At around six months depending on whether you opt for puree meals, you will reach an exciting milestone as a new parent. Your baby will start eating its first solid foods.
As a first-time parent, it can feel tricky to know what to give your baby as their first solid food. There are so many rules it can be a bit scary. If you pick a trusted brand that specialises in oatmeal for babies, you can get started without any worries. Here are some of the things that you’ll need to expect during this stage.
Gagging
First, you’ll need to get used to the fact that your child will gag when eating solid foods through the first few months. This is natural and they won’t need your help here. They’ll resolve the problem themselves. Choking is different. If your baby is choking they need your help. It’s likely this will happen if the food chunks or too large or if your baby isn’t chewing it and is trying to swallow it whole. This is why there are recommended age brackets for when you do try them with solid foods for the first time. Gagging can be scary for parents but it is a part of your child learning to eat solids correctly.
Refusal
You could be lucky and get a baby who will eat anything. Or, you might find that they are very fussy. It’s a roll of the dice. Some babies love sweeter foods. You’ll find that your baby refuses at least a couple of the foods that you try to feed them. That’s why when you shop for solids, it’s important to make sure that you try and get quite a variety of different options. For instance, you think about looking at different flavors and different textures. That way you’ll always have something available that your baby will want.
Plenty Of Mess
You’re going to be dealing with a lot of mess when feeding babies solid food. There’s no real way to avoid this. You can invest in some quality baby bibs to avoid it going all over your little one. But even then they may rub sauce in their hair because they like the feel or even throw it back at you. Babies are constantly learning and since this is a new experience, they don’t immediately understand food isn’t for playing with. Their first attempts at eating finger food are always great fun for parents.
Vomiting
Finally, it’s worth noting that babies will likely bring back at least some of the food when you move them on to solids. It’s important to understand that this is quite normal and nothing to worry about unless they are throwing up everything. If they are throwing up everything, then there could be a few things going wrong. It’s possible that your baby has a cold that you haven’t fully noticed. Or, it might be that it’s a little early for them to be eating solids. You should consider consulting your pediatrician if this does become a significant concern.
We hope this helps you understand everything that you should expect when your baby starts eating solid foods for the first team. This can be a fun experience for parents, but you will need to have at least a little patience and not worry too much about the level of mess.