First Foods for Baby

Being on a healing journey REALLY makes a person think twice about the healing benefits of foods on the body. After recovering from “Lyme” and “autoimmune” thyroid dis-ease, I am dedicated to applying the things I’ve learned about my personal health to my own little ones, and to the children and families that I serve. When it comes to introducing first solid foods, there are most definitely some choices that will offer tremendous benefit and start things off right for your baby!

There are lots of opinions out there about when and how to start baby solid foods. This leaves moms to wonder if they should start with pureed foods, finger foods, or mashed foods, raw foods, or if they should cook first foods. Lots of Moms also feel pressure when it comes to introducing solid foods, they start to worry about vitamin C, healthy fats, vitamin D, and zinc later on during the first year.

While my little girl just turned 9 months, and we are still thriving on exclusively breastfeeding for our baby’s diet, we are getting excited for our journey to introduce some new foods in the near future. At this point, we are doing celery juice and a few tastes of these foods here and there, just for taste and fun!

Best First Foods for Baby & Their Health Benefits

Naturally, fruits and veggies are a great start. Best first foods include avocado, banana, and sweet potatoes. And don’t forget the wild blueberries! These foods can be pureed, mashed (think mashed banana), or made into smoothies (adding water or coconut water as the liquid). If the delicious flavor of these foods isn’t quite enough to convince you, here are some of the benefits of these particular ROCK STAR baby foods.

Avocados

• One of the world’s most perfect foods!
• Excellent source of glutathione which helps to boost the immune system and strengthen the heart.
• One of the foods closest to mother’s breast milk, being a complete and easily assimilable food with protein ratios equal to breast milk.

Bananas

• One of the most nutritional and healing foods readily available today, and a top food for children.
• Filled with potassium which is critical for brain health and brain development.
• Help build strong muscles and strengthen the nervous system.
• Contain powerful anti-fungal and antibiotic compounds as well as protease inhibitors which can help stop viruses in their tracts.
• Support the natural acidophilus bacteria in the bowel which helps promote a healthy and functional digestive tract as well as keep the immune system healthy and strong.
• Rich in the amino acid tryptophan, which can help to promote sleep and regulate the sleep-wake cycle. (Perfect for babies navigating their way through the world of sleep!)

Sweet Potatoes

• Incredibly nutritious and packed with antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins (especially Vitamin A/beta-carotene; another veggie with high levels is butternut squash).
• High in potassium which helps remove excess sodium and regulate fluid balance in the body.
• Excellent anti-stress food and known to relax muscles, steady nerves, and balance cognitive function.
• One of the best anti-cancer foods and also help rid the body of heavy metals and safely remove them through the body.

Wild Blueberries

• One of the most healing foods on the planet – contain sky-high levels of antioxidants, prevents cancer, and protects the body from disease.
• Most powerful brain food in existence and the most potent prebiotic there is.
• Help restore the central nervous system and flush EBV neurotoxins out of the liver.
• Help to remove toxic heavy metals from the brain and liver.
• When a person eats these berries, the berries’ innate intelligence reads the body, searches out potential disease, monitors the stress and toxicity levels, and figures out the best way to heal the body.

Coconut Water

• Highly nutritious, cleansing, and nutritious juice packed with valuable vitamins and minerals.
• One of the highest sources of electrolytes known to man.
• Helps to significantly support the digestive system and metabolism.
• Hydrates the body on a deep, cellular level.
• Helps balance pH levels, boosts the immune system, and supports kidneys in filtering toxins.
• Highly beneficial for cardiovascular health as it can reduce blood pressure and increase healthy circulation.

*Information source: Medical Medium Life-Changing Foods

Baby cereal?

Since babies cannot digest grains until they’re much older (think 2-3 years old), infant cereal/grains are not a great starting point. This includes single-grain cereal like rice cereal, a common “go to” first food. Grains are known to feed viruses and bacteria and cause many intestinal conditions. Once the pathogens eat the grains, they get stronger and then release toxins. Not a great start for our sweet babies.

What about “Baby Led Weaning?”

This type of food introduction initially appealed to me as a Speech Pathologist. This approach takes the stress out of preparing homemade baby food and consists of allowing the baby to explore soft fruits, and cooked vegetables, in their original form or cut into small pieces.

Through my own health experiences, however, it has become clear to me that babies are meant to eat foods once their teeth and molars have developed and they can chew. This indicates the gut has been developed enough to digest chewable foods. Thankfully, many of the foods chosen for BLW can be pureed and still easily enjoyed (and several are featured above)!

Feeding Issues/Sensitivities?

If your baby needs special care/attention paid to their diet, as in the case food allergies (I discuss this more in my post,  Food Allergies – Truth & Foods to Focus on / Eliminate ), food refusal, or sensory-based feed difficulty, check out my Empowered Moms course which goes into all of these topics and more. The course launches for its second round on September 17th , and pre-order is open through August 26th (save $40 when you pre-order) .

Learn More/Enroll Now

Closing Thoughts

Many thanks to Anthony William/Medical Medium for guiding practitioners such as myself down a healing path by providing such enlightening information about healing foods. Hopefully, this information has been useful for any pregnant women or mamas of young babies out there. I pray it will help support you in making choices you can feel good about when considering first foods for your baby! Happy feeding!

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