Little Hands Reusable food Pouch

Bruce Guenter cc_license

No matter what's on the menu, the texture of your baby's first foods should be super smooth and practically dripping off the spoon. If you prepare your own food, you should strain, puree, or finely mash it, and then thin it with liquid if necessary. 

As your baby becomes a more experienced eater (usually around six or seven months old), gradually reduce the liquid you add and thicken the texture. Serve new foods one at a time for three to five days to make sure your baby's not allergic, then introduce another. 

Once she's a pro at cereal, carrots, and applesauce, your baby's ready to move on to new tastes and textures.

Those first foods such as rice, cereal, applesauce, bananas, and yellow veggies get pretty old after a few dozen meals. Spice things up (at around seven or eight months) by adding minced meat (chicken, lamb, turkey, or beef), mashed egg yolk (no whites), and avocado to her repertoire. By nine months, you can try whole-milk yogurt, cheese, pasta, beans, and tofu. 

Keep Food Choices Simple...and Separate

Ready to mix foods together? That's fine, as long as you keep the foods separate for a while. Your goal is to get your baby acquainted with the taste of foods individually, so if you mush the meats and veggies together, she may never know the joy of just plain peas. Once she enjoys the tastes of a variety of different items, feel free to mix things up and create your own personalized recipes!

The bad news: Food allergies are pretty common in babies.

The good news: Kids usually outgrow them — but you do need to take them seriously.

Babies' reactions to food include:

• gassiness
• diarrhea or mucus in the stool
• vomiting
• rashes — especially around the mouth or anus.
• Other symptoms include a runny nose, watery eyes, wheezing that doesn't seem to be due to a cold, and unusual wakefulness or crankiness  

If you think your baby might be allergic to something that they have ate, wait approximately 5-7 days before trying the food again. If you get a similar reaction two or three times in a row, you can probably assume that he/she is sensitive to that particular food. Eliminate it from your baby's diet for several months, then try it again if your pediatrician says that it is okay.