Weaning Your Baby to Solid Food

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Weaning your breastfed baby is a slow and long process. Weaning is a gradual process of introducing baby to foods other than mother's milk. Experts recommend exclusively breastfeeding a baby till the age of 6 months. However, many doctors and parents prefer starting some liquid foods other than mother's milk, sometime between 4 and 6months, the closer it is to 6 months mark, the better.

By the time, your baby is 6 months old, she would have settled into some kind of rhythm (or may be not), of eating, sleeping etc. So, you know when she will expect her next feed. First time is extremely important. Do not rush. Ensure baby is relaxed and in a good mood.

A good weaning food to start is rice cereal, but if you do not want to start with commercially available rice cereals, you can start with many other things. Fruits like banana and apple are very popular and most kids love them. They are easy to digest and do not normally cause any allergies. Still, you can not be too careful, when it comes to feeding your baby. Follow the 3 days rule or may be 5 days, that's up to you. Taking it slow and following your baby's cues is extremely important.

The 3 day Rule

3 day rule simply means, whenever you introduce any new food item to your baby, you should wait for at least 3 days before introducing any thing else. This will ensure that you will be able to screen for any allergies if it happens. In case you notice anything like a rash, hives etc, stop that food immediately and wait for many weeks before trying again.

What to Give?

Rice Cereal - Take only one teaspoon of cereal and dissolve it in baby's milk or water. The consistency should be very very liquid, which can be fed to baby with a spoon. however, do not ever put cereal in baby's bottle, that can cause baby to choke.

Banana - Mash a small piece of banana or pass it through a strainer mix it with baby's milk to a thin consistency.

Applesauce - Clean and peel apple and cut into small pieces. Cook it well and pass it through a strainer, so that there are no lumps, again making it very thin.

How to Give?

Give only one teaspoon of whichever food you are giving. Make sure baby is not starving when you try this. Baby should be happy and relaxed to try the new experience. If your baby turns away head or seems averse to trying it, do not force. You want this to be happy experience not traumatic. Keep trying and gradually increase the amount over a week or so.

As baby grows, you can make food thicker and lumpier.

Priya Sachan is the promoter of ShishuWorld, which is a parenting and child care website and looks at providing expectant and new parents with a lot info and support. It also has features like a forum and a gaming section with original, educational and cute games with baby in focus.