Starting your baby on solid foods should be done with the help of your pediatrician, but the great doctors at Framingham Pediatrics gave us some general information for how and when to break out the strained carrots.

The pediatricians at Framingham Pediatrics, P.C. in Framingham, Massachusetts offered us some valuable information about when and how to introduce solid foods to your baby. In a nutshell (but no nuts!), here's what they said:

Only a few generations ago was it deemed permissable to feed babies solid food in the first few weeks of their life. However, research in later years proved that babies who were fed solid food too early fell deficient in two major ways: many developed food allergies since their intestines weren't mature enough to digest the solid food, and many developed iron and protien deficiencies, since food doesn't have nearly the amount of iron and protien that human breast milk holds. In offense, doctors began recommending a longer waiting period before starting infants on solid foods.

According to pediatricians at Framingham Pediatrics, begin your infant with single-ingredient sold foods. They should be introduced one at a time, to allow baby to get used to them. Do not begin with feeding solid food to your infant every day; instead, feed him once every five or six days to allow his system time to adjust. Then, begin routine solid feedings more often as she becomes used to it.

Not only do babies need time to adjust in digesting the solid food, it is also imperative during this time that babies properly develop the jaw, teeth, tongue, and swallowing muscles badly needed to eat the food. In addition, learning to eat from a spoon is a process that should be taken slowly. Talk to your pediatrician about the right time to begin feeding your child solid foods.

Cereals First
Stage 1 foods begin with rice cereal, which contains the highest levels of iron, a basic necessity for fast-growing infants. Mix one teaspoon of rice cereal for every 4 to 5 teaspoons breastmilk to make it easier to digest. Do not place food in the bottle - learning to eat from a spoon is just as important in baby's development as eating the food itself. Since rice cereal is constipating, if your infant is already having constipation problems, try oatmeal instead. Feed her one solid meal every 5 or 6 days, then build up gradually from there. When the time comes to feed baby solid food once a day (again, check with your pediatrician about when to introduce solid food to your baby according to your baby's needs), choose a meal when there's plenty of time. Most new parents choose dinnertime since they aren't rushing off to work, and have time to fend off all the bites that baby spits out. Work up to a second meal. Somewhere around the 6 month mark your baby should be eating three meals a day.

Introduce Solid Food in This Order:

• Rice cereal/oatmeal
• Other cereals
• Fruits, one at a time
• Yellow vegetables
• Green vegetables

You may also add fruit juices when you introduce fruits - an important added source of Vitamin C. Check with your doctor about the best kinds of fruit juices.

The Rest of the Story
Once baby is eating three solid meals of strained vegetables, fruits, and cereals, she should be around the sixth month. Once your baby can sit up by herself, you may begin to add the Stage 2 foods like meat, cheese, and finger foods. Meat cut up into small pieces can be fed to your baby after at least 6 months; meat should not be tough or chewy but easy to swallow (tuna fish is a good starter meat). Cheeses are good sources of protien for your infant; be sure to cut them into very small pieces. Cheerios and pieces of toast or crackers are fun to babies because they're crunchy, and also teach baby the important feed-myself technique. Lastly, pieces of fruit and vegetables may be cut up in small pieces for your baby sometime around nine months.

Eggs
Talk to your pediatrician about when to start feeding your child eggs. If begun too soon, your baby's immature intenstinal tract may react poorly and cause a food allergy, which is common. Most babies don't eat eggs until they're about 9 months old.

Cow's Milk
Your baby should not drink any cow's milk until she's at least one year old. Not nearly as high in protien as breast milk or infant formula, substituting cow's milk for human milk can cause later problems with anemia and iron deficiency. Yogurt and cheese as supplement to a human milk diet are perfectly acceptable. Once she's old enough, be sure to supply your baby with whole cow's milk - she needs the fat and protien to help her quickly growing body.

Avoid

• Foods easy to choke on, like raisins, nuts, popcorn, berries, and grapes.
• Hot dogs, unless you split them in half lengthwise before cutting them up
• Honey (wait until after baby's first year), because it may develop into botulism.