Solid Starts

Comment APP for a link to download! 📲✔️ One of the most common questions we are asked is: “How do I actually get started with solids?” Good news: the Solid Starts App gives you the clarity, confidence, and tools you need to guide you and your baby through their first 100 foods. With your All Access subscription, you’ll get our guided introduction to 100 first foods—complete with tailored meal plans that include recommended foods and recipes by our pediatric team of experts. We suggest new foods to try that gradually build your baby’s ability to bite and chew a variety of textures—and explain exactly how to serve them to make the most of mealtime. Common food allergens are introduced along the way, with step-by-step guidance to help you build confidence with each taste. You’ll also get access to our expert-written resources—articles, videos, and courses—to support you with common scenarios like: ✔️Infant choking rescue ✔️Feeding schedules by age ✔️Teaching cup drinking ✔️How to relieve infant constipation ✔️Handing food refusal These resources are organized by age and stage, with clear, trusted answers no matter your question. The Solid Starts App is trusted by over 6 million families worldwide and is the only app to offer a step-by-step plan to guide your baby through their first 100 foods from the most trusted leaders in infant feeding. 🤍 ➡️ Comment APP and we’ll send a link so you can take a look around!

Free guide! Comment RESCUE and we’ll send you a link to both our infant and toddler rescue guides! While letting babies feed themselves does NOT increase the risk of choking, if it does happen, you must act quickly. Written by Dr. Rachel Ruiz on our team, this guide has pictures and visuals with simple instructions. We highly recommend you post it in a visible place near where your baby eats so you and other caregivers can easily access it. Comment RESCUE to Download our FREE Infant Rescue Guide to help you learn how to identify choking, understand which rescue maneuvers to use, and show you with visual pictures and step-by-step instructions how to perform infant rescue for choking. ⭐️ Want to watch more videos from our expert team? Additional rescue videos and all videos on starting solids can now be found in the Solid Starts App which is 25% off for a limited time at the link in our bio. ⚠️Note: Maneuvers in this video are for babies up to 12 months of age. #SolidStarts #babyledweaning #blw #firstfoods #infantrescue #firstaid #childsafety #newmom #newdad #newparents #6monthsold #5monthsold #7monthsold #babymilestones #startingsolids #babysafety #babyfood

Are food teethers safe? 🍍 Yes, food teethers are safe for babies as soon as they are ready to start solids, which is generally around 6 months of age. ✅ Because they are long, hard sticks of food that will not break as baby munches, food teethers cannot be shoved in the mouth all at once. ✅ Food teethers are also easier for baby to move in, around, and out of the mouth than purees and mashes, which can spread on the tongue and lead to more gagging. ✅ Because food teethers are also unbreakable, baby can practice the motions of chewing without needing to move food toward the back of the mouth to swallow. ✅ As pediatric feeding and swallowing specialists, we have worked with thousands of babies—including hospitalized babies with medically complex needs—and we know that there are tremendous benefits that help baby learn to chew in a low-risk way. Does your baby have a favorite food teether? #solidstarts #blw #babyledweaning

For #FoodAllergyAwarenessWeek, Dr. Sakina Bajowala, @solidstarts allergist & immunologist, spoke with some of the most respected names in the food allergy space to help parents and caregivers understand the importance of early introduction of common food allergens — especially for babies at an increased risk of developing food allergies. 🤍 Have a question about food allergies? The doctors are in! ➡️ Looking for expert guidance on how to safely introduce allergens to your baby? The Solid Starts app is trusted by over 6 million families worldwide. Tap the link in our bio to learn more. ✔️

Sleepy baby? 🥱 Save this post. Feeding a tired baby might seem harmless, but it can increase the risk of choking — this is because proper posture is necessary for safe swallowing. When babies are overtired, their coordination, alertness, and swallowing reflexes aren’t at their best. They’re more likely to slump, lean back, or lose the upright position needed for a safe swallow. This makes it harder to control food and protect their airway. ✔️Baby should be upright, with feet well-supported, and alert ✔️Head, neck, and trunk aligned (not slouched or tilted back in the high chair) Baby too tired to participate in the meal? Skip it entirely or end it early if you notice these signs during the meal and offer a breast or bottle feeding instead. Is this an ongoing issue? This is common at dinner. Consider bumping up dinner time by an hour if possible or if baby is under a year skip dinner and offer a breast or bottle instead. ➡️Check out mealtime schedules page in the Solid Starts App for more ideas. Link in bio.

Raw apple is risky for babies & toddlers 🍎 Raw apple and dried apple pieces are common choking hazards. But let’s be real for a moment: If baby bites off a piece of any food, their chewing reflexes kick in and they will continue to try to chew that food and mash it with their gums. But because raw apple pieces are hard to breakdown, baby is more likely to attempt to swallow them whole — so we recommend avoiding this risk. How? Cook apple until soft for babies 6 months+ or slice your apple thinly at 9 months+. While apple skin can cause gagging and lots of spitting, the skin itself does not pose much choking risk. ⭐️ Download the Solid Starts App at the link in bio for complete details by age.

When your baby is gagging the last thing you want to do is stand up. 🪑 While our automatic reaction to seeing our kids struggle, may be to stand up out of surprise, this is not an ideal reaction when your baby gags. When you stand up, your baby tends to look up at you, which puts gravity working against them. When a baby’s head is looking up and their neck is extended, gravity is pushing the food backwards, which is the exact opposite of what we want to do during a gag. Instead: kneel down next to your baby so they look down at you or at least keep their head from extending too far backwards as this helps the gag reflex move the food forward and out of the mouth. 🤍

In case no one told you yet today: you’re both doing great 🤍

Some foods are riskier than others, and for most, it’s all about HOW you serve them. 🥖 Bread is a common choking hazard for babies, but there are ways to minimize the risk. ✨Download the Solid Starts App today! Search 400 foods to find out how to safely serve them. Link in bio. 🤍 #babyledweaning #firstfoods #6monthsold #startingsolids whatmybabyeats

Babies can’t like a food they’ve never tried 🤏 ➡️ And now you can introduce hundreds of foods to your baby with expert guidance in the Solid Starts App - tap the link in bio! 📱 The best time to introduce new flavors and textures to your baby is right when they start solids. Not only because developmentally the 6-8 month period is a magic window for learning to chew, but also because babies are open to trying ANYTHING early on. That’s why we recommend offering a wide variety of foods before baby’s first birthday. Once the toddler years hit, it gets harder to convince them to try new things. So….if you want your baby to eat the kinds of meals you eat, you have to serve those meals to your baby from the start. No special baby food. No making separate recipes. Just the foods you eat served in an age appropriate way. ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ 🤩 Want meal ideas? Tap the link in bio to access the Solid Starts App! 💐

Now you can introduce hundreds of foods to your baby with expert guidance in the Solid Starts App - tap the link in bio! 📱 Go fish! 🐟 Sardines are among our favorite first fish for babies. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, sardines are also rich in protein for energy and growth and vitamin B12 for healthy blood and brain development, as well as many more essential nutrients for growing babies. Sardines are also one of the few naturally-occurring food sources of vitamin D and among the fish lowest in mercury in all of the sea. Here’s how to serve: ➡️ 6 mos+: Offer whole fresh sardine fillets, cooked and with bones removed, or whole sardines from a can. Canned or packaged sardines can be offered with skin and bones intact, as both are made soft and edible by the canning process. Serve on its own as finger food or mashed and mixed with soft foods like cooked vegetables or grains for baby to scoop. ➡️ 9 mos+: As baby develops the pincer grasp (where the thumb and forefinger meet), try offering a sardine fillet broken into flakes for the child to try to pick up. You can also continue to offer big pieces or the whole fillet. ➡️ 12 mos+: Continue to offer flakes of sardine fillet, either as finger food or for utensil practice. You can also mix the flakes into cooked grains, pastas, or vegetables ⭐️Tap the link in bio to learn more! #pescatarian #babyfood #firstfoodsforbabies #blw #solids

Bigger is better. 🍓 When it comes to food sizing, smaller pieces of food are actually harder for the brain to recognize. The bigger the food, the more likely the brain actually knows that it’s there. We learn to manage things from a gross motor standpoint before a fine motor standpoint. Small pieces of food require more fine motor coordination of the tongue to move around. Think about catching a beach ball vs a baseball or golf ball. The larger ball is much easier to manage. The same is true when it comes to food. Larger pieces of food provide more stimulation to the inside of the mouth and help engage the many protective reflexes that babies have in place to prevent choking like gagging and coughing. Not sure what size of food is best? ➡️ Download the Solid Starts App (at the link in our bio) to learn how to prepare any food for your baby’s age. #SolidStarts #startingsolids #solidfood #5monthsoldbaby #6months 6monthsoldbaby