Feeding Your Baby

Baby's first food should be a source of iron such as:

Meat (such as beef, poultry, lamb, goat, and game)

• Fish
• Legumes (such as beans, lentils, and tofu)
• Eggs
• Iron-fortified cereal

After iron-rich foods, choose foods like:

• Vegetables: Well-cooked mashed sweet potato and squash, soft-cooked pieces of broccoli and carrots
• Fruit: Pieces of mango, pears, peaches and banana
• Full fat cheese and yogurt: Grated cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt
• Other grain products: Strips of whole grain toast, “O” shaped cereals and well-cooked pasta

After introducing iron rich foods, introduce all other foods, except for honey and milk. Start your baby with a variety of textures, such as pureed, mashed, finely chopped and lumpy foods. You can also give your baby soft finger foods starting at six months to help them learn how to feed themselves.

Some finger foods you can feed your baby include:

• Soft cooked vegetables and fruit
• Ripe fruit such as banana
• Mashed cooked meat
• Grated cheese
• strips of toast

Gagging is a normal and natural reflex that helps older infants avoid choking. As long as an older infant is free from distractions, sitting upright, and attentive, the risk of choking is the same as for an adult.

Follow these tips to keep your baby safe:

• Always stay with your baby while they are eating.
• Stop feeding if your baby is crying or laughing.
• Do not feed your baby in a moving car.

• Do not give your baby foods that are hard, small, and round like nuts, popcorn, whole grapes, or hard vegetables.

• Do not give your baby smooth and sticky foods, such as peanut butter, on its own.
• Do not give your baby honey or any food made with honey for the first year. It can cause botulism (a type of food poisoning).

• Some fish are high in mercury and should be limited for babies under one year of age. Limit canned white (albacore) tuna, frozen or fresh tuna, shark, swordfish, marlin, orange roughy and escolar.

To decrease the chance of your baby developing an allergy, introduce common allergens, especially peanuts and eggs, early and serve them often.

Common food allergens in Canada include: peanuts, eggs, seafood, sesame, soy, tree nuts, and wheat. Avoid offering more than one of these foods per day. Once the allergen has been successfully introduced, make sure to keep feeding it to your child at least once per week. When introducing foods not found in the list above, you do not need to wait before introducing another new food.

Signs of an allergy might be:

• Rash
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Breathing problems

Stop feeding the food if you think it caused any of these symptoms. Talk to your doctor. Call 9-1-1 if your baby is having trouble breathing.

For more information on allergies, visit Anaphylaxis Canada.

It is easy to make your own baby food. You can use the same healthy foods that you feed your family. It also:

• Saves you money
• Lets your baby try a greater variety of foods
• Helps your baby get used to different textures and tastes
• Lets your baby eat the same foods as your family

In addition to breast milk, you can give your baby cow's milk at nine months of age. Offer your baby homogenized cow's milk (3.25% milk fat) as they need fat to grow. Do not give soy, almond, rice or other vegetarian beverages until your child is 2 years of age. These products do not have enough fat and may be low in protein and important vitamins and minerals. At two years of age you can give your child the milk that your family drinks (skim, 1%, 2% milk, or low-fat milk products).

Do you have a baby under the age of six months? The Health Unit wants to hear from you! We are doing a study to learn about how people feed their babies in the first six months. This will help us improve services for new parents and babies in our community. Learn more on our Infant Feeding Survey webpage.