Weaning truths and myths

What are the best first foods?

First fruits: Apple, pear, banana, papaya and avocado.

First vegetables: Carrot, potato, swede, parsnip, pumpkin, butternut squash and sweet potato.

Banana and papaya do not require cooking provided they are ripe and can be pureed or mashed on their own or together with a little breast or formula milk.

A banana is very nutritious and makes ideal convenience food for babies as it comes in its own sterile package! If you warm it in a microwave, it's even easier to mash, but mix it round and let it cool down a little before giving it to your baby. You can also mix mashed banana with a little of your baby's usual milk. Bananas are not suitable for freezing.

Another good first food is baby rice. Mixed with water, breast or formula milk, it's easily digested and its milky taste makes an easy transition to solids. Choose one that is sugar free and enriched with vitamins and iron. Baby rice combines well with both fruit and vegetable purees.

Recently, the advice was to introduce each new food separately with a space of three days before introducing another food. However, unless there is a history of allergy or you are concerned about your baby's reaction to a certain food, there is no reason why new foods should not be introduced on consecutive days, provided you keep to the list of best first foods.

First foods need to be semi-liquid and as much like milk in consistency as possible so that they are easy to swallow. At first add breast milk, formula or a little cooled boiled tap water to thin the puree. Your baby's purees should not be made up with tap water that has not been boiled but only with the water from the bottom of the steamer or the cooking liquid if boiling vegetables in a saucepan.

A baby's food should be given at room temperature or lukewarm. It should not be too hot as babies' palates are very sensitive. If re-heating in a microwave, heat until piping hot all the way through, allow to cool then stir thoroughly to get rid of any hot spots. Check the temperature before giving it to your baby.

It may be a good idea to give your baby a little milk immediately before his solids as he may be more receptive to this new way of eating if he is not frantically hungry.