Baby Food Ideas: 1 Month Menu For Baby's First Month Of Solids
I recently started my baby on solids with the intention to start on purees and transition to solids sooner rather than later. As a first time mum, it's a little daunting to start to feed baby actual food. I mean, didn't I just figure out the caring-for-a-newborn thing? Now I'm tasked with feeding my baby with "real food". Where do I even begin? Thankfully, the answer is a lot easier than it feels for a first time mum.
But first, a disclaimer: I am not an expert and am simply sharing my journey and what worked for me and my baby. You should assess your child's individual needs and come to your own conclusion in consultation with your child's doctor.
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| Feeding my baby pureed food |
When To Start Baby On Solids
The World Health Organisation currently recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months which means no food or drink other than breastmilk (or formula) until 6 months. The Australian Breastfeeding Association supports the same but however is quick to note: "When your infant is ready, at around 6 months, but not before 4 months, start to introduce a variety of solid foods, starting with iron-rich foods, while continuing breastfeeding."
You will quickly find out that many paediatricians (including mine) continue to recommend beginning solids at 4 months provided that your baby is showing signs of readiness. You can easily read up on these signs which include: being able to sit upright, losing the tongue-thrust reflex, and showing interest in your food. Basically these things tend to happen at around 6 months. But remember the hard rule of no food other than breastmilk or formula before 4 months.
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| The day we first fed our baby her first pureed food. |
When I Decided To Start My Baby On Solids
I'll be honest with you. Our decision wasn't easily in black and white. My baby is quite advanced physically, she was sitting up long before babies her age are expected to. She was showing interest in our food by staring and sometimes mimicking our chewing motions when we chew. But she never grabbed our food and only once did she open her mouth when we made the fake action of spoon feeding her. But gut feeling told us she was ready at 4-months-ish. However, I wasn't comfortable with this (although I know quite a few mums who did start feeding at 4 months). So I opted to hold off until 5 months old.
Even at 5 months old, I wasn't 100% sure she would eat. The intention was to introduce a tablespoon of food for her to taste and see how she reacts. We were pleasantly surprised when she tasted the food, and then eagerly grabbed and leaned in for more. That's my baby after all. I shouldn't have been surprised! I love food and so does she.
At 6 months old, baby's iron stores are depleting and baby needs iron and zinc from food other than breastmilk. My intention was to introduce food at 5 months old so she can get used to the notion of eating and at 6 months old, she's actually eating bits rather than still being on a taste test trial.
I also read that a mistake you can do is when baby wants to eat but you hold baby back. This is apparently the beginning of a poor eater. On the contrary, you should take advantage of baby's eagerness to eat. I also noticed that babies of mums who feed their babies as much as appropriate (and as similarly to their own meals as possible) end up with toddlers who are good eaters. And this is of course what I am hoping for. Who wants a picky eater after all? Of course baby's age and personality plays a big role but if there's a way to prevent it, we can only try.
I am in no way telling you to start your baby on solids when I did. You should make your own decision based on your child's individual needs.
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| My baby eating blueberries via mesh feeder for the first time. |
Traditional Purees Versus Baby Led Weaning
You'll have to do your own research on both feeding styles. Personally, I chose to do a combination or transition from purees to solids baby led weaning (BLW) style. This is because I wasn't comfortable to dive into BLW style straight away. Even though my husband and I are both health care professionals and are CPR-trained, constantly being on the edge watching for signs of choking versus gagging was not something I wanted. Plenty of mums succeed with BLW though. But you have to do what you're comfortable with and what you think is best for your baby.https://youtu.be/VA2X3e7v6dI
Homemade Baby Food Versus Store Bought Food
Look, I'm not here to tell you one is better than the other either. But my personal choice is to make my own baby food. This way I know exactly what she's eating and I can be sure that I'm preparing it in a meticulously clean and safe manner. Also, it's much cheaper! And I don't want to be constantly analysing the store bought food labels either. For me, I like to cook fresh healthy meals for myself and my husband. I am certainly doing the same for my baby.
My Feeding Plan
As I mentioned, I didn't want to throw baby into the deep end by going straight to legit solids. My intention was to gradually move baby on to solids in a gentle manner.
First, I started baby on pureed food mixed with breastmilk. Mixing it with breastmilk gave added nutrition and a familiar taste. This also made it even easier to achieve a consistency similar to breastmilk. Remember, baby has not eaten anything except breastmilk before. Once she was good with that, I gave her the pureed food without the breastmilk but still with the same consistency. I then moved on to a thicker consistency rather than runny. And then moved on to mashed rather than thoroughly blended. From there, I then began introducing her to soft solids BLW style. I went from the first puree to the first solid in 6 weeks. By the time we started her on solids BLW style, there was minimal gagging and she quickly adapted. To date, we are doing a combination of solids and lightly pureed/fork-mashed food with no problem. At 7 months old, my baby now feeds herself finger foods like toast fingers and steamed sweet potato sticks, as well as pre-filled spoons with pureed or mashed food.
One more thing: it's important to expose baby to different textures when it comes to food, and allow them to play and get messy.
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| My 7-month-old baby feeding herself steamed pumpkin. |
The 3-Day-Rule
This means you only introduce one new food to baby every 3 days. This way, it's easy to tell what food is the culprit if baby has a reaction. My paediatrician recommended introducing one new food every 2 days but the 3-day-rule sounded good to me. It also allows mama time to plan what her next food will be. You may also want to stretch this out longer if your baby has a sensitive stomach or has other conditions like food-triggered eczema.
Baby’s First Food
My paediatrician recommended starting baby on fruits and vegetables at 4-5 months then meat and milk products at 5-6 months. Personally, I chose to start baby on fruits and vegetables at 5 months and introduced one new fruit/vegetable every 3 days for the first 6 weeks before I started to introduce meat at 6 and a half months old. This worked for me. You do what works for you.
I started to introduce baby to fruits and vegetables that are easy for me to prepare and are low on the list of allergy-causing foods. Below is my visual diary of what I fed baby for the first month. You will notice in the menu below that I started to give baby a second meal sometime in week 3. On this day, I was eating a banana and could see that baby visibly wanted some too. I decided to fork-mash the banana for her to see how she would take it. She did extremely well so I knew she was ready for fork-mashed food and to have dinner everyday. It was also around this time that I could sense that her appetite was growing and that she needed more food on top of the breast milk.
How Frequently To Feed Your Baby
My paediatrician recommended to start baby with food twice a day and work it up to 3 times a day when she eats more than an ice cube size each time. I also know some mums spend a whole month feeding baby only once a day while others do once a day for 1-2 weeks, and then twice a day from week 3, working it up to three times a day and then later including snacks. Personally, I chose to start with only one meal a day and feeding her about an ice cube size of food and gradually giving her more as she wants to eat. When I felt that she was wanting more food and somehow felt like breast milk was no longer enough, I worked it up to giving her lunch and dinner. Later on, at 7 months old, I am giving her breakfast too.
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| Menu For Baby's First Month Of Pureed Food/Solids |
*Please bear in mind that the menu above is only my visual diary of what I fed baby on her first month of solids/pureed food. Please use your own judgement when feeding your baby.*
Menu For Baby’s First Month Of Solids
I hope this gives you an idea of what to feed your baby on the first month of solids. https://youtu.be/VA2X3e7v6dII started with avocado because it's so easy to prepare and highly nutritious too. I used the Avent 4-in-1 baby food maker but you can easily use your normal steamer and blender to make baby food purees.
Come back next time as I will be sharing with you month 2 of solids including meat, veggie/fruit combinations, and baby led weaning style solids.
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| My 7-month-old happily feeding herself pasta. |
What was your baby's first food? Here's to happy feeding journeys!
Always,
Jeanne
22 comments
That's great.. what a cutie.
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I'm learning so much from you. I don't have a child yet, but it's good to know these things as to prepare for when the time comes!
ReplyDeleteI love your posts as they are always so informative and detailed.
Wishing you and your family the best.
xxxx
https://ooomaye.com
So many great informations here.
ReplyDeleteAnd she is so adorable !
Thanks for sharing.
xx
Margot
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Yaay, the baby is so cute ❤
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Yes I can imagine that this is quite the decision to make. You don't want to be too early which could be dangerous but also so not want to wait too long either. Most people I know make their own food. I think there is too much sugar and who knows what else in store bought baby food.
ReplyDeleteAllie of
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Oh she is so cute! I am in love with her hair, it's adorable xo
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Great post!
ReplyDeleteCarina | https://carinazz.blogspot.com/
so cute!
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Such a helpful post! Thanks and the pictures are super cute!
ReplyDeletexx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
www.dressedwithsoul.com
Shes's so adorable! I definitely feel every baby is different and they have a cute way of showing when they're ready for solid foods.
ReplyDeletewww.fashionradi.com
Your daughter is so cute! thanks for sharing what worked for you :) We did a lot of baby led weaning, but purees were helpful when we were out and about! :)
ReplyDeleteHope that you are having a nice week :)
Away From Blue
Wonderful ideas! Your baby is so cute!
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Lovely
http://mynameislovely.com
im not a mom yet, hopefully one day. but these are def some great tips. your baby is the cutest.
ReplyDeletexoxo,
geri
everydaylivingnyc.blogspot.com
How cute and fun! I remember I also had a debate with myself what to feed my babies, homemade or store bought. Nice to see the little video, it relives a lot of memories.
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Very informative and helpful post. Your baby is so cute!
ReplyDeletehttps://chicchedimamma.com/
Very informative and helpful post. Your baby is so cute!
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such a great post, I really had a hard time when my son was a baby. I wanted to go 100% homemade food but it was really difficult for us. With baby #2 I hope I will get a chance to manage this part better :)
ReplyDeleteSonia
www.soniaaicha.com
OMG your baby is the cutest! You have shared so many valuable tips in this post. I am sure many parents will find it helpful xx
ReplyDeleteNaya
www.nayatilly.com
What a cutie.
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Interesting post,
ReplyDeleteand your baby looks absolutely adorable.
Ann
https://roomsofinspiration.blogspot.com/
Thank you for taking the time to comment. I read every single one. :)