What are the best foods for the babies when they start teething?
When your baby is between 4 to 7 months, her first pair of teeth will sprout from the gums. Usually, the two bottom incisors will emerge first followed by the top incisors. The rest will emerge afterward. Since babies are different, don’t be worried if your baby’s teeth are coming in out of order. The good thing is that they should grow by the time they reach their 31st month.
As the teeth sprout from the gums, your baby is going to experience some pain and discomfort in the gums as a result of the swelling of the gums as the teeth emerge. This will affect her appetite since she will be reluctant to eat.
Chewing will be a little difficult and painful. Should you give her solid foods, ensure that you choose foods that will help ease her pain, but most importantly, she should be able to enjoy the foods. Here is a list of 7 foods that will be good for your baby when she starts teething.
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Avocados
Avocados are one of the soft foods that your baby will love since she will have no difficulties trying to chew them.
This fruit-vegetable is good for your baby since it contains healthy nutrients together with unsaturated fats that will ensure that your baby does not miss out on some of the most important nutrients during this time that her appetite is on the low.
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Yoghurt
Try giving your baby some yoghurt and see how she will love it. Dairy products are rich in calcium and vitamin D that are essential for healthy and strong teeth and bones. She will enjoy it since yoghurt will not cause pain to her sore and painful gums since there will be no chewing involved.
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Mashed sweet potatoes
Most babies will love sweet potatoes since they are naturally sweet and very soft when cooked and mashed. They will also find it easy to eat with no discomfort to their sore gums.
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Eggs
Eggs are packed with a lot of goodies inside a shell. The egg white is packed with lots and lots of proteins. The yolk is packed with all the vitamins A, D and B12 together with nutrients like choline that dieticians say facilitate brain development.
Eggs are very soft and will be easy to chew even if her gums are painful. However, ensure that your baby is not allergic to eggs before you start giving her. Too many eggs are also not good for her health.
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Carrots
Cooked carrots have that natural sweetness that will not only be appealing to you but to your baby too. You can cook the carrots until they are soft after which you puree them for the baby. Carrots contain an antioxidant called Beta-carotene that is changed to vitamin A by the body and helps to promote growth and healthy vision.
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Baby cereal
Now that she can’t chew properly, this is the right time you can give her some baby cereals, especially iron-fortified cereals. You can also mix the iron fortified cereals with purees like plum and peach to make them thicker and a bit solid.
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Bread
Bread is very soft and will easily dissolve in the mouth hence there will be no chewing required. It will be one of the foods that will become your baby’s favourite during this period when she is teething.
What are the signs that my baby is teething?
The teething process will sometimes make your baby a little uncomfortable. Here are the signs that will let you know when she has started teething, or she is about to.
- Swollen gums which will sometimes turn red.
- Excess saliva in the mouth which will result in heavy drooling.
- Poor sleeping especially at night.
- Reduced appetite and sometimes total refusal to eat.
- Frequent sucking and rubbing on the gums.
On the whole, when your baby start teething, your baby may become reluctant to eat and will frown at the site of food. At this time, she might start to prefer liquids and very soft semi-solid foods since they will not cause any discomfort and pain to her swollen gums. The foods mentioned above will help soothe her painful gums so that you won’t have to fight with her during meal times.
Having a baby food maker is a great way to prepare foods in quick time.
If her teething is making her to be so irritated and unsettled, you can help calm her by trying out some teething gel on her gums or giving her something cold to bite on to relieve the pain. Soon she will be through her teething process.