Parents often get excited when it comes time to start feeding baby foods that do not come out of a bottle or breast. It is a sign they are growing and maturing as they should, and also gives a bit of a break to a breastfeeding mom who may feel overwhelmed or have sore nipples from the increasingly long feedings. You may hear that friends give their children food like ice cream or fries very early on, but know this can be a big mistake. These are not healthy food for babies. This can cause digestion problems and painful gas. Look for signs that baby is ready for food, and then take it slow and easy.
Your baby must be ready for food for babies or you may have some long, sleepless nights ahead of you. You may have gotten your baby to sleep through the night by now, or perhaps they are only getting up once. If you give them food too soon, you are going to be up with the baby quite a bit, and it is not going to be a simple feed them and then put them back to sleep type of wake up call. Your baby may be in pain because their digestive system was not ready and they have painful gas they can not expel. They can have other discomfort as well. Start at the right time with cereals and/or simple vegetables to avoid this problem.
One of the signs that your little one is ready to be spoon fed food for babies is that your baby can sit up on his or her own. In some cases, doctors say that as long as they can sit up with some assistance from you, they can try to spoon feed as well. You do not want to feed a baby that is lying down or that has poor head control. They could easily choke. The state of sitting up also coincides with other maturity milestones in the body that may mean the digestive system is ready to deal with new foods that are more complex to digest than formula or breast milk.
Babies will probably not be ready for food for babies before four months old, and they should start by six months if they have not. However, all babies are different so use that as a rough guide. Your doctors recommendations will take their knowledge of medicine and your baby's condition into consideration when they recommend when you should start. Always take their advice above all other. Remember that most babies can not easily digest anything with cow's milk until they are a year old. The bulk of their nutrition should still come from formula or breast milk until that time.
Other signs that you can try food for babies would be small but unmistakeable signs. If your baby seems to respond to the smell of your cooking, and watches you intently while you are eating, they may be ready. They also have to have some tongue control. When they drink formula or from the breast, they thrust the tongue forward. They have to do the opposite when eating from a spoon. You can find out more about those signs and others to look for when you talk to your doctor about your baby and the new foods you hope to introduce.