What Age Can I Introduce Other Foods To My Baby?
5 January 2010
Hi. My son is nearly 6 months old and he has been on solids since just before 4 months old. He eats all veggies and also them baby sachets of cheese sauce and gravy sauce. He seems to be getting bored of just the vegetables, im just wondering when i can add other foods into his diet, such as, dairy products, meats, rice and pasta. Will ikt be ok to add any of these yet?
thanks!
Yes, 6 months is fine. Try him with them – he may take a while to get used to them though.
You can add meat. It’s a bad idea to add dairy products before a year, but you have already done that, and any damage that’s going to occur will already have occurred (not major damage, just minor issues and these only if there is a genetic susceptibility). He can have rice, but hold off pasta until after a year, as with all other wheat products.
First, take a walk through your produce section. There is a lot of veggies there you can offer your baby that you won’t find in the baby food section. Parsnips, squash (different varieties), pumpkin, rutabaga (one of my sons favorites), spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini, etc… All very easy to prepare and freeze in ice cube trays.
You can certainly introduce meat, studies are showing that meat should actually be one of the first foods – it’s easier to digest than cereal and contains iron that is absorbed much better by the baby. Also pasta, rice, lentils, legumes, kidney beans, chick peas, barley, etc… are all fine and a lot of the mixed meals from the baby food aisle already contain these items as filler (especially lentils).
My 6 and a half month old has been on solids since 4 months as well and he eats just about anything that my husband and I eat, minus the heavy spices, well mashed, chopped or pureed. In fact a few days ago he grabbed a spring roll right out of my hand and proceeded to take a bite out of it. We now know he isn’t allergic to shrimp, although that’s not the preferred way to determine allergies LOL!
now – but remember the golden rule of a new food every three days only xx
you shouldnt have started him on solids until 6months !!
If you are giving him cheese sauce, isn’t he already having dairy? Really, dairy should be left until after 12 months. We have wheat sensitivities in our family, so I’m leaving wheat until after 12 months too. There are amazing varieties of fruits and vegetables. At this age he isn’t old enough to know he isn’t supposed to like spinach or swedes, so feed them to him. You can give him ground up meat if you want, and any gluten free or low gluten grains. Just mush them up until they’re at a consistancy he’s happy to eat.
Does he have any teeth? No matter, He needs some meat. Try that bacon/vegetable, or the spaghetti types. My grandson loved it when I mashed up the meat and veggies in the ‘Dinty Moore’ beef stew. He can eat whatever you’re eating, just mashed up.
Definitely meat and pasta!
Careful with the diary. He shouldn’t be on diary until 12 months. There are certain other foods it’s good to avoid and there are some foods which you are told to avoid despite there being no evidence (i.e. nuts and seeds, they invented the rule based on ‘if you don’t eat it you can’t have an allergic reaction to it’ idea although more recent statistics show that this early avoidence technique is actually making things worse).
More or less a good balanced diet put through a blender or anything soft enough to eat without teeth should do the trick. Babies and young children do need slightly different things to adults. Their tolorence of fibre is less than that of an adult and the general rule of thumb is don’t add salt. A lot of protein, especiallly muscle protein (meat) has a high content of salt natural – you definately don’t want to double dose! Try other types of protein as well like beans and pulses and fish, omega oils galore in the fish! They have a lower cholesterol which some people don’t realise can affect children in much the same way as adults and contain little to no sulphur which is important for bone development.
If you are worried about calcium with the whole no diary thing, don’t be! If he is on breast or formula he should get some of his calcium from there. It’s a common misconception that diary is the only source of calcium. Try adding spinach into each of meals. I would imagine that for the lactose intolerant people in the world there would be a website about alternative sources.
Any other questions ask your health visitor or google it!
Hope that helps!
my Freya is 6 months in 2 weeks (i weaned her at 4 months aswell)- saw the health visitor today – she said she can eat basically what we eat now! beware of the ‘1 year’ foods such as honey, etc and stuff like nuts etc!
also speak to your hv if you have any allergies in the family so you can keep a check that he doesn’t have them too!
try adding a little bit of dairy at a time maybe just add some cheese to the veg he has- or a little natural yogurt to the fruit – brown rice is great for baby’s and if you don’t think hes ready for lumps you can puree it when cooked – or smash up the rice before you cook it!!
good luck !
I’m trying Freya with chicken, sweet potato and cheese for dinner and some yogurt and mango for pudding!
yes it is safe to introduce solids at this age. dont introduce meat but butter and cheese will be fine. Rice and Pasta are also good. so just go head.
When you say other foods, do you mean other baby jarred foods, or ‘human food’? If you are talking about jarred food, it says right on the jar when to start moving onto different levels. eg. level one: 1-3 months , level 2: 3-6 months and so on.
I was told by a pediatrician when my children were that age to start them on regular food as soon as possible. That baby food is essential, but doesn’t pack half the nutrients and good stuff that real food does. I was always trying new stuff with my children: bread, mashed potatoes, carrot bites. You just have to be extremely careful and confident that you know what to do if he starts choking. He will let you know when he is ready to try new things.
After six months of age, it is fine to start to introduce your baby to other foods.
My son is almost 8 months now and he enjoys a little bit of Ready Brek in the morning (made with his own baby milk). He also is quite fond of lentil soup, yoghurts, creamed rice and stewed apples.
Dont be afraid to just try him with new foods. Just make sure they are not too lumpy, or invest in a hand blender to smooth them down a bit.
Introduce slowly as that was quite a young age to start weaning. Should have really only just started so be careful. Dairy should be fine but don’t introduce wheat until at least a week or so after. If he’s bored of veg try fruit (stewed apple, pear etc or mashed bananas) as its naturally sweet so he’ll love it! But be careful he doesn’t start refusing veg and demanding fruit all the time! My daughter is a vegetarian (as I was brought up) so would never dream of giving her meat but other protein sources were introduced after wheat. Remember that they should still get most of their nutrients from milk until they are 9-12 months and that solids are really just for fun at this age!
A few golden rules…. NEVER add salt to babies food (and only give packaged food made for babies as you know there are strict controls on salt/ sugar)
Introduce one food group at a time so as not to overwhelm baby’s system and to allow you to watch for allergies.
Look out for things that claim to be “sugar free” as they usually just replace the sugar with artificial sweeteners (though if it is made especially for children it is against the law to add aspartame)
Get into the practice of reading packaging and know what you are giving your baby!
6months is fine
Your son is obviously fine with what you’ve given him so far. What you give him next will depend on your family history of allergies. If there is any food you are concerned about hold off giving it and let your HV know next time you see them. There are some foods you shouldn’t give until after 1 year. Honey, because rarely it can contain a bacteria which can be a pain if you a little person, chilli and chilli powder ( but curry and other spices are ok).
My kids never had jars we just pureed up what we were having (within reason- never the kebabs).
The advice about nuts seems to change a lot. Both of my two were given nuts at the same time and one is wildly allergic and the other is fine.
You do need to think about texture like you say, they get bored and need new flavours and textures. You could try a thicker puree first but also rice cakes, bread sticks, raisins pieces of apple etc (all under supervision) and frozen bananas for teething, sticks of carrot.
Here is a link to a site that gives you the do’s and don’ts. I hope it’s useful.
Baby rice is a good one to start with mixed with formula or milk. Great for filling them up & hopefully sleeping through. Finger foods should be fine too, grated cheese, baby snacks etc….Pretty sure meat should be fine pureed. Health visitors are always really good with this advice in my experience
sheperds / cottage pie , spag bol , chicken, fish try your baby out but as i found what they dont like today they may like tommorow good luck