Let's get started! Stage 1 solid foods for baby include single fruit and vegetable purees, and baby cereals. Here is an easy, stress- free, and fun guide to beginning this amazing stage in your baby's life.

Transcript:

Hi everybody so first foods. This is a very exciting thing. This show is really about the actual food that you're going to be giving to your baby. Okay, first a quick word about solids. Solids does not mean solids, what it really means is pureed and very, very soupy, liquidy foods, and your baby is going to start to eat these foods at about 4 to 6 months of age.

If your baby starts at 4 months, she will likely be in this stage of having these very pureed, soupy foods, for about 2 to 3 months so from 4 months to about 6 or 7 months. If on the other hand she doesn't start until 6 months, she'll be in this stage one of these pureed, very soupy foods from month 6 to about months 8 or 9. So that's really what stage 1 means it's the first stage for your baby to be enjoying these pureed or soupy foods.

Okay, so now let's talk a little bit about what kind of foods you're going to want to give your baby. The rule of thumb, according to the AAP, is that you must introduce each new food for approximately 3 to 4 days before you introduce another new food. And with each new food you should check for any signs that your baby is not tolerating the food such as diarrhea, vomiting, or rash in which case you should stop giving the food in question immediately and contact your doctor right away.

So the tradition with these first foods has always been a single grain fortified baby cereal like rice and then a little bit later on barley or oatmeal, another single grain, and this is what a lot of people including me with my first baby start out with. So I've got some of these baby cereals here and I'm just going walk you guys through how you're going to mix this up. I'm just going to sprinkle a little bit of this very glistening looking cereal into my bowl, like that.

That's all you need. It's very, very, very small amount, tip your box back so it doesn't go everywhere. I have a little milk here, ready, a little froze defrosted breast milk. I'm going to put this into my bowl; you can see how soupy this is going to be. Much easier transition for your baby from breast milk because it's not too thick. And I just swish this around in my bowl a little bit; make sure you have no lumps, no clumps.

Some people think it's actually a really good idea to start out with fruits or with vegetables. And this is something you can do, check with your doctor, but a lot of doctors actually think this is a good idea. Make sure, however, if you are starting with fruits and veggies that you check with your doctor that you don't need to do something in the way of iron supplementation because one of the good things about these cereals is that they are fortified with iron and at this stage the baby's iron levels can be dipping a little bit.

Okay, so I'm going to put up a graphic to show you guys this very interesting medley of different foods and things that you're going to be able to give your baby in stage 1. So here goes!

Here is a sampling of pureed foods you can begin to give during the first stage of introducing solids: sweet potatoes, butternut, winter squash, carrots, avocadoes that are well smashed, peas, green beans, peaches, pears, apples, bananas, mangos, plums. Also begin to introduce meat at this stage such as chicken, which is a great source of zinc and of iron. Again, in a very thin pureed form. No Kentucky Fried Chicken just yet people, I'm sorry, but your baby is going to think all of this stuff is yuuuumy!

Okay, this is important, what kinds of foods at this stage should I stay away from? Here comes another graphic because this is really important these are foods you should not be giving to your baby during stage 1. Doctors usually recommend that you steer clear of fish, eggs, and nuts until after the first year because these foods can cause allergic reactions. Also they say no cow's milk until after the first and stay away from honey because it can be a source of bacteria.

Now like many things in the baby world, this too is debatable. Some people do actually think it is okay to give babies fish at this stage as long as the fish is not high in mercury such as swordfish or shellfish.

So what do I do if I really decide if I want to make this food for my baby? The way to do this, the key to making your own food for your baby is single foods in tiny, tiny small amounts and then you freeze in small amounts in safe, plastic, ice cube trays for freezer or small glass containers. Steam the food until it's very soft and then puree it in your Cuisinart blender until there are no lumps.

When it comes to meat what I do is I boil chicken until it's very soft and then I throw it in that Cuisinart, too. Put on some awesome music to pass the time. Remember you're really just introducing these solids just one by one at this point and each one for 3 to 4 days.

Make sure you put on the date, I use blue nonstick tape or I just take a little label that I have left over for some files. And personally, I try to use this within two weeks. Then I defrost it overnight in the fridge when I'm going to use it and I take it out that morning and I try to use it that day because I really believe that fresh is best.

So best of luck introducing all of these things to your own little baby and watch my show on stage 2 and stage 3 solids for more information on finger foods and more things that you'll be doing with your baby as the months go by.