First Tastes

Joyful eating for a healthy life

By Lynn M. Walters, Ph.D.

Nourishing your precious child seems like it ought to be simple, but it’s a busy world with a dazzling array of foods and conflicting messages. We were fortunate that Shrikrishna Kashyap, a wise Ayurvedic physician and teacher, guided us in learning to take care of ourselves and our family. He advised to protect newborn babies from the wider world for the first three months. In other words, only take your baby out when necessary. This allows time for the mother’s body to rest and recover, eating freshly cooked meals containing a variety of vegetables, fruits, grains, and protein-rich foods; to establish breastfeeding if possible; and to adjust to new family rhythms.

Babies are born with different personalities and activity levels, and they use all of their senses to explore the world. My granddaughter is quite adventurous, and one of the vegetables that she enjoys is cooked baby broccoli, especially the stems. Palate sensitivities, differing metabolisms, and other unknown influences may contribute to food preferences. If you offer a new food and it’s rejected, let it go until another day. And, trust your baby’s instincts about when they’ve eaten enough.

Eating together supports positive family dynamics and healthful eating habits. When your baby is ready for solid foods, make a space at the table. A sturdy high chair with a detachable tray is useful, along with a bib or smock, but special babywear is optional. A combination of parent spoon feeding along with baby using their hands can work well. It’s naturally going to be a little bit messy.

Although this is not a comprehensive guide, I hope that the timeline that we followed will be helpful. The main principle is to introduce new foods slowly and gently as your baby’s digestive system is just developing. Make sure to serve baby food at room temperature, not too hot and not too cold. Most importantly, trust your loving intuition and your growing child, and remember to laugh along the way.

Birth to Six Months

Mother’s milk is the sweet nourishment that connects generations. It provides the best nutrition for babies and is generally all that a baby needs for their first six months. If nursing seems a bit bumpy in the first days or weeks after birth, I urge you not to give up. Unless you’ve been around new mothers and babies a lot, nursing can prove to be a challenge. We might assume that it comes naturally, but physical and emotional factors can inhibit successful nursing. I learned how important it is to ask for help if all is not working as you imagined. Seek out friends, new mother groups, and/or a lactation consultant for support and practical help. If breastfeeding is not possible, there are alternatives. Flexibility and adaptation are crucial in meeting the challenges of becoming new parents, and know that your baby will thrive with your loving care.

Five to Six Months

Between five and sixth months most babies will be able to sit up independently and begin to show interest in solid foods. Your baby might look curiously at your plate or even reach for something that you’re eating. A baby’s first food after breast milk is a step that many cultures celebrate with joyful ceremony.

While breastmilk is the main food, start additional nourishment by offering dilute carrot juice in a small spoon once or twice a day. Begin with 2 teaspoons fresh carrot juice mixed with 2 teaspoons water. At first, your baby may only want a tiny taste, which is just fine. My children and granddaughter have all enjoyed this easy-to-digest first food.

Note: Inexpensive juicers are available, and parents and siblings can enjoy drinking fresh juice, too.

Six to Seven Months

Food is Mother Earth’s gift. In summer, start with yellow summer squash, or if it’s winter, begin with peeled butternut squash. Cut up the squash and cook in water until soft, then puree using a simple hand-crank baby food grinder. Begin offering pureed squash once a day, then twice a day at 7 months, and three times a day at about 8 months.

Along with squash, rice water cereal can be introduced at this time. It’s softer and more easily digested than the actual grains. Soak ¼ cup basmati rice overnight in 1 cup water. Blend the soaked rice in the soaking water, then strain using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Cook the rice liquid until thickened, and serve plain or mixed with a small amount of breast milk. Offer twice a day.

Note: Instead of rice you can substitute barley water cereal, prepared as above.

Seven to Eight Months

Millet: Soak ¼ cup dry millet in 1 cup water overnight. Drain, then cook the soaked millet with 1¼ to 1½ cups water for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all of the water has been absorbed and the millet is very soft.

Note: Millet makes a wonderful breakfast cereal for adults too, so you may want to prepare more for your own breakfast. It is often sold in bulk.

Eight to Nine Months

Usually between eight and nine months, baby will be ready for soft, chewable chunks of finger food. Expand offerings to cooked (baked or boiled) sweet potato, other winter squash, white potato, and/or cooked and mashed peas or snow peas.

Introduce rice cereal: Toast basmati rice in a dry pan until fragrant. Blend toasted dry rice, then cook the rice powder in water until soft. Mix 2 teaspoons of rice powder with ½ cup water, then simmer about 5 minutes, until cooked. For efficiency, toast a cup of rice at a time, then keep the ground rice powder in a jar ready to cook.

Nine to Ten Months

Continue expanding varieties of cooked mild vegetables.

Introduce mung dal: Cook 1 tablespoon in 1 cup water with a pinch asafoetida (to aid digestion) Skim off the foam that forms when it first comes to a boil, then simmer on low until very soft. Mix with a little rice cereal to serve.

Ten to Eleven Months

Continue expanding varieties of cooked vegetables. Separately, introduce mashed bananas, peaches, and/or pears. Don’t mix fruits together.

Homemade applesauce: Peel and slice an apple. Cook in a little water until soft with 1 whole clove and 1-inch cinnamon stick, or a small pinch of ground cinnamon. Remove spices and serve plain or with a little breast milk. 

One Year and Beyond

Continue to increase the variety of food offerings, focusing on vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains. If desired, introduce small amounts of dairy foods.

A Few Notes

• Mash cooked peas and other small vegetables or fruits to prevent choking.
• Do not give honey until after one year.
• Avoid chocolate until at least three years, when the liver is more developed and the body can digest chocolate.
• There is no need or benefit to adding salt or sugar.
• Use single-ingredient packaged baby foods for traveling and times when it’s not possible to cook.

Finally, if you have or visit a garden, engage your child early by offering leaves and flowers for your baby to smell. My one-year-old granddaughter just experienced apricot blossoms—enjoying the tickle on her nose along with the sweet fragrance. And she loves to water.

Lynn M. Walters, Ph.D., Licensed Nutritionist (NM), is the founder of Cooking with Kids food and nutrition education nonprofit organization (cookingwithkids.org). She enjoys gardening and art, and delights in being a grandmother.