Baby food buying guide

Your baby will be set to increase his diet beyond mother feed or formula when he has reached some key developmental markers. You might notice that as your baby approaches four to six months she's more interested to grab the food that you're eating. Since most babies lose the tongue-thrust reflex at about 4 months, it’s easy to spoon-feed him.

Your baby food menu will still include breast milk or formula before switching to cow's milk, for the first year of your baby. It is recommended that babies be breast-fed exclusively for at least the first 4 months, preferably 6 months, and it should continue until your child reached 1 year old, even after you've introduced solid diet. Be sure to discuss with your doctor about what to feed, when to give solid foods, and how to introduce new foods.

Baby's first solid food will be a mixture of a tablespoon or two of dry infant rice cereal combined with breast milk or formula. Once your baby digest rice cereal, you can introduce other foods, one at a time, like barley, oatmeal and wheat, and puréed fruit, vegetables, and some jar meat or make yourself, waiting 2 to 3 days before include a new item. After 7 to 10 months, you can introduce soft foods such as well-cooked pasta, avocado, bread, fruit, cheese, and meat. Always persuade to take food to your child when he's eating. It is specifically states that infants not be given popcorn, raisins, nuts or hard food.

Your pediatrician will be best source of guide about what to feed and what to do if child refuses to eat some foods or starts to eat less. She'll maybe give you lists of foods your baby can eat and tell you what to avoid such as honey, until age one, or peanut butter, which is generally off-limits until age two. You might be stated to give foods one at a time to make sure your kid isn't allergic to them.
When buying commercial baby food, compare the nutritional values and ingredients of different brands. Always check the expiry date on the label and must see the food jars if it damage, leaked or seal broken, leave it to buy.

Food to feed when Babies 4 to 7 months:
Single-grain cereals; puréed or mashed fruit and vegetables.

For Babies 9 to 12 months:
Soft foods like well-cooked pasta and finely chopped meat or poultry.

One year and older:
After advice of your pediatrician, you can introduce cow's milk.

Obesity
There is increasing concern about childhood obesity and its role in the early onset of diabetes, sleep apnea, asthma and other conditions. But it's vital to provide babies and toddlers with age-appropriate food that supplies the diet they need as they mature. Babies growing bodies need a certain amount of fat. Parents shouldn't put babies under 2 on any type of food or give them low-fat or skim milk. The early months and years are vital for growth, and calories from nutritional fat are needed for normal brain growing of baby.

Allergies
One reason that nutritionist want you to introduce new foods steadily, one at a time, is to make easier to recognize anything that trigger an allergy in your baby. Common allergens are peanuts, cow's milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, tree nuts. But 90 percent of the babies allergic to milk, wheat, eggs and soy outgrow the condition by the time they are age of 5.

How to introduce solid foods   
Follow your nutritionist directions about which diet to introduce to your child. The idea is to go slowly. Have your kid sit as upright, strapped into a bouncer seat, perhaps, or a tall chair. Pediatrician guides to begin with easy-to-digest rice cereal mixed with breast milk. It should be smooth and runny, with no lumps. A Baby spoon should be use with a tiny, oval bowl and without hard edges to bring the food to baby’s mouth. Provide new food for 3 to 5 days, and if baby accepts it, you can include the new food item.
Don't be discouraged if baby primarily rejects a new food. Stay cool, and keep trying over the course of the next few days. If baby shows no interest to eat something after a few attempts, do not push to eat.