Pediatricians recommend that babies should be started on some kind of solid food between the ages of four to six months based in individual development. Factors like a stable neck among others are used to decide whether a baby is ready to start eating or not. The reason why solids are introduced at this stage is because solid food allows for more calories to be inputted into the childs system which is what is required at this stage. It is also important that your baby learn the act of swallowing. These solid as they are called are not tough pieces of bread or chunks of chicken that your baby is expected to bite. The first meal that you offer your baby should ideally be a cereal mixed in breast milk or formula milk. Even though cereal manufacturers mention that you can mix the cereal in water, the use of milk helps in providing a familiar taste to the baby reducing the chances of it being rejected. To start with, you should choose to a rice cereal for your child. This is the preferred option since rice has almost a zero chance of being an allergen and is easily digested. Another cereal that is not likely to be an allergen is oatmeal. Once you have tried these with your baby, you can move on to other combinations like oatmeal and banana or rice and apple or oatmeal and mixed vegetables. There are options of exotic flavors like black currant to provide variety and excitement and amusement for the fledgling palette of your child. Make sure that when you start making a cereal meal for you baby, you should ensure that the consistency is thin and almost fluid. You can gradually increase the cereal content and reduce the liquid added to obtain a thicker consistency as and when your baby shows signs of comfort with the food. Ensure that what you make is even and pasty and does not have lumps so that it is easy fro the baby to swallow. Once your baby has taken to cereal and shown no allergies, you can start to introduce other foods. Keep in mind that your baby still does not have any teeth and it is a good idea to run anything that you want to feed your baby through a baby blending or mashing machine. A favorite fruit is banana that can easily be mashed, the slippery consistency of which is thoroughly enjoyed by babies. Make sure that you introduce a single new food at a time, giving about 2 weeks for each new addition to settle down before classifying it as an acceptable option. Obviously, once the baby cuts teeth and has a nice set of pearly white milk teeth, you can through out the remaining packs of baby cereal and baby food and start offering real solid food to your child
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