What Are the Different Stages of Baby Food

What do the different infant nutrient stages mean? How to tell which phase is all-time for your baby? Here'due south what you need to know about each stage of babe food.

Walking through the baby food aisle tin can often exist disruptive. So can reading recipes for dissimilar "stages" of homemade babe food blends.

What does it mean when a babe nutrient is labeled "Phase 1," "Stage two," or "Phase 3?" And how can you tell whether a given "stage" is all-time for your babe at this point in their solid food journey?

Hither's what you need to know nearly the different stages of baby food, and how to select the right one for your baby.

Note: "Baby food" refers to shop-bought and homemade purees, too as multi-ingredient blends. Finger foods don't autumn into a "stage" of baby food.

Stages Of Baby Food: The Basics

The stages of babe food match upwardly with different developmental milestones in your infant'south solid food journey  --- from the simplest purees, to thicker mixtures, to chunky blends that well-nigh mirror some of your ain tabular array foods.

"Stages" aren't completely standardized, and the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't include data on babe food stages in its official guidance for introducing solids. But baby foods in the same phase unremarkably share similar characteristics.

• Stage 1: Thinnest, almost watery purees with one ingredient
• Stage 2: Thicker, multi-ingredient mixtures
• Stage three: Chunky, lumpy mixtures

Baby should movement through the dissimilar baby food stages (and/or should be introduced to finger foods) so they gain feel with dissimilar textures and flavors. Cull or prepare baby nutrient in the thickest texture that baby is ready for. Motion to the next phase when the baby has mastered that texture.

Learn more about the baby food textures in this video from BuonaPappa:

---	Texture	Ingredients	When is babe prepare?	Ages to feed (gauge)
Stage 1	Polish, watery, thinly pureed	I ingredient at a time	When they're ready for solids	4-6 months old
Phase 2	Thick, mashed or strained	Multiple soft ingredients blended together	Right after they've mastered thin purees	6-8 months onetime
Stage 3	Mesomorphic, lumpy	Multiple soft ingredients in bigger pieces	Later they've mastered the chewing needed for thick purees	8-xi months sometime

Stage 1 Babe Food: Sparse, Elementary, Watery Purees

Stage 1 infant foods are the simplest purees, meant for babies who are just starting solids (approximately iv-six months former) . They are the thinnest baby foods, with no chunks or lumps. These baby foods are watery plenty that they'll easily drip off of a spoon.

Stage 1 purees are almost e'er made with one ingredient --- well-nigh normally, one fruit or one vegetable. Sometimes sparse purees with simply i pureed meat also fall into stage i.

Start with small spoonfuls, and don't be alarmed if the food comes correct out of your baby's oral cavity when y'all first starting time (they need to get used to swallowing).

If you recollect it'south helpful to go baby accustomed to the nutrient, you can sparse out the puree fifty-fifty more with some breastmilk or formula, and then stop calculation the breastmilk or formula once baby is used to swallowing the diluted version.

Examples of stage ane infant foods:

• Mango puree
• Huckleberry puree
• Avocado puree
• Pear puree
• Carrot puree
• Smooth chicken puree

Stage 2 Baby Nutrient: Thicker, Multi-Ingredient Blends

Phase 2 baby foods are thicker mixtures that contain blends of multiple ingredients --- fruits, vegetables, proteins, and/or grains.

Fifty-fifty though they are sometimes called "thicker purees," they may be strained or mashed instead of pureed.  They're normally meant for babies between 6 and eight months of age --- of course, every baby is different.

Although phase ii purees are thicker than stage one purees, and although they may include extremely pocket-sized pieces of softer foods, stage two purees are still fairly shine.

Phase 2 purees are meant to start getting babies used to different textures and flavor combinations.

So, once baby has mastered the thinner purees of stage ane, it'southward recommended to motility them to stage two as shortly as possible. This will broaden their palates and introduce them to more textures, giving them a head offset on a lifetime of audacious eating.

Introducing a variety of healthy flavors and textures encourages babe to choose and bask these foods afterward in life, and helps fight off future picky eating periods. This too builds their conviction in chewing and munching more foods.

Don't be alarmed if baby gags once they start stage ii baby foods. That'southward just a natural way that baby's body protects them from choking, equally they start to explore the new textures for the showtime time. Merely think to start slowly when infant first moves to stage two, to assist them adapt.

Examples of stage two babe foods:

• Zucchini, apple, spinach and chicken blend
• Sweetness spud with pear and pepper
• Apple, greenish beans and broccoli blend
• Blueberry, mango and avocado mix
• This list from Baby Foode has even more than stage 2 baby food ideas.

Stage three Baby Food: Mesomorphic, Lumpy Blends

Stage three baby foods are chunky and lumpy. They contain larger pieces of soft foods that railroad train baby to develop munching and chewing skills (since munching and chewing are learned, not innate, behaviors). They're meant for babies who have mastered the stage 2 textures and who are fix to explore a wider texture variety.

Stage 3 purees are designed for babies between 8 and 11 months of historic period. Once again, though, every baby is different, so some babies will be ready sooner than others.

If you haven't already, this stage is an ideal fourth dimension to introduce baby to soft, baby-safety finger foods , to build upwardly babe's palate and chewing confidence even more. (Or, you might choose to wait a bit, until baby has started to master the stage 3 blends, before starting finger foods.)

Examples of stage 3 baby foods:

• Check out this article for our vii favorite stage 3 baby food ideas!

Approaches To Feeding Babe: How Baby Food Stages May Fit In

Surprisingly,  you don't accept to follow the iii-phase arroyo exactly in club when introducing solids. Rather, there are iii chief approaches to feeding baby, and the babe nutrient stages fit in in different ways.

Infant-led weaning : If you choose this approach, yous skip all the "stages" of baby food. Instead, you introduce finger foods right away when baby is ready for solids.

Stages in order, then finger foods: In this arroyo, you closely follow the 3 "stages" of baby food, introducing a new "stage" as soon as baby has mastered the last one. Then, you just introduce finger foods after infant masters the chunky purees of stage 3.

Purees + finger foods sooner: This approach introduces babe food "stages" and finger foods at the same fourth dimension. First, introduce a few stage ane purees. And so, afterwards baby has eaten their commencement few smooth purees, start introducing finger foods. Feed them both the finger foods and phase 2 meals. And then, movement to phase 3 meals alongside finger foods.

All 3 of these approaches are completely healthy ways to feed babe.

However, there are several things to go along in mind, especially if you decide to take baby through the baby food stages before starting finger foods.

Things To Keep In Listen When Feeding Baby: Making The Best Choices

• Innovate a wide diversity of healthy flavors (we can't emphasize this enough!) to encourage babe to become a lifelong healthy and adventurous eater.
• Progressing through the unlike baby food stages every bit soon every bit baby is ready, and introducing finger foods, makes introducing diverse flavors easier.

• Introduce baby to a variety of textures as well (smooth, mashed, thick and lumpy), so they're ready to confidently explore different foods.
• Think that babies are non born knowing how to swallow, munch and chew. These are learned skills that take practise. Introducing a variety of textures helps infant build conviction in these skills.
• As soon as infant masters i category of texture, challenge them with thicker textures.

• Even though texture diversity is vital, if you're making your own baby food , you'll need to stick to softer nutrient ingredients to minimize choking risk.

• Follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines for feeding children under the age of two:
• Introduce a wide variety of foods from all good for you food groups.
• Prioritize fruits and vegetables, in a variety of colors.
• Introduce proteins like meat, fish, seafood, eggs, soy products, nut products, and seed products.
• As far as grains, focus on whole grains.
• Option foods high in iron and zinc.
• Introduce age-appropriate forms of common allergy-causing foods, similar "peanut, egg, moo-cow milk products, tree basics, wheat, crustacean shellfish, fish, and soy."

• Avoid babe foods with added sugar. Children under 2 years of historic period don't need added carbohydrate, says the USDA.
• Feeding added sugar puts babies at chance for preferring overly sweet foods later in life, so it may encourage  unhealthy eating habits.

• Avoid baby foods that are high in sodium. Also, avert any rice-based ingredients in baby foods, because rice is high in arsenic.

• Aim to innovate finger foods at or before 9 months of historic period, regardless of which baby food stage your baby is currently on. This will help them get used to gagging and finger foods, and so they won't exist broken-hearted about their natural gag reflex.
• Gagging is a perfectly normal fashion that babies' bodies protect them from choking. But most their first altogether, babies beginning acquiring fears. Babies could commencement to fright gagging and finger foods if these foods aren't introduced early enough.

Introducing Allergy-Causing Foods While Feeding Baby Food

USDA guidelines recommend introducing common allergy-causing foods during baby's showtime year of life, in age-appropriate ways. But it tin can be difficult to introduce these foods when your babe is only eating purees.

For an like shooting fish in a barrel, safe manner to introduce these foods, Ready, Gear up, Food! fully mixes with babe's puree, to requite your babe the all-time take chances at food freedom subsequently in life.

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All health-related content on this website is for advisory purposes only and does not create a dr.-patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own pediatrician in connectedness with any questions regarding your infant'due south health.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or forestall whatever disease.

Encounter the FDA Peanut Allergy Qualified Health Claim at the bottom of our homepage.

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Source: https://readysetfood.com/blogs/community/guide-to-baby-food-stages

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