Your baby has reached the six month mark and you know what that means: It’s probably eating time! While it can be exciting for new parents to buy all the cute baby feeding essentials, it can be quite confusing on how to actually start introducing solid foods to your little one. Don’t worry because today, we’ll give you six helpful tips on how you can safely and effectively prepare yourselves to successfully introduce healthy and easy-to-prepare mealtimes for your baby.
All babies follow a unique developmental timeline. Some show signs of readiness for solid foods as early as five months and some show it on their seventh month. There’s no one-fits-all approach and timing and this is what makes introduction to solid foods tricky. How do you know when to start? Observe your baby and watch out for these readiness signs. If your answer is yes to all questions, then bring out that highchair because it’s eating time!
When you start researching on how to feed your baby solid foods, you’ll come across two different concepts: Spoon-Fed Weaning (SFW) and Baby-Led Weaning (BLW). Spoon-Fed Weaning involves a parent or a guardian feeding a baby smooth mashed foods or purees, then progressing to lumpier consistencies starting the ninth month, while Baby-Led Weaning is the opposite. Bigger chunks of food is better when it comes to BLW but note that mashed food and purees can also be used by allowing the baby to grab a pre-loaded spoon and have control over feeding time. In SFW, the control is given to the parent while in BLW, the control and pace is given to the baby. Both options have it’s pros and cons and choosing which way you prefer to feed your baby is totally up to you, your lifestyle, and your baby’s needs.
Once you’ve decided on the feeding option you want to try, now it’s time to make sure mealtimes are delicious, nutritious, and fun! You can buy some fruits and vegetables. Steam, boil, or roast them and make them into purees. If you don’t have the time to do this, buying packed baby food is also as good! Make sure to read the label though. You’d want to make sure that what you’re feeding your baby is all-natural, has no added sugar, and is certified safe like Pronuben Baby. Let’s see what’s inside a pack.
Now that you know that Pronuben Baby can be your trusted feeding partner, it’s time to prepare the right gear to set your baby up for a feeding win. Provide a highchair or a booster seat where your baby can safely sit down. This will make sure that your baby is upright during feeding time, minimizing the chances of choking on food (never feed in a recliner, a car seat, or on anything mobile). Setting up a safe and inviting space for your baby to eat will make it easier for him or her to explore and discover solid foods.
Babies go through different moods, too. Observe your baby and find out what time of the day he or she is usually most relaxed. The goal is to find that sweet spot when your baby is not too hungry or too sleepy to create a relaxed and inviting mealtime setup. You can also serve your baby different flavors everyday, waking up their tastebuds to what delicious food tastes like. You can start alternating the different Pronuben Baby Food Puree variants to see which your baby loves the most: Apple Pear and Peach, Strawberry and Banana, or Apple and Banana.
Always put yourself in the situation of your baby. If it were your first time to try something new, how would you want your experience to be like? Would you want to be forced to eat or would you want to be given the time to explore your food? Do you want flavourful meals or bland ones? Do you want to eat quality food or not? Treat your baby’s mealtime like how you want to be treated in yours. Create a good eating experience and #EnjoytheMilestones by choosing Pronuben Baby.
