Newborns make a parent’s life full of firsts. There are first nights without crying, first steps, first crawls, and first words. Another crucial first in the lives of children is the first time they eat solid foods. While newborns usually cannot make the switch until at least six months of age, it’s important to already be thinking about what will happen when it’s time for solid food. Part of healthy parenting is understanding the best choices for children, and there’s nothing quite as important as nutrition. Breast-feeding is recommended for the first half-year, but after that, it’s all about making the best choices for solid food.
A child’s first months and years are a time for rapid growth and maturation, and the food you provide your child with will be the fuel by which he or she is able to navigate the world and start developing coordination and motor skills. Providing the right kinds of foods and nutrition is just as important as making sure to read to your child, provide mind-enhancing and age-appropriate toys and, of course, providing a safe environment for living, playing, and sleeping.
While purchasing baby food has been a long standing tradition in parenting, more and more parents are opting to make at least a portion of the food they serve their children at home. Making baby food is an excellent choice on a number of different levels. Many children have food allergies, and preparing food at home makes it easy to single out what potentially troublesome ingredients are. Furthermore, a great deal of store-bought baby food has additives, and preparing your own meals is a great deal healthier.
Preparing food at home is also a welcome burden relieved from many family wallets. After all, it’s a great deal more expensive in general to buy pre-packaged food of all varieties, and baby food is no different. Best of all, it’s one of the occasions in life when you can save money and make something healthier than it would be from the store.
Knowing when to start your child on solid food is a personal decision made by parents, but a number of important health organizations, including The American Academy of Pediatrics, recommend that breast-feeding take place until six months of age, at which point switching to solids will not compromise the amount of nutrition a child is receiving.
Other important signs in knowing if it’s time to switch: can your child sit upright with support? Is he or she done with the “tongue reflex,” called such because young children will shove any object that is solid out of their mouth with their tongue, almost instinctively? If it’s past this point, then it’s the perfect time to start on solid foods.
Since babies are learning all of the time, it’s safe to say their bodies are learning, too. Since children are not used to processing solid food, be advised that there might be a brief period of constipation during the switch. It’s nothing to worry about, but is something that occasionally happens. This is why it’s particularly helpful to start with a number of simple fruits and vegetables, that baby’s bodies find easy to digest. Among them are avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, and apples. These foods are also simple to puree, a must when making baby food, and are known to prompt fewer allergic reactions.
When babies are starting to eat, an excellent first recipe is cooked and pureed carrots. A root vegetable packed with beta carotene and vitamin C, as well as calcium, carrots provide much of the nutrition that children need to grow. First peel the carrots, then steam them. After that, pureeing them should be a breeze.
Having a baby does not need to ruin your home. Damian Papworth knows that are crucial. Yes you can purchase that look great in your home.