Best First Foods for Baby

Now that you know your baby is ready to try some foods, the question is, what do you feed them?

Most pediatricians recommend iron fortified rice cereal for baby's first food, but Mama Natural ain't buying it. First, it's a processed food, which isn't good for anyone. Secondly, I think the iron found in breast milk is a lot easier for baby to digest.

Here are the top five foods I recommend to start your baby on.

Avocado. This is a wonderful food, loaded with monounsaturated fats, vitamins, and enzymes. This is the first food Griffin ever tasted. We live in such a sugar-laden world, I loved giving him something that was filling and creamy as his first taste.

Bananas. An electrolyte dream, filled with calcium, magnesium, potassium, and on and on. It's also really easy to serve. Just peel, mash it up with a fork, and serve. It's a great treat for your baby and really easy to digest.

Carrots. These are a great first vegetable for baby. If you steam them, they're really easy to digest, easier than greens and other vegetables. They're also sweet, which babies like. And they're loaded with vitamin A, beta-carotene, and other wonderful vitamins and minerals.

Squashes. I'm choosing these over yams, oatmeal, and other complex carbohydrates. Squashes are monosaccharides and easy for babies to digest, as opposed to the more complex polysaccharides found in those other foods. They're a great source of carbohydrates as well as loads of vitamins.

Pears. The least acidic fruit, pears are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and copper. And they're delicious.

The great thing about all these foods is you can mix and match and create a whole host of flavors for your babies.