What is the best food to start feeding my baby with?

Introducing solids to a baby is a messy business and an exercise in patience for the mother! You need to start with very smooth foods, and the safest place to start is with baby rice cereal. Rice cereal is easy to prepare into a thin porridge, and is extremely unlikely to produce an allergic reaction. Choose a rice cereal that is iron fortified, since many babies at this age need a little extra iron. Avoid any that are sweetened, because it is important not to encourage a sweet tooth in your baby at this early age. For this reason it is also not a good idea to include pureed fruits into the baby porridge. Baby should be encouraged to eat his porridge without any sweetening. Use the milk that your baby is used to, and mix the rice cereal into a very smooth paste. Remember that at first the feeds will be geared more towards getting the baby used to the feeling and texture of food (unless you are one of the lucky moms whose baby takes to solids like a duck to water!)

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