A Holistic Perspective on Baby’s First Foods

Deciding on your baby’s first foods is a BIG deal. We waited a little longer than recommended time (just over 6 months) to start Miles on real food because I was intimidated by it. But I’m here to tell you that you can do it and it’s actually not as scary as it seems. I’m going to bring you on my baby’s first foods journey thus far (4 months in). I’ll talk about what worked, what didn’t, and what I’m learning along the way. 

Decide Who to Follow

My best advice to decide on your baby’s first foods is to pick 1-3 people/methods you trust and want to follow. This will save time researching and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed with information.

I based the majority of my food decisions on Sally Fallon Moran’s book “The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care.” Sally’s book is based on Dr. Weston A. Price’s research of isolated non-industrialized peoples. Dr. Price was a dentist who uncovered the ideal diet to achieve the strong straight teeth of indigenous people compared with the cavity filled modernized smile. Sally takes Dr. Weston Price’s principles and offers practical advice on a nutrient dense diet in todays’ world. Specifically regarding babies, she discusses nourishing foods rich in vitamins and nutrients to meet babies needs. The foods Sally recommends starting with are not necessarily in line with what the CDC (or most Doctors for that matter) recommends, but I love her emphasis on animal based foods. 

I mixed in the baby led weaning style of feeding baby. (I didn’t follow BLW guidelines regarding what foods to eat). Baby led weaning skips purees and mom feeding the baby with the spoon. Instead it encourages the baby to feed himself with finger foods. I definitely think purees are important for baby to actually intake nutrients so I do purees! I also think it’s really important for babies to experience different textures early on! Introducing finger foods in addition to purees has allowed Miles to experience a variety of textures! I do not want him to be picky about food textures. 

Finally, I have the Solid Starts app that tells you how to feed your baby certain foods based on their age. It has every food you can think of! It’s been very helpful if I want to feed something to Miles that wasn’t specifically mentioned by “The Nourishing Traditions Book”.

Start Here

It’s recommended to start baby’s first foods somewhere between 4-6 months old. Our pediatrician said Miles should be sitting up and showing interest in food before we fed him. If you feed your baby and they push the food out of their mouth, they may not be ready! (Sally p.181) Six months is the latest you should start your baby on solid foods, according to Sally. “It is at this time of life when baby runs out of iron” which has high consequences physically, emotionally, and socially (Sally Fallon, p. 181). 

Baby’s First Foods Timeline

4-6 Months

Grass fed meat

“The nutrients that are often in short supply when weaning begins include protein, zinc, iron, and B vitamins,” according to Sally (Sally Fallon p.184). And meat is the solution. Meat is higher in protein and zinc than the cereal or baby foods often recommended. It is an excellent source of B vitamins. And, the heme iron in meat is more easily absorbed into the body than non heme iron found in plants. (Sally Fallon) So, we give our boy meat! 

One of the first foods we gave Miles was grass fed beef liver. I sauteed it in a pan and mashed it with a fork to make sure it was in tiny, non-chokable pieces. He loved it. (Sally actually recommends chicken, turkey, or duck liver as the best choice for babies). (Sally Fallon p. 191). We also gave Miles strips of steak (about pinky size) for him to gnaw on and he was obsessed.

Pasture Raised Egg Yolks

Choline and cholesterol are two of the important nutrients for brain development in babies, according to Sally. Cholesterol also helps the body digest fat and produce hormones. (Sally Fallon p.190). Egg yolks are high in both of these nutrients! 

The very first food we fed miles was the yolk of a pasture raised, soft boiled egg blended with grass fed butter. The whites are harder for your baby to digest so Sally recommends waiting until 12 months for those. (I gave Miles egg whites around 9 months).

Water

Water is important to offer along with your baby’s first foods!! It is important for digestion of the real foods they are now eating as well as hydration! Sally recommends adding a little lemon and salt for better hydration. 

I often forget to offer Miles water during meal time and wonder why he’s fussing. Often he just wants water! I make sure to have his water available during meal times and throughout the day. We taught him to drink from a straw with this adorable little honey bear water bottle, I’ll link here!

6-8 Months

Fruit

Ripe bananas “contain amylase enzymes to digest carbohydrates” and are “a wonderful source of vitamin b6,” according to Sally. (Sally Fallon p.191) Avocados are an excellent source of unsaturated fat! Both of these fruits you can mash and mix with a saturated fat (butter, coconut oil) or organic yogurt or cream. They are also convenient foods to bring on the go. Most other fruits Sally recommends cooking for easier digestion for babe and again serving mixed with a fat source. 

We give Miles a lot of avocado. He also LOVES smoothies.

Vegetables

Vegetables can be a little harder to digest so Sally recommends offering these to babe a little after fruit. Carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets are Sally’s top recommendations. (Sally Fallon p.192) She also encourages cooking all vegetables and serving with a liberal amount of fat (which aids in digestion). 

Miles’ current favorite veggies include sweet potatoes and peppers. To serve, I sauté them in a liberal amount of beef tallow and cut into bite size pieces. He loves to gnaw on raw veggies too (for the texture and entertainment) – including a giant rabbit carrot and green beans. I wanted to experiment with beets for myself, but didn’t love, so I made into a puree for Miles with bone broth, beef liver, and cooked carrots! I put the puree in ice cube trays so I could just pull out a cube or 2 at meal time. (You can do this with so many varieties of meat/fruit/veggies!) This is one of my favorite things I’ve done because it makes for a quick, nutrient packed meal.

Unrefined Salt

This is a very controversial topic. Many sources say to wait until one year before adding salt to your babies’ food. However, there are nutrients in salt that are important for your baby’s development before they’re a year old.  Chloride is “needed for the production of hydrochloric acid and the digestion of meats, and sodium activates an enzyme critical for neurological development.” (Sally Fallon p. 191) “Today, all baby formula has added salt!” (Sally Fallon p. 193) 

I don’t liberally season everything I give Miles with salt! I’m just not afraid to add it to his cooked veggies or meat.

8-12 Months

At 8 months we felt a little more comfortable feeding Miles, so we were excited to broaden his food palate a little more. We let him try some new foods – different forms of grass fed cheese, sour food like olives and sauerkraut, and brown rice noodles. I really don’t want a picky eater, so I’m trying to expose him to all the things. 

12 Months+

Grains

Sally recommends waiting until your baby is a year old before introducing grains, nuts, or seeds. This is because babies “do not produce the needed enzymes to handle cereals, especially gluten-containing grains like wheat, before the age of one year.” (Sally Fallon p. 193) “This food category has the most potential for causing digestive disturbances or allergies,” another important reason to hold off. (Sally Fallon p. 193)

I’ve followed this guideline for the most part but not perfectly. Miles has definitely eaten some grains – rice, brown rice noodles, a stolen bite of Nick’s tortilla, baked beans lol. I also fed Miles peanut butter around 7 months and almond butter soon after. I‘m obsessed with peanut butter and just couldn’t handle a baby allergic to it – so I wanted to start him young. People have different opinions on when to start babies on nuts, so just do your research and decide for yourself!

Refined Sugars

This is something I plan to avoid until at least 1 year, and then in moderation after that. Obviously I can’t shelter Miles from sugar forever (I have a sweet tooth), but I want to set him up for the most success for his health and development! I will definitely be writing another blog post just on this topic because I have so many thoughts on how to create a healthy relationship with food/sugar. 

Final Food Thoughts

I love the saying “food before one is just for fun” because it has made me feel less pressure to give Miles three perfectly balanced meals a day. I don’t think Sally would agree with this statement because of the importance of certain nutrients by six months. But has made feeding Miles more fun! I am focusing on introducing Miles to a variety of nutrient dense foods and follow the Nourishing Traditions Book recommendations, but we also want to live our lives. We go out to eat and eat at other peoples’ houses and just feed him the best available option!

So far, Miles LOVES to eat. So feeding him has overall been very fun and not stressful. I hope this post helped you feel excited and less stressed about your baby’s first foods! It’s such a fun time, so enjoy it! Comment below all your thoughts and what your favorite foods to feed your baby are! To see what nutrient dense foods I (mostly) ate during pregnancy, check out my blog post here!

Please note that the health advice I’m providing is not from a doctor and should not be considered professional medical guidance.

(By clicking the links and making a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Works Cited

“The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care” By Sally Fallon Morrell and Thomas S. Cowan, MD

The Weston A. Price Foundation Website