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Baby nutrition tips and tricks - Introducing babies to solid foods

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With a busy fall season fast approaching, the last thing parents want to worry about is if they are feeding their baby the right thing, especially those parents transitioning their babies to solid foods. Pediatrician Dr. Whitney Casares, shares tips on what foods to start with and where to find and share information with other parents.

Dr. Casares says it’s daunting for parents. They aren’t sure exactly when to start transitioning their baby to solid foods. Dr. Casares says as pediatricians we tell them, okay, take a deep breath, relax and look at your individual baby. She says usually babies start soft foods between four and six months, but you want to look for certain developmental milestones. Can your baby sit, can they have good head control, do they actually seem like they are interested in solid foods and when we offer them a spoonful of food, can they swallow it or do they just push it back out instinctively onto their chin?

Some families try to start before four months, but Dr. Casares says please don’t. She says there are some babies that have extra special circumstances that need to start a little bit later but what she tells parents is whenever you start you really want to focus in on solid foods that are nutritious, safe and developmentally appropriate. Dr. Casares says that’s why she likes Gerber’s My 1st Solids Starter Kit. It has two tubs of sweet potatoes puree, two tubs of banana puree and then also a sachet of oatmeal cereal. Dr. Casares says when she thinks about starting solids for families she is really thinking about feeding the rainbow and also providing safe nutritious foods and enough iron. She says that’s where the iron fortified oatmeal cereal comes in. A lot of babies don’t have enough iron by the time they get to four to six months. She says it kind of gets depleted naturally so we need to add it back with solid foods and you can do it really easy with this oatmeal baby cereal.

Dr. Casares says she loves working with Gerber because they have so many quality checks. They care what goes into each and every product that they create. She says one place she likes to send people, in addition their own pediatrician’s office is the Gerber.com website. She says a lot of people don’t know this but Gerber.com has 24/7 support on their website. So, they have a certified lactation consultant, registered dieticians, and even sleep coaches so when you have those questions at night you have someone who can answer them in an expert fashion.

For more information visit gerber.com