Hello reader.
How are you enjoying these long summer days? Me, I’m doing quite well. Summer is halfway through but the acrobatics of no-camp-no-school-family-vacation have only just begun. I’m currently in Denver for a work trip this week, and then celebrating my birthday over the weekend in Pennsylvania with my family. We haven’t been able to go up to the cottage much this year, and this will likely be our last weekend there for the summer, so it should be extra sweet. I love the (very limited) routine we have up there: Shabbat dinner at my grandparent’s house, lazy Saturdays spent with cousins, food, more food, even more food, and a whole lot of lounging. Sundays we’ll go to the beach or go for a long walk and then before you know it, it’s time to head home. What about you? How is the rest of your summer looking?
Today, I’ve got a very special guest for you. Her name is Dahlia Rimmon, and she is a pediatric dietitian. Dahlia and I actually met through Substack, which is incredibly meta to me although people have been meeting on the internet for a decade or two already :)
Dahlia writes “I’m Always In The Kitchen,” a newsletter about feeding babies and toddlers. She is a fellow Jewish mother, living in Missouri with her husband and three adorable children.
Ever since Joseph turned five months old, I began feeding him solids little by little. As with Reva, I am doing my own mix of purees and BLW (baby-led weaning). It’s been so fun, but also stressful because I forgot most of the suggestions and rules and because now I am in this window where I’m nursing or pumping every 3ish hours and then feeding solids in between! It’s a lot. So I turned to Dahlia to share with me, and with all of you, the fundamentals of introducing your baby to food.
I encourage you to read our conversation below and to comment with any additional questions that you might have for Dahlia or me. I also recommend signing up for Dahlia’s newsletter so that you can keep up with all the delicious things she’s doing in her kitchen. Yalla!
JK: Hi Dahlia! Thanks for agreeing to do this guest post and sharing a little bit of your incredible knowledge about pediatric nutrition with my readers.
DR: You’re welcome! I’m so happy to be here. Shall we begin?
JK: Absolutely, let’s do it. So my first question: at what age do you recommend starting "solids" and does that really mean solids or does it mean purees?
DR: Around 6 months AND when they are developmentally ready. Signs of readiness include:
Baby is able to sit upright with minimal support
Baby has good head control
Baby is interested in watching you eat
Baby can pick up and bring objects to mouth
This is when you can begin introducing complementary foods so either finger foods, purees, or a combination of the two. “Solids” is anything that isn’t milk or formula.
JK: What are your favorite foods to start with?
DR: Banana, avocado, scrambled eggs, and sweet potato! I focus on easy-to-make foods that require minimal to zero prep.
JK: What highchair do you recommend?
DR: I have the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair - I actually have three of them! One of its great features is that it grows into a toddler chair.
JK: Why is a good-quality highchair so important?
DR: Stokke Tripp Trapp because:
Easy to clean; no small crevices for food to hide
Aesthetically pleasing - not super bulky, lots of different colors, solid wood, durable and sturdy
Removable tray - dishwasher friendly, can remove the tray and pull baby up to table to enjoy and share family meal
Comfortable and safe - has a safety harness, legs don’t stick out so not a tripping hazard for adults
Footrest - allows baby to remain upright for safe eating position, supports the core
Adjustable footrest and seat - grows with the child into a toddler seat!
JK: Can you share your favorite tools for starting solids? Spoons, bibs, whatever you like.
DR: I use a bunch of self-feeding spoons - my favorites are the Olababy spoon and Numnum Gootensil. You can preload these spoons with puree and hand them over to baby to self-feed.
Editor’s Note: I have all three of these recommendations and can confirm that they are simply the best. The Tripp Trapp lasts forever, and is really sturdy and structured, which supports your growing baby. Over the years, we have tried several other cheaper high chairs that we’ve kept at our parent’s houses, cottages, etc, and none even remotely come close. As for the spoons, with Reva, I used the Olababy spoons and she adored chewing them and using them to learn to eat. With Joseph, I bought the Gootensil based on Dahlia’s reco and he too is loving feeding himself with it. I love how thicker purees like mashed potatoes get stuck in the grooves. Also, I like to keep it in the freezer and offer it to him for teething relief.
JK: What are your favorite brands/products of ready-made baby food? What should people look for/look out for?
I love Once Upon A Farm pouches, specifically the smoothie line! They are made with super fresh ingredients and are flavorful. The smoothies tend to have a good amount of fat or protein, for sustained energy and satiety. When offering them at home I’ll squeeze out the contents into a bowl for spoon feeding or preload utensils for self-feeding.
I use the actual pouch when traveling or if we’re out. My kids love them so I feel good providing a nourishing option on-the-go. Convenience over chaos!
When purchasing any store-bought baby food, aim for products that do not have any added sugars or salt.
Editor’s note: One other way that I love to offer smoothies or fruit/veggie pouches is mixed with a little baby oatmeal and a splash of water or breastmilk. This is currently Joseph’s absolute favorite thing to eat. When buying baby oatmeal, or oatmeal in general, it’s important to buy organic/non-gmo because of the glyphosate that conventional oats are often sprayed with.
JK: For parents who want to do BLW, what are the appropriate textures? I noticed on Instagram you are giving your son large, long slices. Can you tell me more about that?
DR: Great question! Let’s talk about shape first. For babies 6-9 months you want to offer long strips of food. You want the strips to be long enough so that the ends stick out of the baby's palm so the baby effectively eat. If the food is too short, it will get stuck in the baby's palm and it will be hard for baby to access it. Also, long strips are an easy shape for baby to pick up at this age using their palmer grasp.
Around 9 months you can offer strips of food AND small pieces of food for baby to pick up with the pincer grasp. The pincer grasp is the ability to pick up small items with the index finger and thumb. So you can offer flatten blueberries or plain cheerios to practice, for example.
Keep in mind that certain shapes pose a choking risk. Small round foods like whole chickpeas, grapes, or blueberries are a choking hazard.
When it comes to texture, food should be soft enough that you can easily squish it between your fingers. Super hard foods, slippery foods, and rubbery or gummy foods can be choking hazards.
JK: I gave my son a peach to bite the other day and he loved it, I think because it helped his itching teeth. But I'm scared to give him an apple or a cucumber in the same way because I'm worried that he'll bite off a chunk and it could be a choking hazard. How do you usually go about this? How do I know which "whole foods" are safe vs. which are not?
DR: Every food is different which is why I love Solid Starts Free Food Database. It’s basically a database with (almost) every food in the world and they list ways to modify and prepare foods to reduce choking risk - and it’s free! They even have an app. It’s such a great resource for parents.
JK: Back to the allergens for a moment, how do you go about introducing common allergens? And is it important as a nursing mother to eat a lot of those common allergens yourself to try and prevent an allergy?
DR: Research supports early and frequent exposure of allergens starting at 6 months because it reduces the risk of developing food allergies later. The 9 common allergens should be introduced to babies rather than to lactating moms.
Once you know your baby is OK with an allergen, frequent exposure is key. Aim to offer allergens 1-2x/week. Keep in mind that allergic reactions don’t always happen right away. They can occur within minutes or a few hours. Allergic symptoms may not occur after the first exposure to the allergen - it may happen after a few exposures.
If your baby is having an allergic reaction it may look like:
Hives/bad rash and itching
Swelling
Sudden lethargy
Digestive issues - nausea, discomfort, vomiting
Respiratory distress
The severity will vary. Obviously, a true emergency such as breathing trouble, requires immediate medical attention. If you suspect your baby is having a reaction to a specific food, do not continue to offer it until you speak to your pediatrician or allergist.
Editor’s note: Scrambled egg was one of the first foods that I gave Joseph. I only gave a tiny bit, and then I noticed redness and swelling around his mouth. I called the pediatrician and was advised to give a small dose of Benadryl. I stopped giving him eggs until after we visited an allergist to do further investigation. I plan to share more about this entire experience in a later post, but for now, I just want to encourage you to be observant when offering dairy, eggs, nuts, etc. This is something that I totally did not experience with my older daughter, and am now going through for the first time.
JK:Is there anything (aside from honey) that is explicitly avoided in the first year?
DR: Honey is a big no. Other than that, it’s best practice to avoid foods with added salt and sugar. Too much salt is hard on baby’s immature kidneys and avoiding added sugar helps reinforce healthy eating habits.
JK: One thing I've commonly heard from Eastern European women (my mom, nanny, etc) is to give the baby "kashas" aka pureed oats, buckwheat, rice, millet, etc, mixed with breastmilk. This isn't something I did much with my daughter and instead gave her whole foods, fruits, and veggies. What are your thoughts on grains?
Gosh, I miss my Bubbe! She made the best kashas! Starting solids with grains is common practice in many countries because when cooked, they are soft and easy for young babies to eat! In the United States it's common practice to offer infant cereals, usually fortified with iron. While iron is especially important for babies at 6 months old, it's not the sole source of iron. Other iron rich foods are meats, beans, and lentils which offer more texture and flavor.
More recently, rice cereal has been under scrutiny because it has high levels of arsenic, a toxic heavy metal. When purchasing iron fortified cereals, opt for oat based ones rather than rice.
I recommended offering a ton of variety right from the start. As long as it’s not a common allergen, you can offer multiple foods at a time. There is no need to wait 3-5 days between new foods, which is outdated advice.
When you offer variety you are exposing your baby to different food groups with different textures, colors, and flavors.
JK: How do you manage to know the right amount of breastmilk/formula to continue giving once baby starts eating other foods?
DR: Up until 12 months, milk will be the primary source of nutrition for baby. Continue offering the same amount of milk feeds per day. You are squeezing in solid meals into the schedule. When it’s time to begin solids, you want to offer them at a separate time of day - not back to back with a milk feed. When baby finishes a milk feed, she may not be super interested in solids because she has no appetite and is satisfied.
Also, you don’t want baby to be super hungry at the start of a solid feeding because baby will be cranky and irritable. Solid feeding requires additional focus and patience and hungry babies don’t have either!
I usually recommend offering solids 30-90 minutes after a milk feed. Every baby is different so it may take a few days to figure out a good schedule. Some babies will be ready to eat after 30 minutes and some babies need more time.
JK: How many times a day should I be feeding my 6-month-old food?
DR: I recommend starting out slow by offering 1 meal per day. If your baby is super interested, 2 or 3 meals per day is fine too!
JK: How much adult food can he/should he try, and how does salt factor into that? For example, I made soup the other night and wanted to blend it and give him a few spoonfuls, but I worried that it was too salty for a baby. What would you do in this scenario?
DR: Great question. We want to avoid added salt but also allow baby to share the family meal. A little salt is not the end of the world. If I’m offering something on the saltier side for dinner, I make sure no other food that day has any salt.
When preparing food, you can set some aside for baby before salting for the rest of the family. In the soup example, try to add salt at the end and just take some out for baby before you salt.
JK: Is spitting food out an indicator that baby doesn't like it? How much do you give before you give up?
DR: Not necessarily. It can take a couple dozen tries for babies to warm up to new foods or textures. This is a whole new sensory experience for them. Think of it as exposure therapy. The more opportunities they have to practice, the better!
At this age babies' oral motor skills are being challenged and they are learning how to maneuver food in the mouth. Spitting food out can be a result of them figuring things out.
JK: How do you go about introducing proteins like chicken, beef, tofu or fish?
Of course, you can puree them but proteins are usually more palatable as a finger food.
For chicken, I love offering moist shredded pieces. I’ll throw chicken in the crock pot and let it cook for hours and hours until it’s super soft.
For beef, I’ll offer small, soft crumbles of ground beef (meatsauce/broken up meatball) and mix it with something scoopable like mashed potatoes or rice. This way, it’s easier for the baby to pick up.
For tofu, I’ll choose a softer kind rather than a firm tofu. I’ll cut the tofu into strips.
Salmon is such a great first food because it’s inherently soft and flaky. I’ll offer a strip of salmon. Make sure to check for small bones!
JK: What about water? I hear a lot about introducing different types of cups to babies: open cup, straw cup, sippy cup. How much water does a baby need every day? What kind of water should it be (filtered, tap?) and how should I offer it? Are there any other beverages I need to be offering?
DR:Interestingly, babies under 12 months do NOT need water as their fluid needs are met with breastmilk and/or formula. We want to introduce babies to water at 6 months to introduce the flavor of water to build healthy drinking habits AND to introduce a cup. Open cups and straw cups are preferable since they reinforce and strengthen oral motor skills. Due to their design, sippy cups with hard spouts do not.
When it comes to offering water, we don’t want to offer too much as it can displace fluid volume and nutrition from breastmilk/formula. Think about offering 1-2 small sips with meals. For babies 6-9 months, do not exceed 4oz of water per day. For babies 9-12 months, do not exceed 8 oz of water per day. Filtered water is totally fine!
The only fluid babies should routinely be drinking daily is breastmilk and/or formula.
Editor’s note: This is the current open cup and straw cup that I am using with Joseph.
JK: What about cow milk and/or alt milk? When do you recommend giving that to baby?
DR: Babies can have dairy in solid form (yogurt, cheese, etc.) starting at 6 months. Under 12 months, babies should not drink cow’s milk as this will displace fluid volume and nutrition from breast milk/formula. Cow’s milk does not have the proper nutrition for babies under 12 months of age. Feel free to use it as an ingredient in solid food (like pancakes) but avoid offering it as a beverage.
JK: There is a major generational difference between my own mother and me when it comes to feeding philosophy, namely spoon-feeding vs. self-feeding. Can you explain a little bit more about how self-feeding became our generation's go-to, why it is important, and maybe any more details that might be helpful for new moms to understand about self-feeding?
DR: I think it’s a combination of a few things:
Our generation became fed up with picky eating. Responsive feeding may reduce picky eating behaviors. Responsive eating can include spoon feeding too. Responsive feeding is a more mindful way of feeding kids - allowing kids to lead the way and respond to their hunger and satiety cues. I think that’s a big generational difference. Obviously not every case, but I think in previous generations, parents led the way. Our generation is really pushing for allowing kids to lead the way and giving babies and young kids more autonomy over their food.
We know more now because feeding is studied and researched. The next generation will know more than us. We now know that babies can handle soft finger foods at 6 months, for example.
Buying jarred baby food was convenient (still is) and spoon feeding took less time and required less mess than handing the spoon over to baby. I think there’s a mindset shift in this generation to let kids be messier and have more of a sensory experience with food.
JK: Dahlia, thank you so much for sharing these incredible insights with me and my readers! I look forward to continuing to learn about feeding my family through your newsletter.
DR: My pleasure, thank you Jane!!!
Loved chatting with you!