Post #44 Transitioning Babies to Solid Foods

This is an unedited excerpt from my 2nd book, "What to Know Before Having Your Baby" - coming out in February of 2017.Because infants begin their life on breast milk, parents often think that milk is essential for their child’s diet even beyond the first year of life.  While milk is absolutely important for the first few months of life, once babies can start eating solids, the value of milk (breast, formula, or cow’s) quickly diminishes.  Milk’s main purpose is for humans (and animals) to provide an easy source of nutrition to their babies until they are ready for solid foods – which offer a far greater diversity of nutrition.By one year of age, the bulk of a child’s nutrition should be from solid foods – ideally they should be eating a well-balanced diet pulling from all the food groups.  At a maximum, a one year old should be taking no more than 24 oz of milk or formula, and as long as they are eating a balanced diet, there really is no minimum amount of milk that a one year old needs.  And though milk does offer vitamin D and calcium – you can get plenty of vitamin D from the sun and all the calcium you need from meat, certain vegetables, soy, nuts, beans and other solid foods. Solid food introduction can begin anywhere between 4 to 6 months of age.   Traditionally, parents in the U.S. start with cereal, moving to fruits & vegetables, and adding meats as the last food group.  However, many experts now recommend reversing...
Source: A Pediatrician's Blog - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: blogs