(c) Can Stock Photo / tycoon
It is surprisingly interesting to learn that what your baby eats and how you start that journey is not the same way in every other country. As other events like celebrations, holidays or weddings, or just some simple things, baby feeding also has different approaches in various countries. You may think if there is something prescribed by the pediatrician, then it will be an option for everyone. However, it so appears that all of the countries have their separate ways of feeding babies. Here are some of the examples:
Australia
People are starting feed their babies with solid food from 4 to 6 months, depending on different cases. They are starting with the rice cereal as a main offering.
United States
Here as well, Babies were used to start their tasting of solid food with rice cereal, however nowadays, it mostly has no differentiation. This means, baby can have various food starting from 6 months.
Sweden
Feeding babies from 6 months starts in Sweden with mainly fruits. Most likely those fruits will be bananas. Sometimes they can be changed with the mashed vegetables or oatmeal.
India
In India, babies are starting tasting solid food with the traditional dish called khichdi, which is prepared from rice and lentils. However, this is not the only interesting thing about baby feeding in India. Starting from the 6 months’ babies here are also getting introduced to some spices such as the cinnamon, turmeric and coriander.
East Asia and China
Babies here are being fed with the dish called xifan, which is a homemade porridge. This offering may be followed by mashed vegetables or fruits, fish and tofu.
Japan
A popular way of feeding babies in Japan is giving the baby a dish called okayu. This is again a rice porridge, however this one is mixed with other ingredients as well. Those ingredients can be dried fish and vegetables. Sometimes mashed pumpkin is also used as an option.
Kenya
Another interesting way of starting the baby feeding: In Kenya babies start tasting the solid food with sweet potatoes. This is done in order to add some Vitamin A into the baby diet.
France
France is one of the countries where rice cereal is not the first thing mothers would think first for their children. Here, they would mainly start the feeding with some soups, beets and spinach. Sounds interesting right? Another interesting fact from France is that before the 1-year-old, babies are already getting introduced to soft cheeses or quinoa.
Mexico
Mexican mothers start the feeding of their babies with some rice, soups and beans. However, we all know the famous spices of Mexico, so that couldn’t me missed from our attention. Mexicans are usually spices some things up with their traditional spices to make things tastier. And they do this for babies as well. Just adding some lime or chili powder on fruits, like oranges or apples would be a great start for the child.
Vietnam
Here are how things are done in Vietnam: babies usually are being fed with some soups which can include different ingredients for flavor. Those ingredients may be some pork bones, potatoes or carrots. The soup can also be seasoned with fish sauce.
Jamaica
For the beginning we should say, that babies are starting tasting the solid foods in Jamaica from 4 months. And they are usually being fed with fruit blends or just simple fruits. Those may be banana, mango, apple or even mango. Those fruits can be either mixed or given separately. A teaspoon of honey is added to the fruits so that it will give some flavor to them.
As you could see from the above mentioned examples things are really done in different ways in various countries. Different parts of the world know what their babies need or want in their countries so they are just doing it. Some things that are strange in one country may be pretty normal in another. You just got to find the way that your baby needs and start feeding.
