Some time around or after your baby turns 6 months, you will most likely consider giving solid food to your baby in addition to breast milk or formula. I have heard many doctors suggesting to start rice cereal around 4 months for babies.
Based on my online reading and hearing other mommies opinions, babies get most of their nutrition from breast milk or formula for the first year. Iron like other nutrients such as zinc and vitamin D is present in low concentrations in breast milk. So babies need to be provided with iron rich diet after they turn six months as till six months the iron store built while still in mommy's tummy is sufficient. Any other solid food introduced is mainly to start training your babies taste buds and helping them tune their digestive systems.
I was hesitant on introducing rice cereal to my daughter at 4 months due the supposed arsenic content in rice. So I started with banana and avocado which she absolutely loves till date. I followed the rule of giving a gap of 4 days between introducing new type of food to track food allergies if any. Sweet potato was next on the list but as my daughter was already used to the sweet taste of banana, I had to end up mixing banana with sweet potato to get her taste it.
Making Baby Food
Different mommies follow different techniques of introducing solids to their little ones. No one method is better than the other and as always, it comes down to what works best for your little one and you. Some believe strongly in Baby Led Weaning(BLW), where they skip the stage of pureeing food and instead lay out steamed veggie finger food in front of babies to let them explore. While it can get messy, it is supposed to help train babies to eat on their own sooner. I was not very comfortable with the finger food technique as I was a little paranoid about choking possibilities. So I went the route of pureeing steamed veggies and fruits. Other than bananas and avocado, most of the other vegetable/fruits need to be steamed for babies between 4-8 months. Steaming veggies/fruits is very easy with a steaming basket for about 15-20 minutes. I then puree it using a food processor. General rule for baby food storage seems to be 3-4 days in fridge and 1-3 months in freezer. Personally, I love the baby food container made out of silicone as they are super easy to pop out when frozen.
Feeding
High chairs work great for feeding your little one as the belts help them sit straight. Though, high chair may be recommended only after babies have developed good head and neck support. Bibs having spill pockets were a great help as I could just remove and rinse it off without worrying about changing my daughter's dress after every feeding. I started feeding my baby once a day and by 6 months we started feeding her 2-3 times a day. As iron needs to be included in their diet post six months, I started experimenting with cereal around 6 months.
Constipation and the P's
Around 2-3 weeks after I introduced solids to my daughter, she got constipated. I don't mean just skipping to poop for couple of days, she was in pain and would cry just trying to push it out. Its hard watching your little one in such pain. Few things that worked were tummy massage, cycling their legs, feeding fruits starting with P such as pear, plum, peach and prune. Prunes are the most effective and it relives them the same day if not within a few minutes. In addition to this, what I learnt on my own is giving a few sips of water after every solid meal helps with digestion as well. Plus, oatmeal cereal seems to be going easy for my daughter than rice cereal. So do try out different cereals such as barley, oatmeal in case rice cereal does not work great for your baby.
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