Starting Solids

HEALTH AND WELLBEING STARTING SOLIDS

By Lise Bakker

Oh, the joys of solid foods! The careful consideration of which special food will be the first for your little one to taste, the decisions about spoons, bowls, plates, the ever-helpful advice from friends, family, and others, and of course the total mess that it leaves where it’s probably easier to just chuck the baby straight in the bath and leave it at that. But how can you tell when your baby is ready to start this exciting journey? Let’s just get this out there first off: every baby is different, so every intro to solids will be different too. Never feel like you should start solids just because your mum tells you that you were eating Farex at 12 weeks, or everyone else in your antenatal class is already eating 6 times a day (although you can raise a questioning eyebrow at that claim, especially before 7-8 months). But there are some good signs that your baby will give you (sometimes it seems like they crawl into your lap and shove them in your face) that they are ready to start.

AGE:

Age is a good solid starting point when it comes to whether you’re ready for solids. Previous advice has been for any time between 4-6 months, but current advice from both the WHO and the Ministry of Health is to wait until closer to 6 months. Infants don’t need the extra nutrients from solids until around 8-9 months, so waiting until 6 months won’t cause them any problems. The other signs that they are ready for solids become a lot more apparent around 6 months as well, so there’s no harm in giving them that little bit longer to mature before giving solids a go.

APPETITE AND INTEREST:

This one is usually very specific to your baby. You’re looking to see firstly if your baby is still looking for more food after a milk feed – so continuing to nurse on an empty bottle, seems to get a bit hangry before you’d normally give them the next feed, or just wanting to get on and stay on the breast for long periods of time. Interest is important too – if they pay attention to the food on your plate at meals, look like they want to reach out and grab it (or actually reaching out and grabbing it, that’s a great sign!), and open their mouth when you have food on your fork/spoon. Another great sign is if your baby is bringing toys/fingers/toes to their mouth to suck or chew on a lot more than usual – that’s the brain letting them know that most of the systems are ready, so let’s get started on practising sucking and chewing skills!

GROSS MOTOR:

This one is mostly about safety, and ability to concentrate on feeding. Think about it this way – do you want to eat a full meal while you’re rock-climbing, or out for a run, or standing on the top of a ladder painting the ceiling? No! It’s the same with your baby. If they don’t have the ability to hold their head up unsupported, and sit up fairly well in a high chair, they won’t have any concentration or energy left to focus on feeding. A nice test of this is to pop them in a high chair with a few toys, and see if they are able to play with the toys while seated. If they’re struggling to hold