eating for a healthy baby

Start your baby on healthy eating habits early and you may never have a “white food only” kid. The more texture, flavor and variety you offer to your baby, the more likely you will have a life long healthy eater.

I generally recommend that new babies start solids at 5 months of age. At 5 months, they can usually sit in a highchair or on your lap with minimal assistance. Before 5 months, your baby will likely just flop to one side or another when placed in a highchair. Start with root vegetables, lentils and iron rich cereals. Sweet potatoes, yams, and squash are all great first foods. Lentils, my favorite, are full of iron and are truly an excellent super food for baby. Make the food taste good. If it doesn’t taste good to you, it doesn’t taste good to them.

At 5 months, I recommend you feed your baby food just once or twice a day. At 6 months, it is time to start on a true meal routine. Your baby should be eating 2-3 x/day by 6 months and 3 x/day by 7 months. Introduce ground lamb and beef, and continue with those lentils, while introducing black beans as well as other legumes. These foods are rich in iron and healthy fats. Your baby needs these for optimal brain growth and development.

Offer fruit after you have introduced your baby to legumes, vegetables and meat. Remember, fruit is a sweet delicacy and should not be offered at each meal. I like to offer it for breakfast with an oat or rice cereal, and as a dessert at the end of the day.The new AAP guidelines report that “Infants 6 to 12 months of age need 11 mg/day of iron a day. When infants are given complementary foods, red meat and vegetables with high iron content should be introduced early. Liquid iron supplements can be used if iron needs are not met by formula and complementary foods.”

Your goal is that by 9 to 10 months of age, your baby is eating most foods off of your family table. You are still mashing, forking and chopping foods but you are rarely still pureeing.While introducing foods, and advancing your baby’s diet, you are still breast and/or formula feeding. You do noteliminate breast or formula feeds as you introduce foods. Your baby now needs the combination of breast milk and food to grow.

Below are a few tips to promote healthy habits:

•  Do not feed your baby in a bouncy seat. Would you want to eat a meal in a recliner?
•  Eat with your baby. Share your meal. If he is interested in something on your plate, crumble up a bite for him.
•  Do not feed him in front of the TV. Or iPhone app. This promotes mindless eating and is a bad lifetime habit.
•  Do not follow him around with food while he is playing. Sit him at a table for each meal. If you are at the park, find a bench. Do not let him get in the habit of “eating on the go.” It is a choking hazard and you are teaching him how to eat with a fast food mentality.
•  Let him feed himself if he is interested. Give him a spoon and let him grab it with his hands. It is OKAY if he makes a mess.

Developing eating habits and food preferences is a learned process, like sleeping through the night, potty training and other developmental skills. For your child to learn, active involvement from parents and caregivers is required, and it will take time. Ensuring your child has the ability to make healthy food choices is critical, and parents should set aside the time and devote the energy to effectively teach children these skills.

For babies, developing healthy eating habits does not mean dieting, of course. Unless your baby's diet is under the supervision of a healthcare provider, it is not necessary to count calories or choose low-fat or non-fat foods. Ensuring a healthy diet for babies is simply a matter of providing them with a good variety of healthy foods and limiting the consumption of most processed foods.

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