When your baby can sit with support, hold his head steady, and can take food off with his mouth from the spoon and swallow it easily, this is the right time to move to the next diet stage. This usually occurs when baby is 4 to 6 months old.
The first food your baby can eat is baby cereals. After baby cereals, you can give your baby rice, then oatmeal. Later on, when he knows how to drink from a babies small cup, you can give him a freshly squeeze fruit juice for his vitamin C supplement.
Once your baby reached 6 to 8 months old, he can now hold and grab onto things. He can sit without support and he can begin to chew foods. The best foods that you can give him on his stage are pureed, mashed, and strained foods. You can try to boil a potato or a carrot and then mashed it. You can also give soft fruits for him to eat.
Later on, you can give him strained meat; cooked and mashed dry beans, and boned and cooked fish.
At the age of 8 to 10 months old, your baby can take a full bite of foods. He can pick up small pieces and he can feed himself. You can move to the next food level, which are cooked and mashed egg yolks, and Cottage cheese and yogurt. You can also give him crackers, small pieces of cooked vegetables and peeled soft fruits.
When your baby reaches age 10 to 12 months old, he can now chew and swallow mash food. You can give him soft foods that the rest of the family can eat like crackers, cereals, cooked meat, peas and lentils, and cooked egg yolks.
It is best to offer your baby 3 small amounts of foods everyday. Older babies can eat larger amount of solid foods in a day. It is best to allow your baby to choose how much he will eat. Never force nor encourage your baby to eat more than he wishes to eat.
