatoes,and corn. A month after the veggies, I'd introduce fruits. Banana is a good fruit to start with. :)
I started mine at 5mos after he took to eating rice cereal very well.
I agree w/PP, in that you should check with your ped first. Many recommend delaying solids now until 6 months especially if there are incidences of allergies, excema, intolerances, etc in the family. Really there's no rush. Food the first year is just an experiment. They should still be getting the vast bulk of their nutrition from breast milk or formula.
Here are a couple of links that touch on which solids to start with:
First... check with your doctor before starting solids. I'm pretty sure I started with rice cereal at about 4 months, but can't remember for sure. My doc told me that once my daughter started taking 24 ounces of breastmilk/formula in a 24 hour period, solids were OK... but again - all kids and doctors are different.
My pedi gave me this info. Start with rice cereal, then when you're sure she tolerates that, try the other cereals. Once you're through the cereals - start with fruits. Bananas are the mildest, then move your way through the rest. After you've gone through all the fruits, start on the veggies, again, one at a time. That way if the food doesn't agree w/your baby, you'll know which one it is. After cereal, fruit, veggies, start on the meats... but be forewarned - most babies don't like the meats. I remember getting lamb, chicken, etc. spit at me for quite a while.
When my six year old was a baby, my pedi advised me to start her on rice cereal at about 4 mos old. Then we moved to the other cereals (barley, oatmeal). Veggies came next; we found she was more receptive to the oranges at first (carrots, sweet potatoes). Then we did green veggies, followed by fruit and finally meats.
By the time my toddler was born, we were advised to wait until 6 mos to begin the baby food adventures.
Good luck to you!
It has been a while, but I think we tried bits of semi-mashed banana first.
