Which foods?

When choosing your baby’s first food it is really up to you which food you prefer to offer first. Whilst previous recommendations stated that iron-fortified rice cereal was the best first food for baby, more recent recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) state that the best first foods are those which are nutrient and energy dense.

With Baby Led Weaning, you want to be offering your baby foods that are both a good source of key nutrients – the WHO identified iron, zinc, calcium and Vitamins A and C as needing special emphasis in the infant diet – and are developmentally appropriate. Your baby needs to be able to grasp the food – too soft and it will fall apart in their hands – and also needs to be able to mash it between their gums. If the food is either too hard or too soft your baby may have difficulty handling these foods and difficulty practicing their self feeding skills.

Here are some ideas for first foods:

Slices of:

  • Avocado;
  • Banana;
  • Ripe Papaya;
  • Mango;
  • Peach.

Slices of roasted:

  • Carrot;
  • Butternut Squash;
  • Sweet Potato;
  • Potato;

Slices of lightly steamed:

  • Apple;
  • Pear.

You could also try:

  • Strips of toast;
  • Halved rice cakes.

There are no strict ‘rules’ when taking a baby led approach to starting solids. You may prefer to let your baby eat something from your own plate when first starting out or you may prefer to prepare food separately. The choice is up to you. The important point here is variety. You want to be offering your baby a variety of different foods so that they are exposed to a range of different flavours. This also ensures that your little one will be getting a variety of different nutrients.