Starting Solid Foods
Despite some popular opinions, food readiness has to do with development, not age. In general, babies are ready to explore solid foods when they can sit up mostly unassisted and are no longer tongue thrusting. The correlating age range is between 5-8 months for most babies.
We offer a separate solid foods workshop quarterly in-person or as a recorded class. We cover readiness signs, getting started, common first foods and stages, baby led weaning, iron levels, choking and allergies plus raising a healthy eater with body positive parenting perspectives. Reach out if you'd like access to the class!
Here are some helpful websites/articles to check out:
https://solidstarts.com/ (this one has really great food guides, menus and ideas for how to serve different foods for different ages - a great IG account to follow) Here's their guide on how much water is safe for a baby.
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/starting-solids-nutrient-dense-real-food-for-babies/
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/salt-baby-food-infant-sodium-requirements/
It's probably a good idea to review choking procedures so that you feel prepared just in case you need to help your child. Here's a link for an online choking/CPR class: https://infantcpr.com/
The Weston A. Price Foundation is a resource for those interested in “traditional foods,” meaning the nutrient-dense foods that our ancestors ate before the advent of widespread food manufacturing. Go to www.westonaprice.org/children/index.html#fd to learn more. Join the foundation and receive a quarterly journal.
Books and Blogs:
Nina Planck and Real Food: https://ninaplanck.com/
Super Baby Food: http://www.superbabyfood.com/
Wholesome Baby Food: https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
Dr Alan Greene has a book and discusses more about why not giving rice cereal: https://www.drgreene.com
There's so much to explore!! Keep in mind there is not one, right, best way, only the way that works best for your family. Keep following your baby's lead and listen to their constant communication to cultivate a responsive feeding relationship. Trust that they know how much food they need and what foods are best for their bodies.