Episode 25: Starting Solids in Babies

Episode 25: Starting Solids in Babies

As a mum myself, I understand the overwhelming journey of introducing solids to our little ones. In this episode, I will share valuable insights and tips that will help you navigate this exciting milestone. With my guidance, you can make a smooth transition into your baby's development and feel confident in providing them with the best nutrition possible

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.462)
Refresher on Starting Solids in Babies (00:28.846)
Understanding Baby's Eating Habits (02:52.462)
Understanding Infant Nutrition and Solids Start (05:05.006)
Understanding the Importance of Solid Foods for Early Development (07:22.062)
Infant Development and Feeding (09:33.23)
Early Start of Solids in Babies (11:45.966)
Starting Solids in Infants: A Guide (13:51.342)
Child Weaning Approaches (16:14.222)
Understanding Gagging and Choking in Infants (18:35.918)
Introducing Variety and Repetition in Baby Feeding (21:03.118)
Food Variety and Child Development (23:19.502)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Here are five key points we'll discuss in this episode:

1. Signs of readiness: Discover the developmental cues indicating that your baby is ready to start solids, from head control to showing interest in food.

2. Nutritional needs: Understand the importance of introducing iron-rich foods and the gradual transition from milk feeds to solid foods for optimal nutrition.

3. Texture progression: Learn about different approaches like baby-led weaning and purees, along with the importance of oral motor development and avoiding choking hazards.

4. Variety and repetition: Explore the benefits of offering a wide variety of foods, repeating exposures, and fostering a positive relationship with food for your baby.

5. Common concerns: Address common concerns such as allergies, feeding issues, and the balance between milk feeds and solids to ensure your baby's healthy growth and development.

Learn more about my membership program, head over to: https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:00.462)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 25, starting solids in babies. Hi there. I'm Karina Savage. And with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learned all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Refresher on Starting Solids in Babies (00:28.846)
Welcome back. It's great to have you. We've had a few births lately and a number of the mums in my membership actually have had babies and I seem to be surrounded by babies at the moment and I'm getting lots of questions about starting solids and feeding babies. Well, I mean, I see lots of babies in my clinic anyway, but I thought it was a great time to do a little refresher on feeding babies and starting solids in babies because

It can be an incredibly stressful and overwhelming time for parents. We can get bombarded with so much information from everywhere. And it can be really confusing because so much information you can find now if you Google starting solids and you know, do I do baby led weaning? Well, then I'm a bit worried about choking. Do I do purees? When do I start? How do I start? So there's so much information and

Some misinformation as well. You know, I've had questions about fluid and water given to babies because there's just, it's just a minefield of information out there. So I'm here to cut through that clutter and give you some information about starting solids in babies. As moms and parents, we want to get it right because we want to set our babies up to be healthy children and set them up to

enjoy healthy food and so we want to start solace the right way. We've got this beautiful little baby that we treasure and we don't want to stuff it up. But I think it's important to remember that it doesn't always go the way we want it to and as parents we just do the best we can and certainly you're going to do the best you can for your baby. It's just about trying and learning and doing the best you can and cutting yourself some slack if things don't

always work out perfectly because life isn't perfect. But if you've got some good advice to go by, try and see how it goes. And then you can always modify if needed. So the things that I talk about today will work over time. It's just about doing one thing at a time and introducing things slowly and cutting yourself some slack if your baby doesn't necessarily eat the way that you want them to because sometimes they don't. Sometimes they do. I see a huge range of

Understanding Baby's Eating Habits (02:52.462)
eating habits, I should say, in little ones. I've had some six -month -olds that parents tell me are eating three square meals a day, and then I've got other nine -month -olds that are barely eating and mainly breastfed still. So there's a huge variation in what a baby will do in terms of solids. So yes, there's guidelines, but don't feel like your child has to fit.

into any cookie cutter shape because each baby will develop at their own rate and that's completely fine and it's how it should be. So yes, there's things that we can do to set them up for success, but at the same time, try not to compare your baby to another baby, perhaps in your mother's group or if you've got friends or family that have babies of similar ages because no baby

No two babies will follow the same path with solids and eat exactly the same. So yeah, just try and remember that and try not to judge yourself or your baby based on what they're eating when you're looking at other babies and what they're eating. It's certainly not a competition and each baby will be ready to start solids at their own unique time, somewhere between four to six months of age.

And this is completely okay. If you're told to start your baby on solids before the age of four months, I probably would ignore that advice because it's a little too early. And also if your baby's already six months and they haven't got going with solids, then now is the time to start. So in short, the national guidelines are not before four months and not after six months, but when your baby is developmentally ready. And I had one of the mum members of my membership.

And she asked me the other day, so she's in the membership cause she has a child with a fuzzy eater, but then, you know, she's got another little bubba and asked me about his solids because he was really interested in solids. So he was five months old. He is five months old. It's, he shows me the other day, five months old, really interested in solids. Can hold his head up right well.

Understanding Infant Nutrition and Solids Start (05:05.006)
but his trunk stability isn't great. So he can't sit upright properly on his own yet. And she said to me, you know, I've been told that we can't start solids until they sit upright unassisted. And I said, well, what's his head control like? If his head control is good and he can hold his head upright unassisted and he's interested in solids and he's showing all the other developmental signs of readiness, then great, green light, go ahead. So sometimes there's confusing.

things out there and yeah, it's about making sure that you're doing the right thing for your child at your baby's developmental stage of readiness. So not before four months, not after six months, but when your baby is developmentally ready. So up until about the age of six months, your baby's nutritional needs are met either a hundred percent by breast milk or by infant formula alone and nothing else is required. However,

As we get closer to that six month mark, and this is why you need to start solids by six months, your baby's stores, especially of iron that they were born with, are starting to run low. And that's why we need to start putting it into their life through food. And that is why the recommendation is nationally to start with an iron rich food. So even after your baby has started on solids,

Breast milk or infant formula is still a significant and important source of their nutrition. And that will stay that way up until the age of one. And then at about the age of one and look at his baby specific, but you know, it's still approximately 50 -50 in terms of the nutrition that comes from milk feeds and the nutrition that comes from food. So it's certainly not a rush, but it's certainly something that we need to get going with by six months.

because at around six months, their nutrition needs start to change and we need to start solids. And we also need to start solids for their growth and development. So when you are giving them food and they're having to, you know, move food around their mouth, they're practicing a whole new range of skills and motor activities in their mouth with their tongue and their mouth muscles. And this is really important to strengthen and develop these muscles in the mouth and the tongue for later speech. So

Understanding the Importance of Solid Foods for Early Development (07:22.062)
the oremotor development that occurs as you're eating solids and transitioning them through the textures. That's really important for later speech. So the development of these mouth and tongue muscles is needed. So not only is it important to start solids because we need our children to start getting iron and nutrients from food, but it's really important from the development of their

or motor skills. And what I mean by that is the muscles in their tongue and their mouth and the coordination of those muscles. It's really important to develop those with chewing and swallowing. Well, they don't necessarily have teeth to start with, but the movement of food around the mouth and swallowing boluses of food, whether it's purees or then you develop, you know, move it through the textures as they're getting older. It's really important that we transition through those textures, you know, by the age of one and

really help to strengthen their mouth and tongue muscles and the coordination of those muscles because they're really important for later speech. So there are some clear signs that your baby is ready to start solid foods. So let's just go through some of those now. So first of all, they are able to hold their head upright, unassisted without you having to hold it for them. So they've got really good head and neck control. That's a really important one. Number two,

They are losing that sort of tongue protrusion or tongue thrust reflex. So when you touch their mouth or their tongue, they're not poking it out all the time. So they're starting to lose that because that is an issue. If you start solos too early, they're just going to push the food back out at you with that tongue thrust reflex. So they're starting to lose that tongue protrusion reflex. They are

interested in what others are eating around them and they'll often be really watching you carefully when you eat and perhaps even trying to, you know, reach out to eat or grab what you're eating. So that's a really good sign that they're ready to start. They need to be at least four months of age. And they also may be ready to start solids if they're starting to show signs of hunger.

Infant Development and Feeding (09:33.23)
after they've been breastfed or bottle fed and you know, they're wanting more than what they were typically previously satisfied with with the milk feeds. So if they're looking a bit hungrier, if they're really interested in when you're eating, if they're able to hold their head upright unassisted, then great. And look, if they can hold their trunk upright as well, you know, sit upright unassisted, then excellent.

You're not always going to get that in a baby who's, you know, between four to five months of age. So if they still can't sit upright unassisted, then make sure they are in a high chair where they're strapped in and they are very well supported. So they are sitting upright properly because again, that's important from a choking risk perspective. We don't want them to be lying back too far or at a funny angle or definitely not on their back. We want them to be sitting upright, supported and be able to hold their head upright unassisted.

They're all clear indicators of a child or baby, I should say, being ready to start solids. If solids have started too early, and as I said, it's not a competition, so don't feel pressured to start your child too early because it could be bad for them if you start early. Because if they're not developmentally ready on the outside, so they're not showing those signs of developmental readiness as I indicated just then.

then their gut may not be developmentally ready either. So the gut needs time, the gastrointestinal tract needs to mature. It needs time to grow in terms of its gut microbes and its ability to absorb and digest, or I should say digest and absorb nutrition. So when we start throwing solids into the gastrointestinal tract, we are introducing a whole new world of fibres and

proteins and fats that the baby then needs to learn to, well, it doesn't need to learn to because the body is a phenomenal thing and it just does it without us even realising, but we need to have the capability to be able to break down these proteins and these starches or carbohydrates and these fats. And if the gut is too immature, meaning the baby is too young, then they may not be able to digest and absorb the foods.

Early Start of Solids in Babies (11:45.966)
like we would want them to, and then sometimes they can get intolerances. So we don't want the baby to be too young because their gut might not be mature enough to absorb those foods properly or digest and absorb those foods properly. Also, their swallowing skills may not have been properly developed yet. So again, we want to make sure that they are safe to start solids.

And we want to make sure that they're not going to risk choking on anything. And so we again, need to really be making sure that they are developmentally ready for solids. You want your baby to have a really positive relationship with food. And if you are starting too early and it becomes a little bit too stressful and you're just trying to get food into them and they're not enjoying it and you're not enjoying it already, you can kind of start off on the wrong foot. So you want to start at a time when they're ready, when they're happy.

and when they're really interested in food. On the flip side, you don't want to start solids too late because that can also have issues. So solids need to be started by six months of age because there are those particular nutrients from food, especially iron, that we need to start getting into them from food because the iron content in breast milk is very low and by six months and the stores that they were born with are also running low.

That's why the recommendation is that we have an iron -rich food as the first food, such as, you know, well, it could be anything that's iron -rich really, whether it's the meat, it could be iron -fortified baby cereal, it could be legumes. So there's plenty of options for iron -rich foods, but we just need to make sure that they get started by about six months. Also feeding issues and then potentially later speech problems, issues that may arise if solids are very delayed and they don't get

that normal progression of textures through that sort of six to 12 month period. Because as I said, the solids and the eating and the mouth, the muscles that are used when they're eating, the oremotor function, that coordination of the mouth muscles, it's really important to have that practice daily and eating.

Starting Solids in Infants: A Guide (13:51.342)
because those muscles and that coordination of the tongue and the mouth are really important for later speech. Another concern if we don't start solids until, you know, seven, eight months is the introduction of allergenic foods. And we know that the earlier they are introduced, the lower the risk of food allergy. And this is after the age of four months, I should say, not prior, but we do know that the very late introduction of allergenic foods can potentially increase

your child's risk of developing a food allergy. And so if solids don't get going until eight months time, then you can sometimes miss that window of early introduction of the allergenic foods. And that can then increase the risk of the child developing a food allergy. So moving on to how to start solids. So solids should be started as a snack in between milk feeds. So it doesn't need to be started as breakfast or lunch. It really should be started as a snack.

in between breastfeeds or milk feeds. And I think a great time to start it is that mid -morning so that then you can watch them over the day. So whatever you've introduced that day, then, and you don't have to introduce anything every day, but whatever you've introduced, you can then watch them over the day to make sure that they've tolerated that new food. Generally, you'll start with one snack, say mid -morning, and then later you can move to two snacks when you feel that they are ready. And this will really depend too on when you start.

because the closer to six months that you start, the quicker they may move to two snacks versus if you started at four months of age, it might take them months to go to two snacks. So it really depends on when you start, but you would start with one snack and move to two snacks. And then at some stage around about nine months, you may start to flip them and move them to the main meals. And you might say, right, well, in the morning rather than a milk feed, we're going to try breakfast first.

And somewhere between that nine to 12 month period, it might be closer to 12 months, the food, the solids goes from being snacks to transitioning towards main meals. So you then start to have breakfast first and then a milk feed and then lunch and then a milk feed and then dinner and then milk feed. But to start off with they're very much snacks. And then somewhere between, you know, nine to 12 months, they then move to actually becoming the main meal. And that's totally fine. It will be.

Child Weaning Approaches (16:14.222)
Totally fine if your child is closer to 12 months before that happens, but if it's nine months and they're looking like they want to have breakfast first and then the milk feed is the snack, then that's completely fine too. It really depends on how quickly your child progresses with their solids. In terms of the texture to start with for your baby, really comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer the baby -led weaning approach, which is where you introduce soft chunks of food to your baby. So baby's...

At around six months of age do not have that pincer grip. So like a crab, you know, where you've got your thumb and your pointer finger that go together to like pick up a small piece of food, like maybe a pea. They don't have that. They've got, they can use their whole hand, which is why the smaller or the younger the baby, so a six month old will need a bigger chunk of soft food than a 12 month old that will be able to handle smaller pieces of food because they've got that more fine motor control of the pincer grip.

So a baby -led wedding approach would be to give soft chunks of food at around six months of age. Whereas a lot of people feel comfortable with the puree baby food approach and that's completely fine as well. As long as you transition through the textures to the finger food by about nine months of age. So if you're taking the puree approach, you would do purees for the first few months and then you would move to mash consistencies for a few months and then you move to the finger food by around nine months of age. Both.

pathways are completely fine and you can do a combination of the both. You can do pureed food with some chunks of soft finger food as well. So you can do a mixture of the two. It's really what you feel comfortable with. And just remember that choking and gagging are very different things. So gagging is very, very normal for a baby. Hits the back of the throat and they gag a bit, they cough, but then they clear it easily. Whereas choking is a lot more serious, but choking is very silent.

And choking is very different to gagging. So if your baby's just gagging, I shouldn't say just gagging because that's too scary as a new parent. But if your baby's gagging, then it's very different to choking. Look, I get it. Feeding a baby can be really scary. And I remember when my little ones were, you know, starting solids. And I think my daughter was around 10 months of age and she really gagged hard. And, you know, you think they're choking, but they're gagging. And it's hard to know the difference, I think, as a new mom.

Understanding Gagging and Choking in Infants (18:35.918)
But it's scary and actually banana to a piece of banana. I remember she gagged on say, it's super scary, but just know that gagging is very common and normal and they clear it and they're fine. Whereas choking is when you want to be, you know, a lot more onto and silent. And that's where you really need to pick them up and hit them on the back and clear it. So yeah, it is very different choking your gagging, but as long as you're watching your child really closely when you're feeding them, that's the

the number one and also don't give them anything that is small and round and hard that can get stuck in their throat. So never give them whole grapes, whole cherry tomatoes or pieces of raw apple or carrot or nuts, anything that can get lodged easily. So just be really careful that popcorn is another one to keep away from them. So yeah, just keeping away from anything that's small and round and hard, but for the baby lead weaning approach.

soft chunks of finger food completely fine. So what foods do we introduce? Well, as I mentioned, to start off with the recommendation is an iron -rich food. And it really could be an iron -rich food that is meat -based or plant -based or cereal -based. So there's plenty of baby cereals that are fortified with iron. So a iron -rich food is recommended first, and then we move on to a vegetable. And we really want to introduce foods, one new food every couple of days.

just to make sure that they are tolerating it. Look, if you want to do one new food every day, that's fine, but you just want to make sure you don't introduce two new foods at the same time, because then you're not going to know if they have a reaction, which one that they've reacted to. So I would start with an iron rich food, then move on to vegetables. And then really, again, it's up to you whether you want to then introduce another meat or whether you want to move on to some fruits, whether you want to introduce more carbohydrates, some oats, some wheat, really.

As long as you're doing one new fit at a time, that's the most important thing. And you can introduce the foods that you want them to get used to first and progress on that way. Because at the end of the day, your child will learn to eat and will love to eat the foods of the family, the foods that are familiar to the family and the foods that you love to eat. And so it's important that your child learns to eat those foods too. Now with their foods, you don't want to add salt and you don't want to add sugar.

Introducing Variety and Repetition in Baby Feeding (21:03.118)
But you know, if you guys love eating a Mediterranean style diet, then give them more of those types of vegetables. Or if you're of an Indian background, then give them more of those vegetables and legumes. So really, it's important that we throw a whole lot of variety and color and plant foods at our babies so that they learn to like a lot of those plant foods because we know that as children and as adults, we want everyone to be eating more plant foods. So it's important that babies get used to those as well.

But we really want to throw a variety of foods at them, pop them on their tray table or, you know, pop them in a bowl. So if you're feeding your baby purees, then making sure that they're getting a mixture of those plant foods, of those protein foods. And then when you do introduce the carbohydrates, some of those as well. So at the end of the day, it's one new food at a time. And then you're working your way through from the iron rich foods, veggies, fruits.

protein foods, carbohydrate foods. Now with allogenic foods, we really want to be introducing them somewhere around the six to eight month mark. Ideally, you know, six to seven months for things like peanut butter and cooked eggs. And then with wheat and fish and soy, they can be introduced somewhere around that, yeah, seven to eight month mark as well. But again, just introducing one new allogenic food at a time.

And with the allergenic foods, I tend to recommend to do small amount every day for the entire week and just do that one food for the week so that you can make sure that they tolerate it and make sure there's no reaction. Cause occasionally there will be a reaction on the second or third or fourth exposure. So it's really important with those allergenic foods that you do them a small amount every day for that week. So it might be like a quarter of a teaspoon of peanut butter into some sweet potato.

mid -morning every day for a week or you might mix it up and put it in something else the next day. The same with cooked egg. Cook like hard -boiled the egg so you've got the yolk and the white and put a quarter of a teaspoon of that into some food every day or you might actually give them a bit of egg if it's a baby -led weaning approach. So those allergenic foods are milk, soy, wheat, egg, fish and nut. Okay, so let's now chat about variety and repetition because we really just need to throw...

Food Variety and Child Development (23:19.502)
a whole lot of variety at our children over that, you know, six to 12 month mark and beyond, because the more variety they're exposed to when they're younger, the more variety they're going to eat as a child. So we really want to repeat the exposure of different foods and foods that they don't necessarily accept the first few times. Doesn't matter. Just pop them back on the tray table or mix it into something again and give them a go because we really want children to

learn to like these foods over time. They're not going to like it necessarily the first few times they eat it. I don't think I liked coffee the first 10 times that I drank it and probably I don't think I liked wine the first 10 times I drank. So, you know, with coffee and wine, it's something that I developed a taste for over time and babies are no different. They need time to develop and like and trust a food. So we need to offer them

a variety of foods all the time. And just if they don't like it one time, doesn't matter. I mean, don't necessarily offer it to them every day for two weeks going, you're going to eat it at the end of the two weeks. There might be two months or two years before they accept something. So it's just about making sure they've got good variety and they've got a fun environment and you're feeding them responsively. And responsively means that you give them a chance to eat the solids, but there's no pressure.

to eat the whole lot. If they want half a teaspoon, if they want 21 and a half teaspoons, it doesn't matter. You let them eat to appetite. Babies have an innate ability to self -regulate their appetite and eat to what they need. And so it's really important that we are responsibly feeding. We're setting them up in a good position in their high chair. We're either feeding them or we're popping them on the tray table, depending on the approach that you take, but you're letting them have a really positive experience with food.

getting really messy with food, even if you're spoon feeding them, let them shove their fingers in it, let them shove their fingers in their mouth and smear it everywhere so they learn about food with all of their five senses and that's the way that they're going to develop a like and trusting for food and accept a greater variety of foods over their infancy and childhood. So absolutely giving them a great variety and repeating the exposure of foods that they

Starting Solids 101 for Babies (25:33.838)
may not necessarily accept the first few times is the way to go. Now as I said, keep salt and sugar completely out of your baby's diet but absolutely flavour their food with extra virgin olive oil, herbs and basic spices such as cumin you can use. So herbs are really nutritious and a great way to flavour baby food and they're also really high in antioxidants and vitamins. So yeah, it's a great, you have fresh herbs or dried herbs. Now honey is not suitable for babies under one year of age.

because honey can contain the bacteria Clostridium that can cause infant botulism. So we don't want to give our babies under one year of age honey, but after one year of age, they can have honey. And after one year of age, they can start to have things like soft boiled eggs, but under one, you want to do a properly well -cooked egg. So I hope that's been a helpful little starting solids 101 for you.

Look, if you've got more questions or you're concerned about your baby starting solids or they've already started solids and things aren't progressing as you like, or unsure about whether they are having too much milk beads and whatnot, then look, I'm certainly happy to help you out more on an individual basis. My membership is another fantastic way to stay connected, receive lots of support from me and lots of great tips and information from my online portal. So that's another brilliant way to...

Make sure that you're supported in feeding your babies and children. And to learn more about that, head to nourishwithKarina .com forward slash membership. So in summary, please know that the rate at which your baby develops with solids is completely fine. Babies will go at their own pace as long as you've set them up to start somewhere between four and six months and you're following what I've talked about today in terms of, you know, texture progression over that six months, six to 12 month period and

giving them lots of variety and letting them have fun and explore food. If you're setting them up with those strategies, then you are setting them up for success, but they will go at their own pace. And as I said, some babies will be eating three square meals by seven months and others won't be doing that until 11 or 12 months. So, you know, and those ones that aren't eating as well until 11 or 12 months will still be getting a bit more in the way of milk feed then.

And that's completely fine. That's completely normal. As long as they are eating some solids, as I said, because they need that oremotor development. So look, reach out if you want to chat more or know more, head to my website and I would love to help. But I'll wrap things up now. Thanks so much for listening. It's so great to have you here. I can't wait to chat more next time. Bye for now.