Most doctors recommend that parents wait until 6 months of age to feed their baby solid foods. Until that time babies do not have full mouth and tongue control and will usually push solid food out of their mouth with their tongue. When you decide to feed your baby solid food, choose the right moment. Try this when your baby is rested, hungry, but not starved, and you are relaxed. The first solid food to give your baby should be an iron fortified cereal in addition to breast milk or infant formula. Choose a single ingredient infant cereal like rice (least likely to cause allergies), oatmeal, or barley. Put a teaspoon of infant cereal in a dish and mix it with breast milk or formula to a watery consistency. Don’t add sugar or salt or any other seasoning. Offer the cereal once or twice a day after the milk feeding. Use a small, narrow spoon. Put a small amount toward the middle of your baby’s tongue. If she seems interested, give her a few more tastes with the spoon. If she doesn’t like it, or pushes the spoon away, wait a few weeks and try again.
The first feedings will be messy. Your baby has been used to sucking liquids. Now, she has to learn how to swallow solids. The tongue thrust that makes food come back out is a natural reaction. Your baby has to learn to swallow rather than thrust. For the first few weeks, offer the cereal once or twice a day after breast or bottle feeding. You can help your baby learn to eat healthy foods. Try to make eating a
pleasant time. The next foods after cereals will probably be a few teaspoons of pureed vegetables or fruits. But, wait until your doctor tells you to try these. Try only one new food at a time. If you start with a few teaspoons of infant rice cereal, continue for several days before trying infant oatmeal or infant barley. The reason you try only one food at a time is so you can see whether or not your baby may have a reaction to a food or be allergic to the food. Sometimes a new food can cause diarrhea, a skin rash, or even a runny nose. If you think your baby has an allergy problem, check with your doctor, nurse or clinic.

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