When we turn 4-6 months old,
We are growing and developing fast.
We are hungry and looking for food all around, sometimes even right after feeding.
Breast milk or formula may not fit all our growing needs.

When we turn 4-6 months old,
We can start to sit with support and control our head well.
Our tongue and small muscles in our mouth and throat start to coordinate each other.
So we gradually develop skills to move solid food in our mouth and swallow them.

When we turn 4-6 months old,
The most of us are ready for solid foods.
Some may start solid foods as early as 4mo, others will start at 6 mo.
If we are not satisfied with breast feeding or bottle feeding with formula,
If we can hold our head up well and sit with support,
If we are interested in what you’re eating by staring or grabbing your food,
If we open our mouth when you offer a spoon,
If we accept foods when you put a little into our mouth,
This is the time you can start!

When you start solid food for us,
Please keep three words in your mind “natural,”“individual,” and “gradual”
Please start solid foods by our natural need.
If we are less enthusiastic, be patient!
If we seem frustrated, wait a week or two and try again.
Please expose us to different solid foods..
We have our own pace and taste for accepting solid foods.
Please add solid foods gradually!
Start with small amounts of simple and loose solid foods,
Gradually increase the volume and shift to mixed, soft, and regular solid foods.
During these months of adding solid foods, continue to offer us breast milk or formula bottle feeding as before.

Juice
Juice isn't an essential food for us and also isn’t as valuable as the fresh fruit itself. If you offer juice to us, please follow the following tips from our doctors:

• Start giving us juice after we turn 6 months of age
• Serve us only 100% fruit juice, not juice drinks or powdered drink mixes.
• Limit it to equal or less than 4 ounces (120 milliliter) a day. Too much juice may relate to obesity and diarrhea, as well as deminish our appetite for more nutritious solid foods.
• Do not let us take too long sipping juice while we are playing or falling asleep. The sugar in the juice may lead to tooth decay.

Vegetables

• Limit carrots to no more than 3 jars a week to avoid vitamin A overdose.
• Limit sweeter vegetables, carrots and sweet potatoes, and fulfill our appetite with a wide variety of veggies, esp. green veggies.
• If we don’t like particular veggies, be patient and reintroduce them at subsequent meals. It may take 8 to 10 tries before we accept them.

Foods to avoid in our infant year
Do not give us eggs, peanuts or tree nuts, fish or seafood, citrus fruits, whole cow's milk, or honey until after our first birthday.
Eggs, peanuts and peanut butter, tree nuts, fish, and other seafood may cause an allergic reaction, especially if given too early. Please check with our doctor before introducing these foods to us after we turn 1 year old:

• We are at higher risk for food allergies If one or more close family members have food allergies or allergy-related conditions such as eczema or asthma.
• If we have the possible signs of food allergy or allergic reactions such as itchy rash, vomiting or diarrhea, fussiness, wheezing, or persistent cough.
• If we have any type of reaction to a food.

Honey: 10% of honey contains the spores of clostridium botulinum (bacteria) which releases toxin and is heat resistant. The spores are harmless to adults, but can cause Infant Botulism and paralyze us.

Whole cow's milk should be held until we turn age 1 year old. Cow's milk doesn't meet our nutritional needs and isn't a good source of iron for us.

Foods that may pose a choking hazard for us – don’t serve us!

• whole peanuts or large pieces of other nuts
• whole grapes, raw carrots
• Large pieces of hot dogs or meat
• Hard candy, popcorn

Pick a time when baby is happy, not tired, and a little hungry
Start with iron fortified rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula
If the baby tolerates cereals for 1-2 weeks, then introduce commercially prepared baby jar foods
Common first foods in order of introduction:

Start with finely pureed foods (e.g. applesauce)
Try coarser, chunkier foods as tolerated around 9 months
Start table food and whole milk at 12 months old.
Watch for signs of food intolerance or allergies (bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, fussiness, or rash). If we develop the symptoms, stop the newly added food, then add other new foods 3-5 days later.
Get medical attention if the baby has hives or breathing difficulty.

Start with baby cereals at 5 months old
Start single-grain, iron-fortified infant rice cereal, then oatmeal or barley cereals .
Mix 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) of cereal, with 4 to 5 teaspoons (20 to 25 milliliters) of breast milk or formula.
Once we swallow the runny cereal well, you can add less liquid.
Help us sit upright and feed the runny cereal with a small spoon. Do not add cereal to our bottle unless our doctor asks you to do so for our spitting up.
Feeding by spoon will help us to learn how to eat solid foods and enhance our swallowing ability.
Start with 1-2 tsp of cereals at one feeding, twice a day, gradually increase to table spoons or ounces, two or three times a day.

Introduce commercially prepared baby jar foods at 6 months old
If we tolerate cereals for 1-2 wks., introduce baby step1 jar food
Step1 jar foods: 2 oz or 40-80cal per jar; 1-2 jars a day for 5-6 month infants
Step2 jar foods: 4 oz or 60 -120 cal per jar; 2-3 jars a day for 7-8 month infants
Step3 jar foods: 6oz or 80-180 cal per jar; 2-3 jars a day for 9-12month infants
Try vegetables or fruits first, then meats.
Don’t give over 2-3 jars of carrots per week to avoid vitamin A overdose
Introduce one food at a time and wait 3-5 days in between new foods. This will allow you to identify foods that we may be intolerant or allergic to.
Spoon some of the jar food into a bowl to feed us instead of feeding us directly from the jar to avoid contaminating the remaining foods.
Keep opened jars in a refrigerator, but not over 24 hours

Introduce home-made solid foods around 6 months old if you prefer to
If we tolerate cereals for 1-2 wk., start home-made solid foods
Go to grocery stores and look at commercially prepared baby jar foods. Pay attention to the ingredients, texture, consistency, and volume.
Make solid foods following three steps of baby jar foods.
5-6 mo: 2-4oz a day finely pureed single foods
7-8 mo: 6-12oz a day pureed mix of two foods
9-12 mo: 12-18oz a day coarser, chunkier foods
Feed us as we can tolerate. Some of us enjoy full table food at 9-10 months; others may enjoy pureed foods even at 12 months old. If we gradually progress, don’t worry about us.
Give single-ingredient foods such as vegetables or fruits at first, then meats. Don’t give carrots too frequently.
Steam fruits and vegetables instead of boiling them to preserve the nutrients in foods
Puree foods with a food processor or blender.
Keep home-made solid foods in a refrigerator, but not over 24 hours.
Add one kind of new home-made food every 3-5 days before giving something else new. This will allow you to identify foods that we may be intolerant or allergic to.

Introduce finger foods around 8-10 months
Start with finely chopped and soft finger foods such as soft fruits like bananas, apples, watermelons, etc., well-cooked pasta, noodles, graham crackers and bread.
As we reach our first birthday, we can eat almost all kinds of table foods. We will enjoy playing with and eating foods with our fingers. So provide us with mashed or chopped healthy foods of whatever you eat, which will also help our eye-hand-coordination and fine motor development.
Healthy foods are good for our fingers
Foods that can be melted and mashed easily.
Foods that be cut into small pieces for us to handle.
Try our finger foods before offering them to us to make sure they melt and mash easily.
Vegetables: well-cooked and soft, some canned vegetables without sugar or salt
Fruits: soft nature fruits such as ripe bananas, well-cooked and soft fruits, some canned fruits without sugar or salt
Grains: well-cooked and soft pasta, noodles, rice soup, flaky cereals and crackers that will melt in the mouth easily.
Dairy: cottage cheese or shredded cheese
Beans: well-cooked and easily mashed beans and soft tofu
Meats: well-cooked, easily mashed or half blended, and very small pieces of meats and hot dogs.