Our Starting Solids Routine

When Blake started solids around 6 months old, I got a lot of questions about our process so I’d love to talk more about it! Starting solids with your first baby can feel intimidating and then around different turns you can find yourself asking “Is this normal?” I think the best way to normalize things is to talk about them! And know your feelings are so valid surrounding starting solids with your baby! Whether it’s excitement about the next milestone, sadness, or even nervousness. First and foremost, we chose to go off of signs of readiness, rather than just age when deciding if baby is ready to start solids. So I made sure Blake was at least six months of age, sitting unassisted, had steady neck control, had stopped the tongue-thrust reflex, and was starting to show interest in eating solids. Babies around this age often start opening their mouths to food, reaching for your food, or even start trying to take the fork right out of your hand! It’s such a cute age and this milestone can be so fun!

At 6 months old, Blake was eating food about once a day to begin with. Sometimes it’s a puree, sometimes solids, and sometimes a pouch. When feeding either a puree or pouch, I would preload the spoon for her, hand it to her, and then let her move the spoon to her mouth. In my experience this has been a great way to get baby used to using utensils. I even let Blake “play with” her spoons when it’s not meal time to get her used to bringing it to her mouth. It’s good practice! Along with starting solids, I also began offering Blake sips of water. I’ve found it easiest to introduce this by using squeezable straw cups to make it easier for baby to learn how to drink water out of a straw. You can squeeze the straw for easy sips and then baby will automatically start sucking and get the hang of it! I’ll link my favorite cup (along with all my starting solids favorites) for this stage that has a valve, doesn’t spill when tipped over, and the straw doesn’t pull out.

ALLERGENS

Another thing to consider when beginning solids is allergens. The recommendation is to introduce allergens early and consistently. One of the first things I gave Blake was eggs. For babies six months old, you want to give foods cut into finger length strips. So with egg I cook it like an omelet and cut that into strips. That way baby can pick them up easily and bring them to mouth, while still not getting bites that are too big for them to chew. For peanut butter, I like to toast a piece of bread so it’s not as chewy/sticky and then mix peanut butter with water to put a very thin layer on the bread. When first introducing common allergens, you want to monitor baby for any signs of an allergic reaction for about 2 hours, so I always made sure to do that when it wasn’t almost nap time.

FEEDING schedule

Before baby is one, baby’s main source of nutrition will still be breastmilk or formula and solids are complementary to that. A good way to do this is to offer a breast or bottle feeding about an hour or so before offering solids. For us, I always just continue to breastfeed on demand. There aren’t a lot of hard and fast rules. Some babies will take to solids easier than others. Blake for sure has a slower start to solids and prefers breastfeeding, while Teddy took to solids really easily and loved eating. By 9 months, we’re offering Blake 2-3 solid meals a day. That doesn't mean she eats them all, but I try to offer her at least 2 meals a day. Soon we’ll work up to three by the time she’s 1 year old!

Our Solids Routine for Blake at One Year Old:

6:45 am - Wake up and breastfeed
8:30 am - Egg, strawberries, sausage, zucchini patty
9:15 am - Breastfeed before first nap time
11:30 am - Steamed mixed veggies, yogurt, broccoli bites, kiwi
2:00 pm - Breastfeed before second nap
4:00 pm - Smoothie, Once Upon a Farm tractor wheel snack
5:00 pm - Spaghetti and strawberries
8:00 pm - Breastfeed before bedtime

I hope this helps! It can be stressful if you feel like your baby isn’t taking to food easily. Of course, talk to your pediatrician about any concerns, but in my experience babies are just all so different and they will get the hang of it eventually! Enjoy this stage, mama!