Review which foods you should avoid feeding your baby, such as honey, egg whites, and cow's milk, and whether or not your baby needs vitamins, as you figure out your baby's feeding schedule.
Foods to Avoid
Just as important as knowing when to start each food, you should know which baby foods to avoid during your baby's first year, including:
- honey (botulism risk)
- egg whites (food allergy risk)
- homemade baby food made with beets, carrots, collard greens, spinach, and turnips (high nitrate levels)
- cow's milk (no iron and not tolerated as well as breastmilk or baby formula)
- foods that are a choking hazard
Vitamins
Does your baby need vitamins?
Everyone needs vitamins. The real question is does your baby need extra vitamins that he isn't getting from the foods he is eating?
Your baby needs:
- iron, which he can get from an iron-fortified baby cereal and later, other iron rich foods
- fluoride, which he can get from drinking fluoridated water, keeping in mind that most brands of bottled water are not fluoridated
- vitamin D, which he can get from baby formula, although exclusively breastfeeding babies will need a vitamin D supplement
Source:
AAP Policy Statement. Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk. PEDIATRICS Vol. 115 No. 2 February 2005, pp. 496-506.
