Children start eating solid food at around six months of age. It's time to introduce first foods when your baby holds up her head, sits upright with some support and shows interest in what you're eating. Introduce new foods gradually and watch for signs of allergies, such as a rash or diarrhea.
Cereal
Start your baby on solid foods with a finely milled baby cereal mixed with formula or breast milk to a thin consistency. Thicken the cereal as your child learns to manage solid foods. Rice cereal is a common first choice, but barley and oatmeal are suitable as well.
Pureed Fruits
Start introducing fruits as smooth, strained purees, either alone or mixed with baby cereals. Keep the puree simple at first. Add seasoning and texture as your baby begins to master solid food. Try applesauce. Also, try pureed apricots, bananas, peaches, pears, prunes, mango and melon. If you choose to make your own baby food, peel the fruit before pureeing for the smoothest texture.
Pureed Vegetables
Pureed and strain a single, unseasoned vegetable for your baby's first taste. Try pureed beets, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, spinach and pinto beans. Stick to cooked vegetables for the first year; uncooked vegetables, especially hard ones like carrots and celery, can be hard for your child to chew and may pose a choking hazard.
Finger Foods
At some point your child will become interested in feeding himself. This is the time to introduce finger foods. Good finger food choices include graham crackers, cubes of semisoft cheese, French toast fingers, pancake fingers, pasta spirals and scrambled eggs. This is also the time to start offering small chunks of well-cooked vegetables, peeled fruits, small cubes of cooked meat and small cubes of tofu.
Teething Foods
Some foods are particularly suitable for those periods when your baby is cutting a new tooth. Your child will want to chew on something or other almost constantly. Half a bagel, fresh or frozen, is a handy teething option. Offer melba toast, teething biscuits or frozen fruit chunks in a mesh feeder.
Other Foods
Don't neglect avocado; it's easily mashed with a fork into a suitably smooth consistency. Let your child drink small amounts of 100-percent fruit juice at six months of age if you like; just keep in mind that it's not as nutritious as the whole fruit itself. Dilute the juice half-and-half with water.
Foods to Avoid
There are some foods that should never be fed to a child under one year of age. Honey can contain botulism spores, which could cause paralysis and even death to your baby. Cow's milk is hard to digest and lacks certain essential nutrients; stick to breast milk or formula until one year of age, although certain dairy products are acceptable earlier. Also, foods like hot dogs, popcorn, whole grapes, hard candies and whole nuts pose a high choking hazard risk Avoid these until your child is age three or older.
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