After a perfect start with nature's best food, there comes a time when your baby will be ready for other foods. Up until this time, your baby's gut has been soothed and coated, and his nutritional needs were perfectly met by breast milk. It is an ideal food – unsurpassed in quality and nutrition – and that makes it a hard act to follow!

It stands to reason that when it comes to starting solids mothers have many questions: Why? When? What?

Why in the world would we start adding something to Baby's diet that is going to cause more work for Mom (stinky diapers, changes in the perfect GI flora and possible allergies or tummy upsets)? The main reason is iron.

At some point, the iron supply your baby was born with will begin to dwindle, and breast milk has easily-absorbed but low iron content. Iron needs to be added to your baby's diet to assure that his iron levels stay at a healthy level. As he becomes more active, he also needs more protein and calories to help with weight gain.

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