Starting Baby on Table Food

Recently I was chatting with a friend who told me about a mom in her playgroup who is stumped by how to start her daughter on table food. Some moms, especially those who cook, take for granted their instinctual food knowledge, which makes it a lot easier to tackle feeding a baby for the first time. However, the majority of moms out there find themselves traveling up a steep learning curve once their babies begin to eat solid foods. What can they "chew," what are their nutritional needs, what happens if they choke on something, what kinds of food will they like, what foods are off limits? Once a mom is able to answer all of these questions, then she needs to learn how to actually prepare the healthy food her baby likes. There is really a tremendous amount to learn, no wonder my friend's friend was feeling daunted!

So much of what I know now I learned from talking to other moms, reading books or from trial and error experimentation. I hope this blog in it's entirety reflects what I have learned and can therefore be a resource for all moms who want to feed their babies nutritious and tasty meals. But in addition, here is a little crib sheet on getting started with table food.

1) Start slow and simple. For baby's debut don't prepare your favorite meal, which requires that you slave in the kitchen for three hours. Even if baby loves the food you will be left thinking "How on earth can I keep this up?" Try things that don't require hours of prep and clean-up.

2) Variety, variety, variety! Studies have shown that food pickyness is actually about 80% genetic. If you are a picky eater there is a very high probability that your baby will be a picky eater too. However, this does not mean that you should forgo exposing your baby to as many flavors and textures as possible at a young age. Grow their palate and teach them to explore new flavors; you never know what foods will be a hit.

3) Repetition. Even if your baby rejects a food keep trying, it make take upwards of 10 times before your child actually acquires a taste for a new food.

4) Spice things up! Spices are a wonderful tool in the kitchen. Don't be afraid to season your spinach with cumin, your salmon with curry or your squash with sage. We like exciting flavors in our food and so do our kids!

5) Sometimes baby is just not hungry. Sometimes kids are not hungry for a variety of different reasons. Maybe they are tired, ate too much earlier, or they are just more interested in reading a book than eating. Don't get discouraged and follow their lead. If they don't want to eat then put their food back in the fridge and try it again the next day.

6) Get to know your baby. You will get lots of advice from other moms but the most important thing is to know your baby. What kinds of foods can she/he manage? Can she gum up halves of grapes or it is too early for her? Does he choke on pieces of chicken but have no problem with fish? Just remember that your baby will evolve so even if something is too difficult for her now, it may not be in another month.

7) Great first table foods for baby: Anything you eat that is soft enough for your baby to gum up! Try broken up meatballs, cut up avocado, diced fruit (bananas, grapes, etc), small pieces of whole wheat bread with hummus, hard boiled egg yolk, mashed sweet potatoes, whole wheat crackers that dissolve in the mouth, ricotta gnocchi, flaked pieces of white fish, pureed veggies with lentils added. Look through the archives of this blog for tons of other great recipes and ideas. Have fun and enjoy this special time with your baby!