Introducing solids to babies

Annaprashan (or food introduction) ceremony is usually done at 4rth month for girls or 5th month for boys ,but don't be too eager to start solids fromthen instead wait till six month.

How i introduced solids to my baby?
My baby turned six months in last summers, it was the first time in my life whn i am cooking something as a mother. cooking with all my affection and feeding her with a little silver spoon that i bought for her was so  blissful.Initially there wasnt nothing much to cook.It was not at all any work.And its a great pleasure to look at my  baby while she is making faces to every new taste,looking puzzeled!!!!!....... so cute.
I asked my doc before starting solids, he suggested
me some readymade rice moong dal cereal, and along with it split moong dal to feed,he told me to feed once a day this week and gave me a particular time to feed which was between 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm in evening and can feed twice a day from next week. though there is no hard and fast rules for this time , some doc suggest to feed once in lunch and add breaskfast.its good to give tried and tested food as dinner.

Well for two days i fed her cereals for dinner(only once a day) and from third day she balked out, initially i tried but she cried if i forced, so is stopped( i believe  some of u can relate to it) then i started giving moong dal ka paani (split green gram)during day, which she liked a lot, from next week i added giving rice water too.
so by second week, i gave her rice water in lunch and moong dal in dinner. from third week i introduce fruits and veggies too. (again i say u can start with fruits or veggies too instead of cereal or lentils) so its upto u to decide.
one more thing , i was not in hurry to feed every new veggie and fruit all together, i fed same veggie or fruits or ceraeals for few days before jumping to next one.

there is also a reason other than food allergies, babies dont accept new food at once, somedays u will see the dish u have prepared with so much work,buying ,steaming,mashing pureeing or straining.......then only to be rejected by ur little customer.it ends up in too much of waste and again dillemma what to feed her now ?u have to start from scratch again.(i have already told the story how my baby rejected beans puree and stewed apple puree)

so i didnt started making food timetable for the week all of a sudden whn baby turned six.

Instead I did this
1. I wrote all the options of cereals ,lentils,vegetables,fruits that can be given at six months.
2. sorted what i wanted to give as breakfast,lunch and dinner according to my convenience.like i prefered fruits in breakfast,vegetables and lentil/cereal during lunch and soups or cereals as dinner.
3. wrote all baby's dishes that can be made.
4. I didnt change fruits and vegetables every other day at six months,i try one veggie or fruit for four or five days before jumping to next one.

heres the list of foods that are considered safe at six month.i have prepared this list from many source from some good books ,websites and informations that i got thru experienced people of family.One thing that i have noticed,different people suggest different things,one suggesting carrots and peas to be intoduced first ,other think string beans can be given first.so i write all suggestions,and give my conclusion on basis of my experience.which can differ from one baby to another.
my conclusion on chart

i have included lauki (bottle gourd) torai(ivy gourd or courgette) in the list too.though u wont find these veggies in any western baby food chart.they include squash and zucchini which comes from the same family of gourds,but still i flag them yellow ,so u can wait for them till next month.

as for peas,some people suggest it as first veggies to introduce,but the outer cover of peas doesnt get mashed easily,i have seen my 14 month old baby gagging on them too.so i have flagged them yellow otherwise it is safe.

if u look at the list above,it is quite large,and i dont think a six month old baby wud be able to take this much,so select few veggies ,fruits and cereals that are considered quite safe.

At six month my baby was eating, rice cereal,moong dal ka paani (lentil soup),pureed beans,pureed carrots,banana mash, stewed pear and apple,tasted mango(as we r eating it),i gave lauki too in her dal as suggestted by a relative and she liked it more than beans and carrot as it get mashed easily.another reason is that lauki was a sesonal vegetable during those months than carrots that comes during winter.

its good to know about seasonal veggies and give seasonal vegetable to babies

What to introduce first??

In India,on first day mostly we introduce dal ka paani,some people start with rice cereal,there nothing wrong in starting with fruit or veggie either,.
obviously babies look puzzeled cause they r only used to taking milk,and they may spit it out,
dal ka paani is actually liquid,so it is most likely they accept it easily,we use split moong dal,which is also easy in digestion and good for constipation.
rice cereal and some fruits may cause constipation in some babies but not in all.
for four or five days ,u can continue the same food only once a week.then choose the second food u want to give ,either a veggie or fruit or rice cereal.i wud suggest two meals a day from second week.


post contd what to cook for six month old baby