Babies and Solid Foods

As babies grow their digestive system matures and requires of new foods to incorporate them into their daily diet. Pediatricians suggest starting with solids at six months of age, but while at the same time still breastfeeding. Feeding in the first year of life is fundamental to develop the baby’s genetic potential and become used to the feeding conduct the baby’s parents have. If the parents eat well, their children will learn to ear in a healthy way. This is the perfect moment to form adequate eating habits in babies, avoiding problems such as rejection to food and inappetence that can cause delay in the growth and eating disorders in the childhood and teenage hood.

Babies are born with certain physiological limitations when it comes to completely digesting and absorbing some nutrients. From the anatomic point of view it is important to point out the absence of teeth until around six months of age approximately, meaning that the baby’s feeding should be exclusively liquid. The chewing reflexes show up in the seventh and ninth month, even if the baby does not have teeth yet.

Between the fourth and sixth month babies are ready to eat their first mashed meal. The pediatrician will let you know when this can be done in your baby’s specific case. Little by little you should introduce the first foods different from milk. In this stage, feeding is mixed or complementary, since the first purees have more of a learning function than that of nutrition, since the baby’s basic feeding will continue to be breast milk.

Between seven and twelve months of age, a baby will start to grab at a spoon with the lips, bite and chew. Babies at this age will also make lateral movements with their tongues and move the food within their teeth, and babies are able to perceive foods that have been chopped, cut or grab some with their hands.

Starting from one year of age babies acquire rotating chewing movements and the jaws stabilize meaning they can eat the food the rest of the family eats.

Before starting with the complementary feedings, it is recommendable to keep in mind which foods will need to be kept out of the baby’s diet and this way avoid allergies or problems. Make sure to be patient because this is not a quick process nor is it easy or clean. Most likely it will be the baby who rejects new flavors, especially if it is not sweet. It will be necessary to try between eight and ten times before a baby accepts a food that is unknown to them.