What to Expect When Your Baby Starts Solids
Remember that learning about foods and eating is a whole new experience for your baby, so it may not be all plain sailing, but that’s normal!
It important to make sure your baby is ready to start, with mouth opening when the spoon approaches and he or she is able to move food to the back of the mouth to swallow.
Expect your baby to spit some foods out until he becomes accustomed to the taste. Did you know that your baby was born with 4 to 5 times the number of taste buds that adults have? That is why bland food is so tasty to your baby. Don't prepare food for your baby to suits your own taste.
Never add salt or sugar (a little in custard is O.K.). Babies don't generally like spicy food either. Before solids the only taste baby knows is bland breastmilk or formula. While new baby foods may seem boring to you, it is delicious to your baby!
At first your baby needs pureed food until he* becomes used to the idea of having food from a spoon. Pureed food only requires swallowing.
At first your baby is likely to 'gag'. This is a reflex reaction which prevents him from choking.
Food catches at the back of his throat causing him to cough back the food. This prevents the food from getting stuck in his throat and blocking his airways. Babies 'gag' a lot at first until they become more used to the foods, and they begin to learn to chew food a little more before swallowing.
Once your baby is used to taking a variety of pureed fruits and vegetables, and baby rice, it is important you move onto lumpier foods (see the 6-7 month section). If you continue to offer only purees past 7 to 8 months, it can be very difficult to encourage an older child to chew. Chewing is important for teeth and jaw development and for speech later on.
You may notice that, at first, flecks of vegetable appear in baby's 'poo'. This is quite normal as his digestive system matures this will not be as noticeable. (This also happens with adults with some foods too, but we tend not to notice as much!)
*Boy or Girl? For the sake of simplicity we have used only one term to mean either.
