Introducing Food to Baby
-
A schedule and chart showing
when and how to introduce solid foods to Baby in a healthy, low allergy way. -
Ideal for breastfed babies and
formula fed babies.
Introducing food to baby should be done gradually so as to identify foods that baby does not tolerate, and to minimize triggering allergic responses.
Below is a guide to proper introduction of foods at each stage that will also help baby develop a palate for nutritious food. In addition it will reduce the incidence of allergies and digestive problems.
| Chart: When to Introduce New Foods to a Baby | |
| Birth to Six Months | Baby’s food should be breast milk exclusively. |
Six to twelve months: overview Although
foods are commonly introduced at 6 months, it is not necessary to do
so. In fact, many babies will either reject or have difficulty with
solids until closer to nine months.
Breast milk can easily provide all of baby's nutritional needs until a year or so of age. By 9 months, most babies will be quite ready and eager to eat solids. Breastfeeding should be continued for as long as possible and desired by mother and baby. If you wait until 9 months or longer to introduce solids, we still suggest you follow the the same schedule in the chart below, with the same time intervals. |
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At about 6 months: |
The focus is on introducing to baby low allergy and easy to digest foods. Cook and prepare your own baby food. This is far better than buying the vastly inferior stuff they sell on the store shelves. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of vegetables daily, fresh, ideally seasonal, and organic. Steam or bake. Wait a day or two before introducing another so you have a chance to observe if each food is tolerated. This is how to test for food allergies and sensitivities in babies. See our page on how to freeze your own baby food. |
| At about 7 months: | Start
with fruit, any fruit, fresh, ideally seasonal, and organic.
Soft stone fruits cut up small (peaches, apricots) are a good place to
start. Harder fruits may be stewed. It isn’t time to introduce fruit until vegetables are established. You don’t want baby to develop a taste for super sweet fruit like banana before developing an interest in kale. |
At about 8-9 months: |
Introduce non-gluten grains including quinoa, millet, GF oats and buckwheat. Be wary of rice due to its contamination with poisonous arsenic and lead from pesticide runoff. (ConsumerReports.com.) Soak overnight in water before cooking to improve digestibility. Adding extra water and cooking for longer periods will further improve the digestibility of grains. |
| At about 9-12 months: | Introduce
protein sources like beans and lentils,
soaked overnight before cooking (discard soaking water and add fresh
water to cook.) Freshly made fruit and green smoothies in small quantities are a wonderfully nutritious and tasty addition to baby’s diet.. Non-dairy and gluten free milks such as hemp or oat. Healthy oils such as coconut, olive. Fresh ground seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower. |
At about 12-18 months: |
Focus on feeding baby higher protein and calorie foods. Turkey, lamb, chicken, fish, eggs. All organic, free range, grass fed. Meats are best slow cooked in soups and stews. Nuts and nut butters Grinding your own nut butter is easy with a VitaMix or a BlendTec blender, and the quality and freshness is far superior to commercial nut butters. The best nut butter is made from whole, nuts that are first soaked, then crisped at a temperature around 120 degrees or using a food dehydrator. Soaking and crisping (instead of roasting) aids in digestion and makes the nutrition more available. |
| 2 - 3 years | Introduce
allergenic foods one at a time and watch for a reaction. If a reaction
occurs, remove the food and wait for another month before trying again.
Allergenic foods are:
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Prepared
by Deborah
Ginsburg, MD, of Healing Oceans Family Wellness Center, medical advisor
to The
Suppers Programs and Dorothy Mullen, Founder, The
Suppers
Programs.
Other pages in this series
- Part 1
Covers when and how to introduce solid foods and provide proper infant nutrition.
- Part 2 (this
page)
Provides a schedule of foods to introduce month by month.
- Part 3
Lists foods to avoid giving to babies, and some you should.
- Part 4
Describes how to make and freeze your own, super-healthy, baby food.
