The first year of a baby’s life is filled with so many exciting milestones. Lifting her head, smiling, sitting, crawling, and maybe even walking! One of the biggest milestones, of course, is introducing your child to solid foods.
Some parents find starting solid foods to be an exciting step forward, where others feel a little sad because it’s a reminder that their little one is growing up (don’t worry, she’s probably not ready for college quite yet!).
When you have a little one with a food allergy, like cow milk allergy, the introduction of solid foods can cause some anxiety. “How do I avoid an allergic reaction?” and “What foods should I start with?” come up early in the process. Then “How do I make sure my baby’s getting enough to eat?” and “How can I be sure she’s getting the proper nutrition?” are also questions parents often ask.
With so many questions and concerns, some parents in your shoes wonder if they should introduce solid foods at all! Solid foods provide benefits in helping your little one to develop the motor skills needed for chewing, biting (food, not people!) and swallowing. The motor skills she develops for solid foods are linked with speech development. So, how can you safely begin introducing solid foods to your baby?
We’re going to walk through six tips that can help when introducing solid foods. But first, discuss this topic with her healthcare team! They are the experts, they’re familiar with your little one, and they can provide you with the best guidance.
1. Wait until your baby is around 6 months old (and at least 4 months old), to introduce solid foods.
The major goal is to give your baby solids when she has the right skills for swallowing. Some signs that may indicate your little one is ready for solids include sitting up alone (or with some assistance), the ability to control her head and neck, and bringing objects to her mouth. It’s best to get the green light from your healthcare team as to when to introduce solid foods.
2. Ask the healthcare team when to introduce common food allergens.
You want your little one’s first experience with solid foods to be positive! You might be tempted to avoid common food allergens out of fear that your little one might be allergic to them. However, it’s important to let your baby’s healthcare team help you decide which foods to start first. Your baby’s healthcare team has experience working with families in similar situations, and can guide you based on their wisdom.
In the past, we thought it was best to wait until the first birthday or even later to feed babies common food allergens (like peanut and egg). However, the latest research suggests it’s best to start those foods around the same time that you start other foods. Doing so may actually DECREASE the risk of developing food allergies to those foods. So, if your little one only has an allergy to cow milk, ask her healthcare team when they recommend you should start other common allergens.
Beyond “when” to introduce common allergens, “what” foods should you start first? Even for infants without food allergies, there is no one best “first” solid food. Some healthcare teams suggest cereals first, others suggest fruits and/or vegetables. Ask your – you guessed it – healthcare team what they suggest!
3. Wait a few days after introducing one new food before adding another new food.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule – ask the healthcare team about this. Waiting a few days allows you to observe for signs of an allergic reaction to the new food, because some food allergy reactions can be delayed. That means that a reaction may take several hours or even several days to occur. This is certainly different from the typical “immediate” allergic reaction a lot of us think of.
By waiting a few days, you ensure that any suspected allergic symptoms can be clearly linked with the newest food. If you introduce three new foods in one day, and then see a potential symptom that night, who’s to know which food(s) might have been the problem food?
4. Give your baby time to adjust to each new change.
Think about it, your baby has been taking the same nutrition the same way several times a day, every day, for her whole life! It’s important to allow her time to get used to new experiences.
What do we mean by “new experiences?” Well, your baby will need time to get used to new tastes, new textures, as well as feeding from a spoon. A lot of parents become frustrated when their baby makes a funny face or pushes the spoon away. That’s perfectly normal and it’s based on research, we didn’t just make it up thank you, scientists!)! Keep at it if your baby isn’t a big fan the first time she tries a new food – it can take up to 15 to 20 tries for her to become a fan.
5. Introduce new textures in stages.
For most infants, it’s best to start “simple” and advance to more “complex” textures. Again, check with her healthcare team for their guidance, especially if your baby has any feeding or swallowing disorders or has ever worked with a Speech and Language Pathologist or Feeding Specialist. In general, here are the stages that most babies follow for new textures, from simple to complex:
- Stage 1: thin and smooth
- Stage 2: lumps and chunks
- Stage 3: finger foods
6. As your baby gets older, solid foods will meet more and more of her nutritional needs.
Breast milk and/or formula should still be the major source of nutrition for your little one during her first year of life. For many, solid foods and beverages become the primary source of nutrition after their first birthday. This is also when infant formula is typically phased out or replaced with a formula for those one year of age and older.
Talk to her healthcare team about how much formula she needs, and what foods will help most to meet her nutritional needs. For little ones with a cow milk allergy who aren’t breastfeeding, the guidelines recommend that they continue taking formula until at least two years of age. Why until two you ask? Well, formula helps her meet her needs for important nutrients like protein, calcium, and vitamin D which would otherwise come from milk.
If you’re nervous about allergic reactions as you start new solid foods, consider discussing Neocate® Nutra with your little one’s healthcare team. Neocate Nutra is a hypoallergenic, amino acid-based food that is intended for children over six months old diagnosed with cow milk allergy or multiple food protein allergies. The texture when mixed with water is similar to pudding or infant cereal, so it’s perfect for spoon-feeding.
Prepared Neocate Nutra can be eaten by itself or you can mix it with other foods (one of our favorites is mixed with apple sauce!).
We’ve walked you through six tips that can help as you plan to start introducing solid foods. While we hope you found these helpful, remember to always check with your healthcare team!
What tips do you have for transitioning to solids that you want to share with other families? Let us know below!
-Sarah O’Brien
-Rob McCandlish, RDN
How do we have so much information to share? Sarah is the mom of 2 children who each had a need for Neocate in infancy, and Rob is a registered dietitian nutritionist who has two nephews who needed Neocate for cow milk allergies. And we both have YEARS of experience following food allergy research, working with Neocate products, and talking with parents like you!
Neocate Nutra is suitable to supplement the diet of children and infants older than 6 months of age (not nutritionally complete). Neocate Nutra is not intended for bottle or tube feed.
Neocate® is a family of hypoallergenic, amino acid-based medical foods for use under medical supervision and is indicated for cow milk allergy, multiple food allergies and related GI and allergic conditions. Talk to your health provider to see if Neocate is right for you.
Updated 12/20/2022
