1. Breast is Best for Babies {0-6 months}

For the first 6 months of your baby’s life, your baby’s best source of nutrition is breast milk. Some mothers extend this time to the first 12 months or even longer. Breast milk is also the most cost-effective food and has exactly the right nutrients in it that allow your baby to grow steadily, not too slow and not too fast.

If you’ve never breast-fed before, there are many resources online that can guide you through the process and tell you how to increase your milk flow and stop sore nipples. You can also find out how to express the milk with a breast pump. This allows you to save milk for times when you may have to temporarily leave your baby in the care of another person.

2. How to Calculate Infant Formula

If you choose to get your baby started on infant formula, you’ll need 24 to 32 oz. of formula per day. Usually these come in convenient 8 oz. sizes for the day. Your grocery list should account for 4 cans infant formula per day, or 28 for the week. The younger your baby, the less your baby will need, but of course, the total amount really depends on just how hungry your baby is.  A baby hasn’t developed any emotional patterns of eating yet so their hunger cries are true.

3.How to introduce regular foods to baby.

Many young moms ask when they should start attempting to introduce real foods to their baby. The answer is whenever Baby shows signs that she’s able to eat from a spoon. There is controversy about what food to introduce first at about month 4 – cereal or vegetables and fruit. The amazing thing is that in other cultures, meat is one of the first foods given to a baby in small amounts. Much of the world eats fish as a staple in the diet and that’s what the babies get – fish. In the U.S., we seem to think that carbohydrates are the way to go. There’s a problem with that.

In the U.S. we have high rates of diabetes and obesity. The last thing you want to do is to make your baby predisposed to either of these nasty diseases. Many parents have allergies and there’s a big chance that if one of both parents have allergies, the baby is prone to allergies.

4. Food Allergies are Common in Babies

Babies can have food allergies just like adults so be aware of any behavior changes after introducing a new food. Food allergies can appear as crankiness, crying, withdrawal, lack of focus and concentration, waking up at night more often, and aggressiveness; as well as skin rashes. Remember that it takes four days to clear the body of a food that one is allergic to, so symptoms can overlap. The best way to detect allergies is to keep a log of your baby’s patterns of behavior and the foods that are introduced.

If you start cereal, there’s a chance your baby can develop allergies to grain later in life. Grains are primarily carbohydrate and they have a tendency to raise insulin levels, predisposing Baby to diabetes, so waiting awhile to introduce them may be a good idea.

5. The Myth of Iron Fortified Cereals

Some experts recommend iron-fortified rice cereal as the first cereal a baby eats. Again, you have to examine who’s saying this. Is it the cereal makers? Rice cereal is highly processed and that means it has a high glycemic index. This means the food will raise blood sugar levels quickly. If you begin doing this at an early age, by the time Baby is 15, he is a candidate for diabetes.

Your baby needs iron and that’s why they fortify the cereals these days. However, studies show that iron comes into Baby’s body from meat and no fortification is necessary. Also, babies who ate meat early had higher zinc levels – and zinc is an essential element that Baby must have.

6. What About Other Foods?

Fruit can also cause an insulin response, as it is pure carbohydrate. Fruits are good foods as long as they’re not that high in sugar. For example, giving a baby grapes and pineapple and dates is not as smart as giving a baby apples, oranges, cherries, peaches and pears. There is no disadvantage to starting vegetables first. Whichever food you start first, start with a teaspoon then increase it gradually to a tablespoon or two. Meat and vegetables will not predispose your baby to diabetes or obesity. Whatever food you begin introducing to Baby, do it in between formula or breastfeeding times.

7. When is Baby ready for a meal?

Experts say that by the time you get to the point where your baby will eat 3 to 4 tablespoons of a few types of food at one meal, it’s time to start thinking about introducing another meal during the day. The meal pattern you’re striving for is 3 regular meals a day. This should occur when Baby is between the ages of 7 and 8 months old.

Before taking on any medical or nutritional advice consult your family doctor.