Babies don't need solids until six months
by Dr. Susan Surry

From the time a baby arrives food is on the agenda. New parents face many decisions about feeding babies, and there is always lots of advice available from relatives and friends. Because what we know about nutritional requirements of infants has changed over the years, that well-meant advice may not be the best.

We now know that for the first six months of a healthy full-term baby's life, exclusive breastmilk is all he or she needs. That means a baby requires no other food or liquid, including water, for those first six months. If breastfeeding is not an option, use a storebought iron-fortified cow's milk-based infant formula.

Once they become six months of age, most babies cannot get all the nutrients they need from breastmilk or formula alone. While you are encouraged to continue breastfeeding your baby up to two years and beyond, your six-month-old also needs solids to support healthy growth.

At six months, look for these signs that your baby is ready for solids:

+ Baby holds his head up well by himself

+ She opens her mouth wide when she sees a spoonful of food coming

+ He turns his head away if he does not want food that is offered

+ She swallows all or most of the food, instead of pushing it out with her tongue.

It's a parent's responsibility to decide what foods best suit a baby's age and stage, and it's the baby's job to decide when and how much of these foods to eat at any one time.

If you watch your baby closely, you will see that, even without words, he is very good at letting you know when he is hungry and when he is full. Babies who are trusted to follow their own hunger cues establish a healthy pattern of eating and are less likely to overeat later in life.

Right about the time a baby is ready to try solids, she also begins to need extra iron. Our bodies need iron to help the blood get oxygen to all the cells in the body. Babies and children also need iron for their brains to develop normally. If your baby isn't getting enough iron, she may appear tired, weak and cranky, have a poor appetite and demonstrate slower than normal development. That's why it's important to make iron-rich foods baby's first solid foods.

Iron is found in ironfortified infant cereals, and pureed meats and meat alternatives. Traditionally, infant cereals made with rice are a first food.

Once this is introduced, iron-fortified barley, wheat and oat cereals can be introduced, one at a time. At six months, you can also introduce pureed meats, poultry, cooked egg yolks as well as cooked legumes or tofu.

Introduce new foods one at a time, waiting a few days before trying another. That way, if your baby develops a reaction, you'll have a better idea of what food might have caused it.

It's important to make sure your baby continues to eat iron-rich cereal, meats or alternatives every day, even as you begin to offer other age-appropriate foods.

By around nine months of age, most babies are developmentally ready to feed themselves and should be encouraged to do so. It's important that babies learn to take food from a spoon, chew, self-feed with fingers or a spoon, and drink from a cup or bottle without help.

By one year of age, a baby should be eating a variety of foods from the different food groups of Eating Well With Canada's Food Guide.

If you have questions about how or what your baby is eating, or to get your copy of "Baby's First Menu" call Your Health Connection Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 721-7520 (1-877-721-7520) and talk with a public health nurse, or checkwww. simcoemuskokahealth.org.