Baby's First Food Doesn't Have To Be Cereal

Baby Food -

Baby's First Food Doesn't Have To Be Cereal

Most babies are ready to handle "solid" food around the age of six months. In the United States we often turn to traditional single grain baby cereals to introduce baby to food. However, new thinking suggests that parents can jump right in to fruits and veggies, and even proteins.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is no evidence that grain based baby cereals are needed to be baby's first food.  They even suggest babies that are exclusively breastfed could start with meat based foods for the extra iron and zinc.

I'm curious what you have tried as a first baby food, or what you are thinking about trying. It's been a long time since I've had to think about baby food (my baby is going to be 6 this year!), but I did the traditional rice cereal followed by puree veggies. However, traditional thinking is ever changing and there are some other approaches that I would do now if Vera was a baby.