Best baby food for a healthy baby

Best baby food for a healthy baby

Keeping your baby safe and healthy may be at the top of your list of parenting todos. There are lots of healthy, baby-friendly foods out there, but some stand out from the pack. These culinary superheroes are loaded with essential nutrients, reasonably priced, easy to prepare, and delicious.

• Cereals : For years, baby rice cereal was considered the best food to start with, but now the American Academy of Pediatrics just recommends any easily digestible foods. If you start with cereal, pick a single-grain variety (rice, barley, or oat).

• Squash : Squash is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, is naturally sweet, and has a pleasing, creamy texture.

• Lentils : Crammed with protein and fiber, lentils pack a powerful nutritional punch. They're also one of the cheapest healthy foods you can buy.

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•Dark green leafy vegetables : Leafy greens boast high

amounts of iron. While spinach is perhaps the best known of this group, there are many other varieties, including kale, chard, and collard greens.

• Broccoli : Brimming with folate, fiber, and calcium, broccoli is also known for its cancer-fighting. And thanks to its sulfur compounds, it has a unique flavor that can help expand your baby's tastes.

• Blueberries : The deep, brilliant blue of these berries comes from flavonoids called anthocyanins, which are good for your baby's eyes, brain, and even urinary tract

•Avocados : Avocados are a rich source of unsaturated fats.

In fact, the fat composition is somewhat similar to that of breast milk. Unsaturated fat is the good kind of fat, and babies need it for brain development.

• Meat : Many of us don't think of meat as a typical baby food, but Meat is a great source of zinc and iron.

• Prunes : Prunes have lots of fiber and can help relieve constipation – which your baby may experience after you introduce solids.

• Mandarin oranges : High in vitamin C and antioxidants, mandarin oranges are a supreme finger food. Babies really love the flavor. • Vegetables : Veggies are wholesome, nutritious, and not likely to trigger allergies. Start with milder yellow or orange options such as sweet potatoes and carrots before moving on to the green team, like peas and string beans, which have slightly stronger flavors. Some babies need to be introduced to a new food four or five (or more!) times before they'll accept it, so perseverance is key. • Fruits : Delicious, digestible first fruits include finely mashed bananas or baby applesauce, peaches, or pears.

Few Important Pointers : • Expand the menu options : Those early-bird specials (rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, yellow veggies) get pretty old after a few dozen meals. Spice things up (at around seven or eight months) by adding minced meat (chicken, lamb, turkey, or beef), mashed egg yolk (no whites), and avocado to her repertoire. By nine months, whole-milk yogurt, cheese, pasta, beans, and tofu can make their debuts, and then (drum roll) finger foods add a whole other dimension to eating. • Watch Out for Food Allergies : The bad news: Food allergies are pretty common in babies.

The good news: Kids usually outgrow them but you do need to take them seriously.

If you think your baby may be allergic to something you've fed her/him, wait about a week before trying the food again. If you get a similar reaction two or three times in a row, you can probably assume she's sensitive to it. Eliminate that food from her diet for several months, then try it again if your pediatrician gives the green light. If your baby seems to react to almost every new food you offer, or there's a history of allergies in your family, wait a full week between trying any new item, and do check in with your doctor.

In the case that you baby has an allergic reaction it is important to go straight to the hospital and use a baby movement monitor to monitor your baby at night.

Few Important Pointers (Continued…) : • Hold Off On Certain Food Altogether No matter how good an eater your baby is, and how sure you are that he/she'll love the treats her older pals adore, hold off (at least until the first birthday) on foods that are most likely to trigger reactions. These include nuts (especially peanuts — which aren't recommended until age one, or even three if your family has a history of food allergies), chocolate, egg whites (the yolks are okay by eight months), honey (which can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum), and cow's milk. Some doctors also recommend waiting on wheat, citrus fruits and juices, tomatoes, and strawberries until baby has passed the one-year mark.

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Best Finger Foods to Try : Anything that baby can gum to a consistency that's easy to swallow or that will dissolve in the mouth without chewing qualifies as good finger foods. Cut it into manageable cubes or chunks (pea size for firmer items, marble size for softer foods) and scatter a few pieces onto an unbreakable plate or directly onto baby's feeding tray, and replace as baby eats them. (Don't present your baby with too much food at once, or he might respond by trying to stuff all of it into his mouth or swiping it to the floor.) Here are some good choices: • Whole-wheat bagel, whole-grain bread or toast, rice cakes, or other crackers that become mushy in the mouth.

• Oat circle cereals, wheat or rice puffs.

• Tiny cubes of natural (but pasteurized) cheese, such as Swiss, cheddar, Edam, Havarti.

• Chunks of ripe banana, very ripe pear, peach, apricot, cantaloupe, honeydew, or mango

Best Finger Foods to Try ( Continued ) : • Small chunks of cooked-to-tender carrot, white or sweet potato, yam, broccoli or cauliflower (flowerets only), peas (cut in half or crushed).

• Flakes of broiled, baked, or poached fish (but screen carefully for bones) • Soft meatballs (cooked in sauce or soup so they don't get crusty) •Well-cooked pasta of various sizes and shapes (break up before or cut after cooking, as necessary), if they are free of ingredients that baby isn't allowed yet •Scrambled or hard-cooked egg yolk (and, once baby can have the whites, whole eggs) •Cubes of soft-cooked French toast or whole-wheat pancakes

Finger Foods to Avoid the First Year : Because of the danger of choking, don't give your baby foods that won't dissolve in the mouth or can't be mashed with the gums. As with other foods, finger foods should be fed only to a baby who is seated, and not to one who is crawling, cruising, or toddling around.

Here are finger foods to avoid: • Uncooked raisins • Popcorn • Nuts • Raw firm-fleshed vegetables (carrots, bell peppers) or fruits (apples, unripe pears, grapes) • Chunks of meat or poultry, or hot dogs (most varieties are too high in sodium and additives, anyway) Once baby's molars come in around the end of the year (for early teethers), foods that require real chewing can be added, such as raw apples (cut into very small pieces) and other firm-fleshed raw fruits and vegetables.