WHOLESOME FOODS FOR A BABY

Starting your baby off with the right type of diet is one of the best gifts you can give him. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until your baby reaches the age of 4 to 6 months before starting solid foods. When you do introduce solid foods, sticking to healthy and nutritious foods can help build a lifetime of good eating habits and might prevent childhood obesity. The incidence of this serious and often lifelong health problem in the United States has tripled since the 1980s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Homemade Baby Food

Ready-to-eat baby foods offer convenience for busy parents, but they're not as nutritious as baby foods you make yourself. Making baby food doesn't require much time and effort. In most cases, your baby can eat the same food you eat, just blended to a smoother consistency by adding a little water or mashed with a fork. Commercial baby foods often contain starches used as filler that add nothing but empty calories to your baby's nutrition. Large commercial manufacturers add starches such as flour to more than half of their most popular fruit, vegetable and dinner products labeled as second- and third-stage baby foods, the Center for Science in the Public Interest reports. If you use commercial baby food, choose products with no added sugars or starches.

Vegetables and Fruits

You can mash cooked vegetables and fruits such as bananas to a consistency suitable for your baby, increasing the texture as your baby gets older. While fruit is healthy, it does contain more sugar than vegetables. Certain vegetables contain high amounts of nitrate, a chemical found in soil and well water that can cause anemia, or low iron levels, in very young infants, particularly those under age 3 months. Don't give your baby home-prepared spinach, beets, green beans, squash or carrots without talking to your pediatrician first, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. Give pureed peas, corn or sweet potatoes first. Commercial baby food manufacturers test their products for nitrates. If you have well water, you might want to test your water for nitrates.

Healthy Juices

Babies under age 6 months don't need any juice, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics; breast milk or formula should meet all their fluid needs. Many commercial juices have added sugar, which can promote both obesity and tooth decay and might also cause diarrhea. Choose juice made with no added sugar and limit your child's juice consumption to 4 ounces per day, KidsHealth recommends.

Whole Grains

Give your baby whole-grain cereals rather than refined grains whenever possible. Use brown rice rather than white, which has much of the nutritional value stripped. Whole grains contain more fiber than refined grains, and fiber helps promote regular bowel movements. Whole grains also retain more of the nutritional value of the grain than their white counterparts.

Protein

Grind small pieces of baked chicken or well-cooked ground beef or pork to a fine consistency when your baby first starts eating solid food, to avoid choking. Babies don't need fried foods or added fat; grilling or frying at high heat can also produce potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Remove the skin and cut off fatty parts before grinding. If you buy commercial baby meats, avoid products with added starches or salt.