{"id":2829,"date":"2021-03-11T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T18:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=2829"},"modified":"2024-04-25T03:01:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T10:01:17","slug":"faqs-about-feeding-babies-solid-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/faqs-about-feeding-babies-solid-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQs About Feeding Babies Solid Foods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/starting-your-baby-on-solid-foods-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">start feeding a baby solids<\/a> most parents have lots of questions! Have faith \u2013 babies are usually pretty easy to feed! They\u2019re not picky and seem to have fun trying new foods.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s some questions I hear often and the answers I give:<\/p>\n<p><strong>In what order should I introduce foods?\u00a0<\/strong>There isn\u2019t a recommended order to introduce foods. Usually we start with an iron fortified single grain baby cereal mixed with either breast milk or formula. That is an easy start because it will taste familiar to your baby. The iron in the cereal is especially important for solely breastfed babies. However \u2013 the current recommendations say it\u2019s okay to start with other foods!<\/p>\n<p>We also used to recommend starting veggies before fruits. But, guess what? Now we understand that babies have a built-in preference for sweet foods \u2013 giving them veggies first won\u2019t stop that. So, there\u2019s one less thing to worry about: they won\u2019t dislike veggies any more if you give them fruit first.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Does my baby need to drink water?<\/strong> You can start giving water when your baby is eating solid foods regularly. Offer a sippy or cup of water when you feed them solids. Before that, breast milk or formula provides for their hydration needs.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Can my baby start solids before 4 to 6 months?<\/strong> Deciding when to start babies on solid feedings is in large part based on their developmental readiness. They need to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be 4 to 6 months old.<\/li>\n<li>Able to hold head steady when sitting in an infant seat or high chair.<\/li>\n<li>Be interested in what you\u2019re eating.<\/li>\n<li>Take food in their mouth off of a spoon and swallow it. They shouldn\u2019t just thrust their tongue and the food back out. If they\u2019re not yet meeting these milestones, wait a week or two and reassess. They\u2019ll get there soon!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Will starting solids help my baby sleep through the night?<\/strong> No, it won\u2019t! Babies\u2019 sleep is influenced by many factors. Adding food is not an effective way to <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/how-to-help-your-baby-sleep\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">keep them sleeping longer.<\/a> Also know that many <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/baby-sleep-regression-think-of-it-as-progression\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">babies\u2019 sleep gets more disrupted<\/a> at around 4 to 6 months regardless of when solids are introduced.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it okay to add cereal to bottles of formula or breast milk?<\/strong> No, please don\u2019t do this! This:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is a choking hazard \u2013 babies can gag on the thickened milk, cough, and inhale the cereal into their lungs.<\/li>\n<li>Can cause them to take in too many calories and become overfed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Do you recommend \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/baby-led-parent-fed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">baby-led weaning<\/a>\u201d?<\/strong> There\u2019s not enough research yet for us to recommend this approach one way or the other. However, the name does act as a reminder that babies themselves need to be in charge of what and how much they eat! Parents shouldn\u2019t try to persuade a baby to eat what they don\u2019t want to, and especially when they\u2019re full! Let your baby control the fun and games in the highchair \u2013 with you watching, of course.<\/p>\n<p>Also, it\u2019s important not to offer anything that <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/how-to-save-a-life-prevent-choking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">may cause choking<\/a>, such as chunks of food, or foods that could break off into pieces in a baby\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I give a baby cow\u2019s milk?<\/strong> Tired of breastfeeding or making bottles and wondering if cow\u2019s milk would be okay? Nope, not until your babe is 12 months old. While a sip would be okay, regular feedings would not be \u2013 cow&#8217;s milk just does not have enough nutrition in it for a younger baby. You can and should offer your baby cow milk products like cheese and yogurt!<\/p>\n<p><strong>More resources for parents<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My Doctor Online:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org\/ncal\/structured-content\/#\/Health_Topic_Infants_-_Healthy_Eating_for_Babies.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Healthy Eating for Babies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you start feeding a baby solids most parents have lots of questions. Have faith babies are usually pretty easy to feed! They\u2019re not picky and seem to have fun trying new foods. Here\u2019s some questions I hear often and the answers I give:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[667],"tags":[185,500,510,442,501,499],"class_list":["post-2829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newborn-care","tag-baby-led-weaning","tag-feeding-babies","tag-feeding-infants","tag-infant-feeding","tag-introducing-food-to-babies","tag-starting-babies-on-solids","ages-baby"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1691572494:8"],"_edit_last":["11"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["58"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["288"],"_thumbnail_id":["2834"],"qode_seo_title":["Starting Babies on Solid Foods"],"qode_seo_keywords":["starting babies on solid foods, solids, introducing food to babies, choking hazard, pureeed fruit, cow's milk, "],"qode_seo_description":["When should you feed baby solids? Start babies on solid food when they're 4 to 6 months.  Deciding when to start babies on solid feedings is in large part based on their developmental readiness. They need to be able to hold their head steady when sitting in a high chair, be interested in what you're eating, take food off the spoon and swallow it. \r\n.\r\n"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":["feeding a baby solids"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["feeding a baby solids"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["67"],"wpfp_favorites":["4"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1714039277"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3378,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions\/3378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}