Right about the 6-month mark (some earlier), most parents are itching to start solid food, many in the hopes of getting junior to sleep through the night (or at the very least, not wake up every 3 hours – not that I’m speaking from sleep-deprived experience or anything). Then comes the question: What are the best first foods for baby?
Conventional “wisdom”, well-meaning grandparents, baby experts, and many pediatricians and nutritionists tell us the obvious choice for baby’s first food is rice cereal. Why? Because it’s “easy to digest” (their words, not mine).
This could not be farther from the truth.
5 Reasons You Should Skip The Cereal
1. Besides dropping bombs in the bathtub (personal side note: that just happened within minutes of writing this. TMI?), if it’s one thing babies are good at, it’s digesting their mama’s milk, which is rich in fat and protein. Rice cereal is rich in neither of those nutrients, so straying from what the system knows {and digests} best, can create a bit of a shock.
2. Rice = grains. Grains need to be properly prepared (soaked and/or sprouted) to improve digestibility and assimilation of nutrients. Commercially prepared baby cereal is not properly prepared. And don’t let the “organic” label fool you – that just means the grains are free of pesticides, not properly prepared.
3. Babies don’t have the enzymes required to digest even soaked and sprouted grains until they are 24-28 months old, much less the age range (4-6 months) when this stuff is being recommended.
4. Cereal has been shown to impair the absorption of key nutrients, iron and zinc in babies. But don’t just take my word for it. Read this.
5. Last, and by far the worst, the intestines of babies are still very permeable at 6 months. Ever heard of leaky gut syndrome? In a nutshell, it’s when the lining of your intestines becomes inflamed and porous and can lead to a host of health issues.
This is where it gets interesting…
Babies are born with a leaking or permeable gut lining so that they can fully benefit from the nourishment of their mama’s colostrum (a.k.a. liquid gold), the “first milk” that delivers powerful nutrients and immune boosting substances to the fragile newborn.
This intentional “leaky gut” allows newborns to absorb nutrients quickly and boost their immunity naturally until their systems mature and the health of their gut is well-established, which leads to health and long-term immunity.
Over time (up to and over a year in age), the gut becomes less “leaky” (permeable) – this is what’s supposed to happen. However, offering babies grains at the early age of 4-6 months (and even up to a year +), while their gut health is still developing, can lead to allergies and food intolerances that can last a lifetime. It’s no wonder children have such a high incidence of these (preventable) issues! Blame. The. Grain.
My personal story
I’m often asked by my friends, clients, and perfect strangers what I feed my girls, one of whom is just crossing the threshold from infancy into toddlerhood as I type this.
Starting with exclusive breastfeeding well into toddlerhood, I let traditional wisdom be my guide and use the recommendations of The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), **the** authority on real, traditional food, and my real food bible, Nourishing Traditions, as my foundation.
Full disclosure: With my first, I was not nearly as enlightened as I am today, so while she got spoon-fed TONS of healthy first foods {lots of organic homemade veggie purees and kid-friendly yummies}, she also a buttload of improperly prepared {whole} grains early on. Indeed, organic brown rice cereal was her first food at about 5 months. I didn’t know any better and just was following the advice of the “experts” in my life.
With my second, I took a vastly different approach. Besides going all WAPF with her first foods, I opted for Baby Led Weaning. Baby Led Weaning is a liberating approach where you let baby decide what to eat and when to eat it, you are not pureeing baby food like it’s your job, and absolutely no spoon-feeding. Read more about it here. With the exception of her daily bone broth, which I give to her in a glass dropper like this, I pretty much put the food on her tray and let her decide what to do with it.
And her grain intake? Well, besides the occasional daily (sigh) intake of dog kibble, she’s been grain-free (and still is) since making her debut last year.
Best First Foods For Baby
Not sure where to start? Here’s your guide to fit foods by age:
4-6 Months: Minimal solid foods as tolerated by baby
- Egg yolk: if tolerated, preferably from pastured chickens, lightly boiled with a pinch of unrefined sea salt (buy here)
- Banana: mashed
- Fermented cod liver oil (buy here): 1/4 teaspoon per day given with an eye dropper (buy here)
6-8 months
- Organic liver: grated frozen and added to egg yolk
- Pureed meat: lamb, turkey, beef, chicken, liver, and fish
- Bone broth (chicken, beef, lamb, fish): added to pureed meats and vegetables, or offered as a drink (learn how to make your own here or buy it here)
- Fermented foods: small amounts of yogurt, kefir, sweet potato (this is my go to recipe), taro, if desired
- Raw mashed fruits: banana, melon, mangoes, papaya, avocado
- Cooked, pureed fruits: organic apricot, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, berries
- Cooked vegetables: zucchini, squash, sweet potato, carrots, or beets, with grass-fed butter or coconut oil (buy here)
8-12 months
- Creamed vegetable soups
- Homemade stews: all ingredients cut small or mashed
- Dairy (ideally raw): cottage cheese, mild harder raw cheese, cream, custards
- Fermented cod liver oil (buy here): increase to 1/2 teaspoon per day
Over 1 Year
- Grains and legumes: properly soaked and cooked
- Soaked/sprouted nut butters: almond, cashew, macadamia, etc.
- Leafy green vegetables: cooked, with grass-fed butter
- Raw salad vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.
- Citrus fruit: fresh, organic
- Whole egg: cooked
Do you want more CORRECT information about what the best first foods for baby are?
Check out this incredible resource from my sweet mama friend, Heather over at Mommypotamus.
Based on the work of Dr. Weston Price, Sally Fallon, and Mary Enig, this book breaks it down in real terms how to make REAL homemade food that is perfect for the developing digestive system that the whole family will enjoy – because, let’s face it, you’re not a short order cook. Or are you?
You’ll learn
- How the ACTUAL BIRTH EXPERIENCE can affect a child’s cravings for life
- Why diet matters when it comes to the nutrient profile of breast milk – and how to make sure your baby gets the absolute best at your breast
- How to decode your cravings while nursing
- Why you should skip rice cereal and go for digestion enhancing stews
- What the latest research says on introducing peanuts, eggs and other “allergenic” foods
- Why experts believe purees can lead to overeating
- When children’s “picky” eating habits can actually indicate a serious problem – and how to correct it
- Tips for raising an adventurous eater.
Check it out here!
What approach did you take with feeding your baby? What would you add? Please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear!
Source:
Weston A. Price Foundation. Nourishing a Growing Baby. October 19, 2005.
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I’ve seen my friend giving her 6 months old son a whole egg? May I know what is the reason why we should not allow our child to give whole egg?
I’m a first time mom too. I don’t want to risk my baby’s health. Thanks!
Anne – congrats mama! Great question. Egg whites tend to be more ‘allergenic’ than egg yolks, so that’s why it’s recommended that infants under a year (ish) avoid the whites, particularly for those kids more susceptible to allergies. Hope that helps – thanks for the comment! :)
My mom started giving me cereal at just a few weeks of age at the suggestion of *her* mother and with a doctor’s approval because of my reflux, and I’m not allergic/intolerant to anything. The idea of not feeding real food to baby is a somewhat messed up American idea and is something that many other cultures don’t practice.
Wow, you salt the egg yolk for your baby?? Did you know that you’re not supposed to use any salt for infants? Their tiny kidneys can’t handle it yet and that can actually cause all kinds of health conditions. Maybe it’s also worth checking what goes into that bone broth you give your kids?
My son is just over eight months old, started eating fruit and veg at four months per his own demand of course and now eats almost everything I eat. Including pasta (which we obviously no longer cook with salt in the water or sauce), bread and other grain based foods.
I agree that experts are overly pushy on baby cereals and that they really aren’t necessary but there certainly are other wholefood options out there to be used as stage two foods with there being no indication that they cause allergies at any point in time. Of course what you feed your own child is your choice but I wonder what the reasoning is behind your discouraging the use of grains in childrens’ diets, but welcoming salt which is actually directly linked to health issues? Seems a bit strange to me. Is the information on that just not out there? Did you just not know how harmful salt is to babies? Whatever the issue, I hope other mothers do take caution with salt and their babies and maybe this will help you too.
Rebekkah, thanks for your comment, and indeed, I DO salt my baby’s food (or did, she’s now 2 1/2), but in re-reading this over 2 years after writing I wrote it (completely sleep-deprived) – I neglected to specify the KIND of salt – and how much. I’ve made an edit so there is no confusion going forward. I only use unrefined sea salt (like Celtic) and only a pinch.
Small amounts of unrefined salt have always been a part of traditional diets for babies. Nina Planck, author of Real Food for Mom and Baby, writes about recipes from traditional baby food books that nourished many generations of babies all of which contain a “pinch of salt”. Also, in the book Super Nutrition for Babies authors Katherine Erlich, M.D. and Kelly Genzlinger encourage the use of unrefined sea salt in a baby’s diet and state, “Particularly, unrefined salt is important for proper digestion and nutrient assimilation and thus serves to bolster the immune system.”
So I’ve used these sentiments as my guide – along with traditional wisdom from our ancestors who were far healthier than our generation.
And as far as grains, I specify the rationale for WHY grains are no good for babies in the post. Please have a look.
Thanks for your comment – have a nice day!
I am a Physician Assistant and Registered Dietitian with years of experience in Neonatology and Pediatrics. Where are you getting your information? You don’t seem to have a degree or education to make these recommendations. I’m worried that you are misinforming the public.
OMG! How can she state this “information” as she was an expert?
Salt to an egg yolk? For a baby?
No grains AT ALL? Because human milk has nothing but protein and fat? Have you ever heard about lactose?
Good luck with gluten intolerance!
Thank you so much! my first daughter turns 5 months old today, and we will definitely be trying some of this!
I am a Registered Dietitian and find it very worrisome that you have written an article with dietary recommendations for infants and have NO background, credentials or credible research in this area! For everyone reading this article above. Please refer to this site: The author has experience in this field as well as a PhD in Nutrition. There is a list of reference at the bottom of her article.
https://scienceofmom.com/2013/11/08/amylase-in-infancy-can-babies-digest-starch/
So many things wrong with this. You should never add salt of any kind to an infant’s diet. Their kidneys can’t handle it. The advice to avoid nut products, egg whites, and grains until after a year is very old school and has been disproven. Introducing those things between 4-6 months lowers the risk of developing an allergy. Don’t even get me started on the risks of feeding a baby “raw” (i.e. Unpasteurized) dairy. It’s true that rice cereal is unnecessary and not particularly nutritious, but the rest of this advice is terrible.