Ansel Karen - The Baby and Toddler Cookbook Fresh, Homemade Foods for a Healthy Start

Until now, breast milk or iron-fortified formula has given baby all the nutrition he needs to grow and thrive. But as he nears six months of age, his digestive system begins to mature, and he is now able to digest solid foods.

At six months, baby is physically starting to develop the skills he needs to transition to solid foods. But how do you know when he is ready to take his first spoonful? The best way is to follow his lead and watch for the following signs:

Baby can sit upright with support.

He holds his head steady.

He will open his mouth or lean forward when food is offered in front of him.

He can swallow food when it is placed in his mouth instead of pushing it back out.

He is interested in what you are eating.

Even though baby may be ready for solid foods, breast milk or iron-fortified formula will still be the mainstay of his diet. In fact, a baby who is just starting solids may eat only a few teaspoons at each sitting.

Complementary foods such as pureed squash, rice cereal, and applesauce do more than just provide added nutritionthey help baby learn how to eat, chew, and swallow food and to accept and adapt to new tastes and textures.

Breast is still best

Breast milk is natures perfect first food and the best nutritional start. In fact, health experts recommend breast- feeding your baby exclusively for his first six months, if possible, and then offering both breast milk and solids until at least age one.

The benefits of breast-feeding include the following:

Breast milk provides antibodies that help protect baby against illness and infection.

Breast-fed babies have fewer tummy troubles. Mothers milk is easier for them to digest than formula and encourages the development of babys digestive system.

The flavors from the foods you eat are passed into your milk, exposing baby to a wide range of flavors.

Breast milk contains beneficial fats that enhance mental development.

Breast-feeding also protects against the development of food allergies, obesity, diarrhea, and ear and respiratory infections.

Over the next few months, you will slowly help your baby progress from thinned purees to table food. Heres what you can expect:

4 to 6 months

Single-grain cereals such as rice, barley, millet, or oats that have been thinned with breast milk or formula; supplementing these cereals, which are high in minerals, fiber, protein, and B vitamins, with iron-rich formula or breast milk will help ensure that your baby gets the iron he needs to support his rapid growth

Pureed sweet, low-acid fruits like apples and pears, and starchy-sweet vegetables such as peas and sweet potatoes

7 to 8 months

A wider range of fruit and vegetable purees, including brightly flavored fruits like peaches, plums, and cherries, and earthy-tasting vegetables like beets, asparagus, mushrooms, and green beans

Combinations of purees using any of the ingredients baby has been introduced to so far, to broaden babys taste for flavors

Coarserand sometimes chunky, if baby can handle itpurees of cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meats to familiarize baby with different textures and to initiate chewing

High-protein, soft-cooking legumes such as lentils and split peas

A touch of added fats (butter, olive oil) to add flavor and increase the pleasant feeling of food in babys mouth

Babys first meats: purees of lamb, beneficial because its high in iron, and turkey, a good source of lean protein thats easy to digest

9 to 11 months

Coarse, chunky, or mashed fruit, vegetable, and legume purees

Small chunks of soft, cooked vegetables and very ripe fruits

Whole-milk yogurt, ricotta, or cottage cheese

Shredded semihard cheeses such as Cheddar and Monterey jack

Finely minced meats, including chicken and pork, and egg yolks

More herbs, spices, and aromatics such as onion and garlic

Fruit juice100-percent juice; should be limited to cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) a day

1 year and up

Table foods that the whole family is eating, such as soups and stews, pasta and noodles, or quesadillas, cut into bite-sized pieces