What's the Best First Food for Babies?

If you have a new baby about to leap into the world of eating solids, it's most likely you're considering rice cereal as your baby's first food. It's the tried and true first food for a few reasons--

• it's easy to mix to the just the right texture for a new eater
• it's bland
• it's not a highly allergenic food
• it's fortified with iron

But there are a few other foods that would serve just as well as a first food--and sometimes may even be a better choice, especially for exclusively breastfed infants. Exclusively breastfed 7- month old infants do not meet their needs for iron or zinc from breast milk alone.

Other "first foods" to consider? Beef and Lamb. They are high in iron and zinc and pretty well accepted (especially if you follow a recipe from Baby Bites). In an article by Nancy Krebs MD in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, meats are recommended as a complementary first food by breastfed infants. (J. Nutr. 137:511S-517S, February 2007)

When trying any first food for your baby, remember that the food is really not "solid" at all--but more like a thick liquid. And don't be discouraged if your baby spits out his tongue for his first bite of food--it's completely normal. If he continues not enjoying his first meal of solids, don't push it. Just wait a week or two and try again.