Best First Foods for Baby

http://mamanatural.com/ Now that you know your baby is ready to try some foods, the question is, what do you feed them?

Most pediatricians recommend iron fortified rice cereal for baby's first food, but Mama Natural ain't buying it. First, it's a processed food, which isn't good for anyone. Secondly, I think the iron found in breast milk is a lot easier for baby to digest.

Here are the top five foods I recommend to start your baby on.

Avocado. This is a wonderful food, loaded with monounsaturated fats, vitamins, and enzymes. This is the first food Griffin ever tasted. We live in such a sugar-laden world, I loved giving him something that was filling and creamy as his first taste.

Bananas. An electrolyte dream, filled with calcium, magnesium, potassium, and on and on. It's also really easy to serve. Just peel, mash it up with a fork, and serve. It's a great treat for your baby and really easy to digest.

Carrots. These are a great first vegetable for baby. If you steam them, they're really easy to digest, easier than greens and other vegetables. They're also sweet, which babies like. And they're loaded with vitamin A, beta-carotene, and other wonderful vitamins and minerals.

Squashes. I'm choosing these over yams, oatmeal, and other complex carbohydrates. Squashes are monosaccharides and easy for babies to digest, as opposed to the more complex polysaccharides found in those other foods. They're a great source of carbohydrates as well as loads of vitamins.

Pears. The least acidic fruit, pears are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and copper. And they're delicious.

The great thing about all these foods is you can mix and match and create a whole host of flavors for your babies.

What were your baby's first foods?

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[earthmamajoe]

We did baby led weaning with all the foods you just mentioned...in fact every single one on your list were my daughter's favorites! And I totally agree with the cereal thing. And it's true although breast milk has far less iron than cereal and formula, it is absorbed much better by baby! I tried cereal with my daughter at 6 months but it made her extremely gassy and she didn't seem to like it anyways so we just set it aside until recently (14 months now). Great choices and suggestions!

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@earthmamajoe Nice! Sounds like your little one knew that cereal wasn't good for her then.

[Redishnes]

Thank you for posting this! So helpful! My daughter is 6 months tomorrow, and within the next couple weeks I plan to start her on solids. We too are planning on making our own organic foods for her first tastes! How did you talk to your pediatrician about starting Griffin? Was he/she receptive to skipping the cereals?

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@Redishnes My doctor was totally cool with it. She's pretty low-key and doesn't micro-manage. I would say if you do squashes and then sweet potatoes, you're good on starches.

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@Redishnes Absolutely. My pediatrician is pretty relaxed and low-key though. To this day, Griff still doesn't do a ton of grains. He doesn't have his molars yet so biologically he's not meant to. Don't get me wrong, he enjoys oatmeal and brown rice now and again but mainly it's fruits, veggies and dairy.

[VANNYLO1107]

very helpful! i star my baby at 4 month cause she is getting crazy around us when she sees foood.. i start with butternut squash , carrots, bananas, apples and today i introduce her a peach and she loved it!

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@VANNYLO1107 Awesome to hear! That's great that your little girl is such a "foodie" already :). XO.

[sweetangelnpali]

i started my baby with bananas and she lovesss it then i'm trying apples but she seemed to like bananas more

[TaPolinka]

We also started with tthose (except carrots - he just is not into them now). But we follow Baby Lead Weaning approach (self-feeding), so 90% of the time no mashing, no spooning.

[BBoughton]

I started my baby on red bull, 5 hour energy drink, and Gatorade. No fiber and perfect to jump start my little guy in the morning!

[betosrose]

@MamaNaturalBlog What is tahini?