Introducing solids: these tips can help you
For many parents, it is a special milestone: your baby is big enough to begin with his or her first solids! The newborn set can be swapped for the baby seat with a tray, so your little one can join you at the table, sitting up. How fun is that! At the same time, it is also a milestone which can go hand in hand with questions and uncertainties. To help you on your way, How About Mom and paediatric dietician Stefan Kleintjes answer a number of frequently asked questions.
Should I feed pieces of food or puréed food?
When you introduce solids, you can choose for yourself whether to offer puréed fruit, vegetable snacks, or pieces of solid food, like a piece of soft pear or a small stick of broccoli. With the first option, you feed your baby with a spoon, with the second option, you teach your baby to eat on his or her own - also referred to as baby-led weaning. For this, you can apply the Rapley method or the Kleintjes method. The essence of both these methods is that from six months you offer solids in the form of large pieces of vegetables or fruit which they cannot suck on and which they can chew on. However, make sure that the food you offer is not too hard, so steam or boil it beforehand.
First vegetables and then fruit?
Maybe you read or heard somewhere: begin by offering vegetables, otherwise, later on, your child will only want the sweet tastes of fruit and not vegetables. According to paediatric dietician Stefan Kleintjes, who for 40 years has been helping parents to teach children from 0 to 4 years to eat on their own, you can let go of this idea: the main thing is that your child can start to practise eating solids. The best thing is if you offer the same food that you are eating yourself. Not necessarily in the same form, but with the same smell and colour, for instance. All those things mean that your child will become more interested and enjoy it because he or she is able to join in socially with the rest of the family.
The most important message: relax
During the first year, breastfeeding or bottle feeding is the main source of nutrients. Practising with vegetables and fruit is therefore an 'addition'. It is not a substitute. Until your baby is a year old, breast milk or formula provides the main source of nutrients and energy, and after that year breast milk can still provide more than half. So good to know: you do not need to worry whether your child is eating enough. As long as they can be breastfed or fed with formula on an unlimited basis, they will get enough nutrients and liquids.
Importance of eating together
Eating together is very enjoyable and can be done from the very beginning. So choose a chair which grows with all the stages. In the newborn set by the Bugaboo Giraffe, your baby is immediately given a cosy and safe spot at the table with the rest of the family. From about six months, your child can transfer to the baby set and sit in the chair on his or her own. The Bugaboo Giraffe is adjustable in a second with a simple click- and sliding movement (no tools required), so your child always sits optimally.
