6 Rules in Giving Baby Solid Food

By Najiah N

1. Give Solid Food Step by Step.

 Introducing solid food to a baby is sometimes hard and sometimes it’s easy, depends on the baby. For the first 3-4 days, give the same kind of solid food.  Give it in a small amount and increase it consistently day by day. We need to do this to know whether the baby is allergic or not to this kind of food.

2. Frequency and Feeding Schedule.

For the first few days, give the baby 1-2 times daily of solid food, and then you can consistently increase it to 2-3 times daily. See baby feeding schedule.

3. The Selection of Baby Food

Introduce first to baby solid food that doesn’t cause allergic, usually contain low protein like cereal (rice, brown rice, oat). For vegetables, choose like potato, pumpkin, green bean, zucchini. For fruits, choose papaya, banana, sweet orange.

4. Introduce to Many Kinds of Taste

Introduce a baby to many kinds of taste and texture by giving a verity of food. When a baby is introduced to vegetables, normally s/he will like vegetables when s/he grew up. His/her memory will tell the food that s/he already had since very little.

5. How to Make and Give Solid Food

For the first stage, make a runny solid food, by adding breast milk or formula at the end of the making process to avoid loss nutrition. Use baby spoon, from baby feeding set. Put a small amount of baby food at the tip of the spoon and put it on the middle of the baby’s tongue, and see how s/he reacts. If s/he smile, it means s/he likes it, but if s/he doesn’t seem to like, or even cries, stop the eating session right away and try it again some other time.

6. How to Store Baby Food

For the reason of practical, many parent make baby food for one day, instead of making it every time the baby has to eat. We need to know how to store it, so the nutrition in it doesn’t vanish or less vanish. Put it in small food containers, and different container for each meal. Put them in the fridge, make sure the lid of the container is tight, to avoid any contamination. At each meal time, take one container and warm it up by putting it on a warm water.