A Simple Guide to Starting Your Baby on Solids

By Dolapo Marinho

For the majority of mums, the onset of solid food is such an exciting milestone in your baby’s development. This is primarily because you finally get some respite from being a permanent food factory. Wait, before you start dancing ‘shoki’, there are some important clues that will help you decide whether your adorable eating machine (sorry, bundle of joy), is ready for the adventurous world of eating solids.

Floppy headed car puppet

If your baby’s head is still bouncing around all over the place like those floppy headed car puppets you see in traffic (you know them, yeah?), you might want to wait a little more. Inability to hold her head still without assistance usually means that the little cherub is still very happy with her milky champagne. So, do not force the issue, wait a little longer to introduce solids.

Sit up straight! Look sharp!

You and I know that there is nothing pleasant about trying to eat amala and ewedu while lying flat on your back. So mummy, before attempting to introduce hunny bun to the wonders of banga and starch, do make sure that she can sit fairly well and totally upright with minimal support. No brainer, right? I knew you knew that. High five!

 ET Phone Home

If every forkful of jollof rice you shovel into your mouth as you watch ‘Come Dine With Me’, is intently scrutinized by baby (a.k.a TV buddy), that may be a cue. If watching you chew and crunch on chicken bones leaves her entranced like she is watching the ‘Game of Thrones’, then she might just want to have a little taste. If she is over six months old, then by all means allow her to join the party. Give her a large chicken drumstick bone to suck on and watch her eyes pop with delight at the new taste sensation! Mummy rocks!

Chop-Chop Baby

Many babies are ready for solid foods once they have doubled their birth weight. If your little princess is never full, even after 8-10 feeds a day, then sister, it may well be time to activate Plan S for Solids.

Posh Nosh Vs Buka

If you’re posh like me, can’t you tell? (Quickly licks the last bit of afang soup from fingers) and there’s no way you’re going to risk chipping the nail job you had done last week, then I recommend you go and buy baby rice (Gerber’s have your back!). Just follow the instructions on the box.

But if you’re like my sister, not so posh (she has no Perrier water in her house, can you believe it?), then get ready for the world of amala and ewedu, tuwo, mashed banana, stewed apples, pureed spinach, pureed carrots, pureed potatoes, pureed broccoli, pureed mangoes. Of course, whatever you feed your baby at this early stage needs to be completely without added salt or sugar.

The Toothbrush Check

Allow me to digress a tiny bit. You know when you brush your tongue and then accidentally push the brush too far and you begin to gag and wretch like you have morning sickness? Well, that is exactly what happens in your cutie pie’s throat when you introduce solid foods too early. The moral of the story therefore, is to make doubly sure that your baby can actually swallow properly before introducing her to solids. One clue can be that she has started to drool a lot less and has drier bibs. Start her off on a semisolid food that’s soft and moist and will allow her learn to use her tongue and throat before breaking out the real deals.

Sunday Buffet

Sorry to break the news but baby cannot yet join the family tradition of Sunday at the fancy hotel. Solid foods MUST be introduced slowly and individually to the apple of your eye. Breast and formula milk will still constitute the bulk of your baby’s nutritional needs for the first year of her life. There are several reasons for wanting to take gradual steps, the main one being, allergies.

For example, if every time ewedu is on the menu, a rash appears around her mouth or she turns away (can you blame her, it’s green and slimy!), you can isolate the possible cause and have some information to provide to your doctor.

Tick-Tock

In the early months of starting solids, feed your baby sparingly, just a teaspoon of the new food once a day. By 6-7 months you can increase to 2 small solid meals a day.  By the 8 month mark, she should be happily munching through 3 meals a day.  Remember that up until 12 months old, there can be no shortcuts.  To make sure your baby remains healthy, she must have a combination of;

1. Breast or iron-fortified formula milk
2. Iron enriched cereal
3. Green, orange and yellow vegetables
4. Fruits
5. Small quantities of protein, e.g., beans, chicken, tofu, beef.

Finally, being the drama queen that I am, I felt it apt to end with a cautionary tale. NEVER give a child under the age of one honey (causes botulism), cow’s milk (cannot be digested properly by poor little coochie-coo’s intestines) and of course, huge pieces of anything!

When it comes to introducing solid foods to your baby, please remember, if in doubt, just keep it sloppy!