Your Babies Diet

When your baby comes home, you may be overwhelmed knowing that you are responsible for keep your child happy and healthy. It is not as hard as you may think, but the next 18 years can feel daunting to anyone, even experienced parents. Your baby's sleep and play patterns are going to work themselves out without much input from you, but your babies diet is something you do have to think about each day. It is easy at first, but you do have to make the right choices as they grow so that they develop great habits to last a lifetime.

You babies diet early on is as simple as it gets. They are going to either breastfeed or they are going to drink formula from a bottle. They will let you know when they are hungry, and they are going to stop eating when they are full. Babies always stop eating when they have had what they need, and they will cry when they need more. You should keep track of how much if you fear your baby is not gaining, but otherwise, this is definitely the easy part of your babies diet. After they turn six months, things are going to change.

Some moms add cereal to their babies diet when they are four months old thinking this is going to fill them up and that they will sleep through the night. They sleep through the night on their own, and cereal has nothing to do with it. If your baby does well with cereal at this age, it is fine to give it to them, but six months is a better age to start adding cereal to your babies diet. Their digestive system is better able to handle this type of food then. You can then also start thinking about other foods as well.

A babies diet after six months can consist of cereal and simple baby foods. These are foods that can be completely pureed, as your baby has very few, if any, teeth yet. These include vegetables like green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. There are fruits too, including peaches, pears, applesauce, and bananas. These are all pretty easy to digest. You should introduce these into your babies diet one at a time so that you can watch for allergic reactions. Babies at this age are not ready for cows milk or meats they must chew.

Once your baby his nine months old, you can then add new foods as recommended by your pediatrician. These include some meats (though some babies won't do well with these until they are one), juices, and some finger foods. Babies should never have any finger foods that they can choke on and that they can not chew. If you fear that you are going to add things to your babies diet before they are ready, talk to your baby's doctor for recommendations and guidelines. They will be happy to help you. There are many great books on the subject too, so don't feel that you are on your own. There is plenty of great help out there.