The first few years of a baby’s life are filled with so many exciting little milestones. One of them, of course, is transitioning your child to solid foods. Some parents find it a big relief and others feel a little sad because it’s a reminder that baby is growing up, (Don’t worry, she’s probably not ready for college quite yet!) but all in all it’s not too much of a big deal.
When you have a little guy or gal with a food allergy, like a milk allergy, this transition can cause a little angst. “How do I avoid an allergic reaction?” and “How do I make sure the baby’s getting enough to eat/the proper nutrition?” are questions we hear a lot around here.
Some parents also wonder if they should take the risk of introducing solid foods at all!
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Your little one actually needs solid foods so that they can start developing the necessary motor skills for chewing, biting (food, not people J) and speech development. So how can you safely begin introducing solid foods to your baby? Here are some important things to remember.
1. Wait until your baby is six months old to start them on solid foods, this will allow their immune system to mature a bit more.
2. Have a challenge phase where you introduce a few core foods to see what your baby can tolerate.
3. Introduce the foods least likely to cause allergic symptoms first.
4. Allow your baby to get used to the taste and texture of solid foods, as well as feeding from a spoon.
5. Introduce new textures in three stages:
- Stage 1: thin and smooth
- Stage 2: lumps and chunks
- Stage 3: finger foods
6. In the later stages, the solid foods now in their diet should provide most of your child’s nutritional needs.
If you are nervous about allergic reactions in the challenge phase, check out Neocate Nutra. It’s a hypoallergenic, amino acid-based semi-solid medical food that you can give to children over six months old. The texture is similar to yogurt and it can be eaten by itself or you can mix it with other foods (my favorite is mixed with apple sauce!).
Have any tips for transitioning to solids? Let us know what you think below.
- Sarah
January 9th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
i have 1 yr old son and getting him onto solid foods has been next to imposible. i see so many doc and am so confused about all the infomation i am getiing. i keep looking things up and trying o do the right think but i feel like i am failing my son and it is killing. i don’t know where to turn or what else to do but no madder what i try nothing is working my son had several sever food alergies that makes things harder.. what do i do .. what else can help me