Hello beautiful moms out there! Your baby is growing fast, isn’t it? Hug them, snuggle them, cuddle them – do whatever you wanna do. Because this time is never gonna come back and you gonna miss this badly. And be very cautious, my friend. These days will fly like a rocket. Now, if your baby is under 6 months, he/she is having only either breast milk or formula milk. But once they pass the 6 month landmark, you should introduce solid food to them. Because breastfeed or bottle milk cannot supply adequate nutrients and other vitamins alone. And these are extremely important for their proper physical and mental growth. But you are probably thinking you are already accustomed to feeding milk; when the baby is hungry, you prepare the milk and put the bottle into their mouth and you are good, right? But now, if you want to introduce solid food, you need to think about new recipes, need to allocate more time to cook food in your busy schedule and the horrendous part, the actual feeding to your adamant baby! At least, my reaction was the same when I heard during my baby’s 5 months that I need to start giving her solid food starting right after a month.
So, now you know you need to give solid food once they reach 6 months of age, right? But what are the exact foods that you should start with? Can they eat cow milk? Should I give them spicy food? If so, then how much? Some also say salts are bad for babies. How much truth is in it? Sugar? At least sugar isn’t harmful, is it? If you have all these questions in your mind right now, you are not alone. I had the same experience when I was at your place. But, we had a goal in our mind. We wanted to transition our baby to our own food as fast as possible. So that we don’t need to cook separate food for her.
The first solid food we gave her was sautéed broccoli, without any salt, with no oil, just fresh broccoli. We made it at least soft enough that she can mash it with her gums, as she didn’t have any teeth then. We avoided salt because it is not suggested to introduce salt until they are 12 months old. Another food that we gave our baby is cereal. We took 2/3 teaspoon of cereal, put some formula milk powder on it and mixed them properly with some warm water so that the consistency is thick but there are no solid chunks which could make it difficult to swallow. Again, no salt was added.
Once we introduced it for the first time, we carefully observed our baby for 3/4 days. We tried to understand if she is having any pain in the stomach, or if her poop looks as usual. Their poop is not going to be the same, at least once you start giving the solid food, but still. You want to check the color and consistency and look for any abnormality. The odor will be worse than before, for sure. Because you are giving them the food like an adult consumes.
Another recipe I liked is mashed potato. I steamed a peeled potato, mashed it properly so that there are no solid chunks in it and mixed it properly with some cereal and formula milk powder. I also used to give my baby mac and cheese macaroni which is very easy to cook and your baby will love, that’s a guarantee from me. But I actually waited a couple of weeks after observing my baby is doing okay with the solid foods.
After a while, I started using another recipe, which was made of 1 cup of rice, half cup of lentil beans, different vegetables (as you like), a little oil, some ground chicken and some salt if she is around 12 months old. Then I poured the mixture in some water so that everything just sank to the water level and started the cooker. Once it is done, mix it properly and yes! You have prepared some food at least for 3 days.
To make her like drinking water, we bought a small water bottle of Mr Brown brand. The bottle is so cute and my baby loves it. She drinks from it; it has a straw attached to it, leaves it on the floor and picks it up once she wishes again. This way she is getting enough water every day and I don’t have to run behind her every time I want to drink her water. This bottle is a lifesaver for me, you can see.
So yeah, introducing solid food could seem a bit daunting. But with a little planning, you can make it a lot easier. Happy parenting!