baby food

[Philip1815]

How early can a baby start eating table food?

[Forum-M.D.-DT]

Thank you for your question and for visiting the Family Practice Forum.
Depending on what type of "table food" you are referring to, a baby can begin to be introduced to these foods as early as 6-7 months. Table food is fine as long as it is mashed, blended, or crushed into small enough portions so the baby will not choke. From 7-12 months, you may continue to introduce your baby to a wider variety of small mashed foods on a daily basis. Many babes will have only 2-4 teeth by age 1, so you need to realize that he/she may not effectively be able to "chew". Some good guidelines to follow regarding feeding of babies are outlined below:
Birth - 4 months
Breast milk or iron fortified infant milk only. Small amounts of water are fine to give but are not necessary.

4-months - 7 months
1. Continue to breastfeed or give formula
2. Try one new food every 4-5 days using a spoon
3. First introduce iron-fortified rice, oatmeal, and barley infant cereals. Then try vegetable and fruit baby foods.

7 months - 12 months
1. Begin weaning from a bottle to a sip cup
2. Add meat baby food to your child’s diet
3. Table food is fine as long as it is mashed, blended, or crushed small enough so baby will not choke. Also, as your baby develops an appetite for a good variety of solid foods, he/she will need less breast milk or formula.
4. You may introduce fruit juice: 4 oz per day is enough

1 year - 2 years
1. Stop the bottle at 12 months of age
2. Change from infant formula to whole milk. By now your baby needs only about 12-16 oz of milk per day.
3. Continue to offer a wide variety of small, mashed foods on a daily basis.

2 years and older

1. Change from whole to skim milk
2. Be aware of foods that can cause choking: Common foods which cause choking problems include hot dogs, grapes (always cut grapes in half), nuts, popcorn, hard candy, gum and raisins.
3. The American Heart Association recommends that diets be adopted at this age to prevent obesity and reduce the chance of developing heart disease in adult life. This may seem to be an early age to worry about heart disease, however, this is an age where dietary habits (both good and bad) are learned. A healthy diet is one which consists of a variety of foods, foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol and foods low in salt.

Thank you for visiting the family practice forum, I hope you find this information to be helpful!
Dean M. Tomasello, M.D.