Hello, and a very warm welcome to the Starting Solids show which is brought to you by myself
and some colleagues, who you will see throughout our different videos.
My name is Rachel and I’m a community dietitian and I work within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
So in this video I’m going to be covering when to start solids and signs of readiness,
I’ll talk a bit about vitamin D and follow on milks. And the information that I’m discussing
here today has been carried out in line with Public Health Scotland, Fun First Foods
complimentary feeding booklet, which you should have received or will receive
from your health visitor and the information within this is aimed at healthy term babies.
However, if your wee one was premature, we’ve put together some brief guidance
which you’ll be able to access via the link at the bottom of the screen.
We also advice that you should speak to your health visitor or other health care professional
prior to offering solids to your premature baby. So first of all, we want to make the introduction
of solids fun and exciting and hopefully as relaxed as possible. So let’s go!
Ok. So one of the most important things to remember is that breast or first milk formula is
all the nutrition your baby needs until they’re around six months of age. Up until that point,
your baby’s digestive system, their kidneys and their immune system
are just not developed enough to cope with the breakdown of solid food.
And research has shown us that the best time to introduce solids, is around six months of age.
I want to point out that it’s important never to begin solids before four months or seventeen weeks
of age as this can actually be harmful to your baby’s long term health. And at around six months,
your wee one requires more nutrients from food, particularly iron and developmentally, they also
need to learn to chew, which believe it or not, is also an important part of speech development.
If you happen to be advised to start introducing solids
much earlier than six months, please discuss that with your health visitor first of all.
Ok. So moving on. One of the most common questions that parents ask us is, how do I know that my wee
one is ready to start solids? Ok, so there are some developmental signs that we want you to look
out for. And the first official one is, that your baby should be able to stay in a sitting position
and hold their heads steady and unsupported. The second one is, that your baby should be able to
coordinate their eyes, their hand and their mouth, meaning that they can reach out and pick up a toy
or some food and bring it up and put it into their mouth. So when your baby is around six
months of age and you notice that both those signs are there, you can try offering them a wee small
spoonful of soft or mashed food. If your baby is ready to accept solids, they’ll be able to
move that food around their mouth and swallow it rather than spitting it back out to you.
You also might notice that your baby is putting their fist in their mouth, they’re waking up in
the middle of the night or wanting more milk or even a combination of any of those three.
These are just normal signs of child development and sometimes even the start of teething, but
they’re not the official signs of readiness for solids. We recommend that in these cases you offer
an additional feed of breast or formula milk. And the same guidance goes for bigger babies too.
In one of our videos, Sandra, our community chef, will be showing some examples of foods to start
off with. But for now, I’m just going to cover a couple of points to demonstrate the benefits of
waiting until around six months to offer food. So the first is, that you no longer,
at six months, require to sterilise your equipment, so things like bowls, spoons, plates,
chopping boards, which is a great time saver. But obviously remember that if you are using a
bottle for formula milk, that these need to be continued to be sterilised until around a year.
So also at six months, foods don’t need to be pureed, in fact, we recommend that you start
with well mashed foods and soft finger foods, so therefore you don’t need your
blender either. So again, it’s all saving time. So I’ve actually got some foods here which we’ve
just boiled and mashed down really well and I’ll just show you these one at a time.
So this is just some mashed sweet potato that we’ve got here. So again, just peeled, boiled
and mashed down. This is just some parsnip which again was just peeled and boiled and mashed.
I’ve also got some carrot here, same process, boiled and well mashed.
This is some cauliflower which was actually frozen, so I’ve just again,
boiled it till it was soft, mashed it down really well. And lastly, I’ve got some broccoli,
which again was frozen and just cooked till soft and mashed down really well.
You might notice that the quantities that I’ve got in these bowls are different and I’ve done
that deliberately because what you’ll notice is that one baby might take that amount at meal,
even for the first couple of weeks and some babies might take that amount in their first meal.
Either is fine. All babies are different and just be guided by their appetite,
so that’s nothing to worry about at all. There are some foods which need to be avoided
if you are offering them much before six months and there’s a short list here, in your
Fun First Foods booklet that you can look at. We’re often asked about baby led weaning which
is an approach where babies are offered food to feed themselves, generally without spoon feeding
and it allows babies to regulate their own hunger. However, due to a lack of sufficient
quality evidence to support this method, Public Health Scotland advises that babies are offered
both finger food and food from a spoon and this helps to ensure that babies are offered a wider
variety of nutrients when you are including foods which are given on a spoon, so things like
fortified breakfast cereal, pulse based soups and that sort of thing.
My final couple of points are on vitamin D and follow on milks. Vitamin D is the only vitamin
supplement needed for healthy term babies and children, if they are getting a balanced diet.
The Scottish Government recommend that babies are given up to ten micrograms of vitamin D per day.
And within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, you might have seen our posters around for a new
vitamin D product. All children aged three and under are entitled to these free vitamin D drops
as well as all breast fed and mixed fed babies who are having less than five hundred mls
of formula a day. Also, all breast feeding mums are entitled to free vitamin D tablets,
so if you’re breast feeding you’ll receive the first bottle of the vitamins on the maternity ward
which contain around a four months’ supply. Thereafter,
they just need to be collected from the pharmacy. You just need to ask at the counter.
With regards follow on milks, which includes hungry baby milks, comfort or toddler milks, these
are not needed, in fact, they should be avoided and this is just because they are difficult for
your baby to digest them. Some are actually a lot more expensive than first stage formula milk.
So if you’re formula feeding, the first stage milk, which is the one recommended from birth,
is the only milk your baby needs until one year of age. Thereafter, you can switch to full fat cow’s
milk given from a free flowing cup. However, from six months, you’re able to use full fat cow’s milk
in cooking as well as on cereals. If you need any more information, just ask your health visitor.
So just to summarise, remember to look for the official signs of readiness for your baby before
offering solids. Wait, if possible, till around six months of age and don’t forget your vitamin D.