In Nepal, feeding babies for the first time is quite a ceremony. The Pasni Ceremony can cause some stress on your baby’s stomach and can also make your baby irritable. However, what really counts is how you deal with the morning after and this doesn’t only mean taking care of the messy diapers, but also making sure your baby is comfortable with their new food habit.
Here is a simple five-step process to help your baby ease into solid foods.
Step 1: Start with single-grain baby cereals
Makes sure you don’t overwhelm the baby with complex taste and texture. Take the baby step and use single-grain baby cereal. The easy and obvious answer here is rice, but also be sure that your food is packed with iron as it is an essential nutrient that helps support the baby’s learning ability.
Step 2: Let your baby be comfortable with the new feeding method.
One of the recommended methods of feeding is to dip the spoon tip into the cereal and place it to your baby’s mouth. Don’t be worried if your baby only eats a teaspoon or two worth of food, that is completely normal.
Step 3: Introduce one variety at a time and log
We know this is an exciting time for new parents, but be sure not to overwhelm your baby with a lot of food choices. One of the important things to do while introducing various food is to check for allergies. this can easily be done by logging the food product you have introduced and see for reactions from the babies and then waiting for at least 3 days before introducing new ones.
Step 4: Introduction to fruits and vegetables
Once your baby is comfortable with its cereals, consider feeding them fruit and vegetables. It is best to look for single-ingredient baby food thus you can introduce one new flavour at a time and of course log for allergies and reactions.
Step 5: Have fun with it
We know how stressful it can be if your baby refuses to eat solids, but be sure to always be radiating a smile so that your baby knows that you are doing a good thing and will follow your lead. Also, be informed that it might take more than 10 times for your baby to get used to a new food. Yeah! Parenting…