Baby's first spoon - your path to solid food

To answer all your questions about complementary feeding, we had a special expert as a guest at our last Salon Baby. Nutritionist and dietician Adelina Schnider shared her extensive knowledge with us and answered numerous questions about purees, BLW and other topics.

We have summarized the most important information for you. At the end of the article you can also download our supplementary feeding booklet. Have fun with it!

When is the right time for complementary feeding?

That is probably the most exciting question. Can we start now or should we wait? Adelina Schnider knows that there is often a lot of uncertainty here. In her complementary feeding consultations, many parents report that they have the feeling that their child is ready because they always look at the food with such interest. "That is not necessarily a sign of readiness for complementary feeding, because babies are interested in everything their parents do," says the expert. If your baby shows the following signs, it is actually ready for the first bites:

– It can sit upright independently.
– Coordinated hand-mouth movement: Your baby reaches for food and brings it to the mouth.
– Weakening tongue thrust reflex: The person no longer automatically pushes everything out of the mouth with the tongue.

The ideal time to start is around the sixth month of life. It is important to have a relaxed atmosphere when trying it for the first time. This means that your baby is not too hungry, too full, overtired or distracted.

Choose your complementary feeding method: puree, Baby Led Weaning (BLW) or simply both.

You want to start with puree because you want to have a good overview of the nutrients your baby is consuming. Perfect. Then it's best to follow the Austrian supplementary feeding recommendations.
This suggests a meal frequency of three meals with two snacks. Start with a vegetable-starch-protein meal, which is ideally served at lunchtime. The starch comes from potatoes or grain products, for example. The protein comes from meat (2-3 times a week), fish, eggs or pulses. The porridge is supplemented with vegetables. The quantities are roughly 50g starch, 30g meat and 100g vegetables. To make the porridge even more nutritious, add 1-2 teaspoons of oil.

Right from the start, you should abandon the idea that your baby has to eat all of the porridge. As soon as your baby shows you that he or she is full, the meal is over.
The next meal is a cereal-milk-fruit porridge consisting of 10-20g of cereal flakes, 100-200ml of milk (cow's milk, yoghurt, buttermilk...) and 50-100g of fruit. Before the sixth month of life, use infant formula, breast milk or water instead of cow's milk.
The third meal is the grain-vegetable porridge. You use about 30g of grain, 100g of vegetables or fruit and 1-2 teaspoons of oil.

If you want to avoid classic porridge, then Baby Led Weaning the right method for you. You offer your baby finger food right from the start, which he or she will eat independently.
At six months, you should offer food in an elongated shape so that your baby can easily grasp it. The consistency must be very soft so that your baby can crush the food between the tongue and palate. Please always test beforehand.
At nine months, when most children are able to use the so-called pincer grasp, food can already be offered in cubes.

Which foods should I start with?

To start with, offer your baby a new vegetable every day for a week. You can choose what you like.

Here are some ideas from Adelina:
– Broccoli
– Zucchini
– carrots
- Potatoes
– Avocado
– artichoke
– Eggplant
- Peas
– cauliflower

What about drinks?

Drinks can also be offered once solid foods are introduced. The best drink is tap water or still mineral water. At this age, the water no longer needs to be boiled.

Can my baby eat anything now?

Can my baby eat anything?
Now that the introduction of solid foods is going well, you may be wondering whether your baby can now eat everything? The answer is no. There are some foods that babies (logically) should not eat. Avoid the following foods in the first year of life:

– Salt and salty foods, processed meat products
– Sugar (also in the form of maple syrup, agave syrup, coconut blossom sugar)
– Honey: Infant botulism (rare but very dangerous)
– Raw animal foods: meat, fish, eggs
– Unpasteurized & low-fat dairy products
– Fish with high mercury levels (tuna, swordfish, halibut, pike)
– Rice drink: contamination with arsenic (heavy metal)
– Hot spices
– Foods with a higher risk of choking

We hope that this summary has given you an initial overview of the exciting time of solid food. If you would like further advice, you can contact Adelina via her website or her Instagram channel @nourished.moms contact us.

Download now: Our complementary food booklet with delicious recipes