The Best First Foods for Baby

The nutritional needs of babies are very different from adults. Babies need a lot of fat and calories to boost their rapid growth especially in their first year.

No matter what is on your baby’s menu, jar food or homemade baby food, the texture of your baby’s first foods should be super easy to digest, super smooth and unlikely to cause any allergic reactions.

There are three best foods for baby to start with.

First, rice cereal, as we mentioned in our previous post, rice cereal is considered as the best human food for baby to start with. If you like to make it from scratch, here is the recipe for Home-Made Baby Rice Cereal.

Second, root vegetables such as sweet potato or yam and carrot, or butternut squash. These veggies have naturally sweet flavor. Their texture tends to be very smooth once are pureed.

Third, digestible fruits such as apple, pear, banana and avocado. If you make your own baby food, in the beginning, it is recommended to steam apple or pear for about 5-8 minutes, and then puree it with its juice together, add some water if needed. Banana and avocado have to be very ripe and soft since they do not require cooking.

Always remember to give your baby new food one at a time for 2-4 days because you have to make sure your baby is not allergic to the new food. In addition, never sweeten and add salt into baby’s food, because your baby may just want sweet food later on if you tempt baby with sugar in the beginning, and salt is harmful to baby’s kidneys.