After so many readings and consultation with the doctor, when we think the baby is ready to start on solid foods, next thing that comes to every mothers mind is what to start with and how to start?

The best thing to do is talk to your doctor about what and how to give too.
Even though the baby is started on solids it is really important that feeding breast-milk or formula is comes first during the first year.

There are a few simple things to know and make sure what to do when starting on solids.

• First, expect to be messy
• It is always good to be slow when feeding the babies. Give your baby very small amount of food when you start, since he should practice to use his tongue to swallow the food.
• We should remember that the babies tummies are really tiny.Even a spoon full of food can make them full.
• Also expect changes in color and consistency of babies stools.
• Look for allergic reactions, such as rash, fussiness, runny nose,upset tummy etc., when introducing each new food.

Doctors always make sure to start with rice cereal which will be easier for the babies to digest. Though breast-feeding I pumped little breast-milk everyday to mix with the rice cereal when i first started solids for my son. It is good to give it in a watery consistency. Since it has breast-milk it will be easier for the babies to like it and get used to.

Make sure to introduce just one new food a week, so that there will be enough time to know how the baby likes that food and to know whether it is allergic to the baby.

Also whenever you start with a new food,  give in the morning, so that if the baby is allergic to the food we will be able to know before the end of the day.

When we give the baby a new food and some how he doesn’t like it or is allergic to it, stop giving that food and wait at least a week to give him any other new food.

I remember, I started with rice cereal and breast-milk in the mornings alone for the first whole week when he was four months old and the next 10 days i gave him twice a day in the morning and in the evening.

After that we can start with vegetables and then fruits.In case of vegetables my doctor said it is good to start with yellow or orange veggies like carrot, sweet potato, squash etc.,

In case of fruits,most of them start with apples and continue with pears , banana, prunes etc.,

Expect constipated stools, specially with rice cereal and apples.

When i start with these things i keep on going.But i guess these are the basic things moms should know about when they start giving solids to their babies.Also it is important to make sure not give the foods that should be kept away in the first year.

It is good to introduce apple as the first fruit for the babies.Though we get a lot of good ones ,ready-to eat from the store,it is always nice to give the babies fresh home-made foods whenever possible.

Ingredients:

• one apple
• one small cinnammon stick

peel the apple and cut it into small pieces.

heat a pan and put the apple pieces and cinnammon stick with a little
sugar(optional) and stirr it

when it is done take the cinnamon stick out.

cool it and serve it.

A very tiny piece of cinnanamon stick is enough,just for flavour.

P.S.Cinnammon is good for toddlers but for the babies first year it is good to make without the cinnammon.

Once started on solids and as the babies are growing they are so eager to sample what we eat.As we are so interested in knowing what to feed and when and how to feed,it is good to before hand as to what not to give them.

He or she may not be ready to eat certain foods till the first year.
Those foods include:

Honey

Doctors advice not to give honey to babies less than 12 months of age.Honey can have spores of clostridium botulinum ,which when digested can make babies sick by a toxin that causes botulism.therefore it’s safe not to give honey and foods containing honey to small babies.

Cow’s Milk

Breast-milk or formula is best recommended for the baby and substituting cow’s milk is not good ,since they don’t give enough recommended nutrition for the babies first years and also babies may cause allergic reaction to other milks such as cow’s milk, goat milk or soy milk.

Nuts

Hard foods such as nuts,popcorn,raisin,candies,chuncks of fruits and vegetables may be achoking hazard to the baby ,also nuts may cause allergic reation.

Egg Whites

Egg whites are consider allery foods for babies.If needed egg yolk can be fed after 7 or 8 months. It is safe to avoid eggs untill 1 year.

It is also safe to avoid other foods like fish,peanut butter, marshmallows,wheat ,chocolateetc.,It is also good to limit to 4-6 ounces of jucie per day ,that too after the baby is 6 months old.

Many research showed that learning music will enhance brain development of young children. Infants learn to communicate with song and sound even before they are born. It’s natural.

Getting started early on with music can be a great benefit to the child. Music can also be a form of psychotherapy for adults and children.

Many research studies suggests a relationship between music and spatial task performance.

Early music training would enhance spatial-temporal reasoning. A study of 237 second grade children and music, used piano keyboard training and newly designed math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The group scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software.

Ref- ‘Enhanced learning of proportional math through music training and spatial-temporal training.’ Amy Graziano, Matthew Peterson, and Gordon Shaw, Neurological Research 21 (March 1999).

Students with regular music instruction scored 41 points higher on the SAT math test, and 57 points higher on the verbal test, than did students with no music participation.

Ref- College-Bound Seniors National Report: ‘Profile of SAT Program Test Takers.’ Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.

Basically music improves the intellectual functioning of all children.

• Music helps to develop skills such as sharing and respect.
• Increases child’s confidence and self esteem.
• Music enhances brain development.
• research shows that Keyboard courses can improve your child’s ability to think, learn, reason and create.
• Music will improve your child’s memory, problem solving techniques, understanding and recollection.

Music education is essential, all parents must think to provide music education to kids.It may even make a fundamental part of parenting.

Puzzles play an important role in early childhood education.They really help kids learn the art of putting pieces together to make a whole better one,in rather a playful way,which really helps them with their math skills latter.There are a lot of puzzles availabe for kids from age one.

Knob Puzzles

Knob Puzzles help babies from 1 year old with their ‘pincer’ grip and mathcing skills and knowing colours and figures.

Jizsaw puzzle

Jizsaw puzzles ,are available in wooden and cardboard pieces.These are usually a good picture based on children stories or movies etc.

There are a lot of other puzzles like sound puzzles,peg puzzles,block puzzles etc. Puzzles give the kids a challenge to fix things and explore possibilities and recognize various figures ,colours ,numbers ,alphabets etc.