1St solid foods for baby

When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods | Nutrition

For more information about how to know if your baby is ready to starting eating foods, what first foods to offer, and what to expect, watch these videos from 1,000 Days.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children be introduced to foods other than breast milk or infant formula when they are about 6 months old. Introducing foods before 4 months old is not recommended. Every child is different. How do you know if your child is ready for foods other than breast milk or infant formula? You can look for these signs that your child is developmentally ready.

Your child:

Sits up alone or with support.
Is able to control head and neck.
Opens the mouth when food is offered.
Swallows food rather than pushes it back out onto the chin.
Brings objects to the mouth.
Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or food.
Transfers food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow.

What Foods Should I Introduce to My Child First?

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that for most children, you do not need to give foods in a certain order. Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months old. By the time he or she is 7 or 8 months old, your child can eat a variety of foods from different food groups. These foods include infant cereals, meat or other proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurts and cheeses, and more.

If your child is eating infant cereals, it is important to offer a variety of fortifiedalert icon infant cereals such as oat, barley, and multi-grain instead of only rice cereal. Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration because there is a risk for children to be exposed to arsenic. Visit the U.S. Food & Drug Administrationexternal icon to learn more.

How Should I Introduce My Child to Foods?

Your child needs certain vitamins and minerals to grow healthy and strong.

Now that your child is starting to eat food, be sure to choose foods that give your child all the vitamins and minerals they need.

Click here to learn more about some of these vitamins & minerals.

Let your child try one single-ingredient food at a time at first. This helps you see if your child has any problems with that food, such as food allergies. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new food. Before you know it, your child will be on his or her way to eating and enjoying lots of new foods.

Introduce potentially allergenic foods when other foods are introduced.

Potentially allergenic foods include cow’s milk products, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, and sesame. Drinking cow’s milk or fortified soy beverages is not recommended until your child is older than 12 months, but other cow’s milk products, such as yogurt, can be introduced before 12 months. If your child has severe eczema and/or egg allergy, talk with your child’s doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods with peanuts.

How Should I Prepare Food for My Child to Eat?

At first, it’s easier for your child to eat foods that are mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. As your baby’s oral skills develop, thicker and lumpier foods can be introduced.

Some foods are potential choking hazards, so it is important to feed your child foods that are the right texture for his or her development. To help prevent choking, prepare foods that can be easily dissolved with saliva and do not require chewing. Feed small portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always watch your child while he or she is eating.

Here are some tips for preparing foods:

Mix cereals and mashed cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to make it smooth and easy for your baby to swallow.
Mash or puree vegetables, fruits and other foods until they are smooth.
Hard fruits and vegetables, like apples and carrots, usually need to be cooked so they can be easily mashed or pureed.
Cook food until it is soft enough to easily mash with a fork.
Remove all fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish, before cooking.
Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit, and then cut the fruit into small pieces.
Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices.
Cut cylindrical foods like hot dogs, sausage and string cheese into short thin strips instead of round pieces that could get stuck in the airway.
Cut small spherical foods like grapes, cherries, berries and tomatoes into small pieces.
Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.

Learn more about potential choking hazards and how to prevent your child from choking.

Top of Page

Feeding Your 4- to 7-Month-Old (for Parents)

Most babies this age are ready to try solid foods. Experts recommend starting solid foods when a baby is about 6 months old, depending on the baby's readiness and nutritional needs.

Be sure to check with your doctor before giving any solid foods.

Is My Baby Ready to Eat Solid Foods?

How can you tell if your baby is ready for solids? Here are a few hints:

Does your baby swallow food or push it out of their mouth? Babies have a natural tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food back out. Wait until this reflex disappears (typically when babies are 4–6 months old).
Can your baby support their own head? To eat solid food, an infant needs good head and neck control and should be able to sit up.
Is your baby interested in food? Babies who stare, reach and grab, and open their mouths for food are ready to try solid foods.

If your doctor gives the go-ahead but your baby seems frustrated or uninterested in solid foods, try waiting a few days before trying again. Breast milk and formula will still meet nutritional needs as your baby learns to eat solid foods. But after 6 months, babies need the added nutrition — like iron and zinc — that solid foods provide.

Do not add cereal or other food to your baby's bottle because it can lead to too much weight gain.

Watch for signs that your child is hungry or full. Respond to these cues and let your child stop when full. A child who is full may suck with less enthusiasm, stop, or turn away from the breast or the bottle. With solid foods, they may turn away, refuse to open their mouth, or spit the food out.

How Should I Start Feeding My Baby Solid Foods?

When your baby is ready and the doctor says it’s OK to try solid foods, pick a time of day when your baby is not tired or cranky. You want your baby to be a little hungry, but not so hungry that they’re upset. So you might want to give your baby a little breast milk or formula first.

Have your baby sit supported in your lap or in a high chair with a safety strap.

Most babies' first food is iron-fortified infant single-grain cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. Place the spoon near your baby's lips, and let the baby smell and taste it. Don't be surprised if this first spoonful is rejected. Wait a minute and try again. Most food offered to your baby at this age will end up on the baby's chin, bib, or high-chair tray. Again, this is just an introduction.

When your little one gets the hang of eating cereal off a spoon, it may be time to try single-ingredient puréed meat, vegetables, or fruit. The order in which you give them doesn't matter, but go slow. Offer foods that are high in iron and zinc — such as meat, poultry, eggs, and beans — especially if your baby is breastfeeding. Try one food at a time and wait several days before trying something else new. This will let you identify any foods that your baby may be allergic to.

Which Foods Should I Avoid?

Foods that are more likely to cause allergies can be among the foods you introduce to your baby. These include peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies. Talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about food allergies, especially if any close family members have allergies, food allergies, or allergy-related conditions, like eczema or asthma.

Infants with severe eczema or egg allergies are more likely to have allergies to peanuts. Talk to your doctor about how and when to introduce these foods to your child.

Possible signs of food allergy or allergic reactions include:

rash
bloating or an increase in gassiness
diarrhea
vomiting

Get medical care right away if your baby has a more severe allergic reaction, like hives, drooling, wheezing, or trouble breathing.

If your child has any type of reaction to a food, don't offer that food again until you talk with your doctor.

Babies shouldn't have:

foods with added sugars and no-calorie sweeteners
high-sodium foods
honey, until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
regular cow's milk or soy beverages before 12 months instead of breast milk or formula. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts

Tips for Feeding Your Baby Solid Foods

With the hectic pace of family life, most parents try commercially prepared baby foods at first. They come in small, convenient containers, and manufacturers must meet strict safety and nutrition guidelines.

If you prepare your own baby foods at home, here are some things to keep in mind:

Follow the rules for food safety, including washing your hands well and often.
To preserve the nutrients in your baby's food, cook it in ways that keep the most vitamins and minerals. Try steaming or baking fruits and vegetables instead of boiling, which washes away the nutrients.
Freeze portions that you aren't going to use right away.
Whether you buy the baby food or make it yourself, texture and consistency are important. At first, babies should have finely puréed single-ingredient foods. (Just applesauce, for example, not apples and pears mixed together.)
After your baby is eating individual foods, it's OK to offer a puréed mix of two foods. As babies get older, they will learn to eat a greater variety of tastes and textures.
If you use prepared baby food in jars, spoon some of the food into a bowl to feed your baby. Do not feed your baby right from the jar — bacteria from the baby's mouth can contaminate the remaining food. If you refrigerate opened jars of baby food, it's best to throw away anything not eaten within a day or two.
Around 6 months of age is a good time for your baby to try a cup. You might need to try a few cups to find one that works for your child. Use water at first to avoid messy clean-ups. Do not give juice to infants younger than 12 months.

Over the next few months, introduce a variety of foods from all the food groups. If your baby doesn't seem to like something, don’t give up. It can take 8 to 10 tries or more before babies learn to like new foods.

the first solid food in the baby's diet

No sooner have you got used to breastfeeding, enter into a routine, adapt to convenient feeding, as the next and very important stage lies ahead - the introduction of solid food into the baby's diet.

Most babies are ready for solid foods by about six months, but it's not really age dependent, it depends on your baby's development. The baby should be able to swallow solid food. And this means that he needs to learn how to work with his tongue, to press it correctly against the palate.

Your friends or relatives may put pressure on you to introduce solid foods as soon as possible. Many people believe that a child will really fill up with solid food and sleep well. But there is no evidence that this statement is true. The best way to know if your child is ready for solid foods is to check with your doctor.

How do you know if a baby is ready for solid foods?

By answering these questions, you will understand the degree of readiness of your child:

Can your child sit with support?

Does he hold his head confidently, twist it in different directions, turn towards the sound, turn away from the nipple when he doesn't need it?

Is he really able to move food with his tongue, from the teeth to the palate?

How can I help my child learn to eat solid foods?

First of all, take your time. Arrange a comfortable place for the child. It can be a chair for feeding or an infant seat. If you want, you can keep it on your lap. Use a plastic spoon with a long handle. Start feeding with very small portions. If the child refuses, do not insist. For a week, the amount of food can be brought up to two tablespoons.

First solid food. Which?

Most likely, the doctor will advise you to start complementary foods with rice porridge. Rice is the least allergen for a child. Gradually, you can introduce oatmeal and barley porridge. But remember - the more porridge the baby eats, the less breast milk he will drink. Your task is to leave milk as the main component of nutrition for at least a year.

The next step is fruits and vegetables.

Once your child gets used to grains, you can start adding other foods. First, try boiled fruits and vegetables. To begin with, choose only one fruit (for example, an apple) and one vegetable (for example, a pumpkin). Make a puree from boiled fruits or vegetables - it should be completely homogeneous, without lumps, so that it is easy for the child to chew and swallow. Over time, minced meat from turkey or beef can be added to vegetables.

When introducing any food component, wait at least a week before introducing another. Thus, you will clearly track whether any product gives an allergy, how the child reacts to this or that food.

Start drinking from a cup

Start drinking from a cup when your baby is about 6 months old. For starters - from a drinker with a narrow neck. Give your child time to get comfortable with this new skill. After that, regularly give him a cup, of course one that cannot be broken. Be prepared for the fact that the child will spill a lot on himself. In no case do not scold him for this.

Variety. Need to?

You probably don't like to eat the same food every day. But the same cannot be said for a child. Children are wary of new tastes, in addition, the body of a small person is not adapted to a wide variety. You should introduce new foods gradually, look at the reaction of the child - what he likes and what not. In addition, you can diversify the menu with serving - for example, cut out funny figures from a carrot or an apple. The kid will love it.

Meal time is a time of tenderness

When you breastfed your baby, it was not only a process of eating, but also a time of tenderness and closeness for mother and baby. You don't have to give it up now that you're introducing solid food. Make every lunch or dinner a little adventure. Let the whole family gather at the table more often, let the child feel that he is a full member of a friendly, cheerful family.

25332

Other news in this section:

What to do when mother does not have milk? Israeli pediatricians recommend: "Materna"
WHO published the name of the best adapted infant formula
Baby food 2013: hot topics of the year
Childish disobedience at the table as a way of knowing the world
Timing of weaning affects the risk of diabetes

Introduction of solid food into the child's diet.

Our child.

Contents:

There is no fixed time frame for introducing solid foods into a child's diet
Before or after milk?
What should a spoon be like?
If your baby doesn't like porridge
Fruit

This chapter explains how it was right to introduce complementary foods 30-40 years ago, but today's recommendations for feeding children under one year old are somewhat different. This also applies to the timing of the introduction of new food, and the methods of its preparation - today it would not occur to anyone to scrape a fried piece of meat for a 6-month-old baby or boil fruit.

There is no fixed time frame for introducing solid food into a child's diet.

Fifty years ago it was only introduced after a year. Then doctors began to try to introduce it earlier and earlier and found that children willingly accept such food and it has a beneficial effect on them. For two reasons, it makes sense to start solid foods in the first half of the first year. At this age, children do not care what they eat, and as they get older, they become more picky. Solid foods contain substances, especially iron, that are rare or non-existent in milk.

Nowadays, doctors usually recommend the introduction of solid foods between the first and fourth month. Introducing solid foods too early does not provide much benefit. In the first 2-3 months, the child gets everything he needs from milk. His digestive system is still imperfect and almost does not absorb starch.

When deciding at what age to introduce solid foods to a child's diet, the doctor takes into account both the child's appetite and his digestive system.

For example, if a baby is not getting enough breastmilk at 6 weeks and is starving, solid foods can be introduced into his diet, thereby avoiding other types of supplemental artificial nutrition. If a formula-fed baby has a slightly loose stool all the time, your doctor will advise you to wait with the introduction of solid foods so as not to irritate the baby's digestive organs. Often mothers are afraid to be even one day behind neighbors and acquaintances who have already introduced solid food, and persuade the doctor to allow them to do the same.

Before or after milk?

Most children who have never tried solid food refuse it, expecting milk as usual. So start with milk at first, and after a month or two try solid food at the beginning or in the middle of feeding, when the baby realizes that solid food satisfies hunger just as well as milk.

How big should a spoon be?

A regular teaspoon is too big for a small child's mouth. And many types of spoons are too deep, making it difficult for a child to remove food from them. It is better to feed your baby with a coffee spoon with a flatter bottom. Some mothers use wooden sticks (the same ones that doctors use when examining a baby's throat).

Porridge

The order in which the different types of solid food are introduced does not matter. Usually, porridge is given first. The only drawback of cereals is their taste, which many children do not like. Different children prefer different cereals. It is better if you teach your child to all kinds of cereals.

Give him time to fall in love with porridge

Usually, doctors recommend starting with 1 teaspoon of porridge, gradually increasing the amount to 2-3 tablespoons if the child likes porridge and does not cause stomach upset. Let him only taste the porridge for a few days. Increase the portion if the child likes the porridge. Take your time!

It is a hilarious sight when a child tastes solid food for the first time. His face is filled with bewilderment and disgust. He wrinkles his nose and forehead. Don't blame him for it. In the end, this is really a completely new taste and texture for him. Besides, he's not used to the spoon yet. When a baby suckles at the breast, the milk automatically goes to the right place. But at first he does not know what to do with solid food when it enters his mouth. He will not immediately learn to grab food with the front of the tongue and move it down the throat. At first, the child makes a sucking movement with his tongue and most of the porridge ends up on his chin. You will have to make more and more attempts, but do not despair - a little porridge still ends up in his stomach. And over time, he will learn to eat solid food. Just be patient.

It doesn't matter which feeding you give him porridge. But do not give it during those hours when the child is not very hungry. Usually porridge is offered at 10 o'clock in the morning feeding or at 6 o'clock in the evening. At first, cook the porridge very thin, not much thicker than milk, then it will be easier for the child to swallow it and it will not seem too strange to him. In addition, children usually do not like sticky foods. If you are formula feeding your baby, you can use part of his daily milk to make porridge. But, as a rule, children prefer to drink their usual portion of milk, in addition to porridge. So, you may have to use regular pasteurized or powdered milk to make porridge. Of course, you can cook porridge with water. But it is unlikely that the child will like it.

What cereals?

Mothers usually give powdered cereals to their children. There are several varieties of these cereals.

If there is a hereditary allergy in the family, the doctor will advise you to wait to give porridge, and later start with rice, oatmeal or barley. Semolina porridge should be introduced only after a few months, since wheat more often than other cereals causes diathesis.

You can give your child those cereals that the whole family eats. Start with semolina porridge - it has the least fiber. By 5-6 months, you can give him pearl barley, oatmeal, rice porridge and hominy. In very young children, the fiber in pearl barley and oatmeal can cause loose stools. According to the content of vitamins and protein, semolina, oatmeal and barley porridge are the most useful. Add salt to taste.

If the child does not like porridge

Two days after you start giving porridge, it will become clear to you how your child feels about it. Some children seem to decide to themselves like this: "This is something strange in taste, but nutritious and I will eat it." After a few more days, they get completely used to the porridge and stretch their mouths to each spoon, like chicks in a nest. And other children the very next day firmly decide that they will not eat it. On the third day, they like porridge even less. Dont be upset! If you try to force a child to eat porridge against his will, he will resist even more desperately. This struggle will lead to despair and you. And after a week or two, the child may become so suspicious that he will not even want to drink milk. Porridge should be given only once a day. First, give him quite a bit of porridge, just for testing. Add sugar - maybe he will like sweet porridge more. If after 2-3 days, despite all the precautions, he still does not want to eat porridge, then wait two weeks, and then try to offer him porridge again. If he does not like it again, then consult a doctor.

It would be a huge mistake to force a child to eat his first cereal. Sometimes this is how the problem of poor appetite in a child arises. Even if this does not lead to a deterioration in appetite, unnecessary strife between mother and child should still be avoided.

If you do not have the opportunity to consult a doctor, and your child categorically refuses to eat porridge, then offer him mashed fruit. At first, the taste of fruits will also seem strange to him, but after 2-3 days, almost all children like fruits. And in another two weeks, the child will probably consider that everything that comes across on a spoon is very tasty. That's when you give him porridge.

Fruit

Fruit is usually introduced into the menu a few weeks after cereals. But some doctors recommend introducing them first, as children tend to like fruits.

In the first 6-8 months, all fruits, except bananas, are given boiled to children (fruits should be boiled in a small amount of water). Usually, children are given apples, peaches, pears, apricots, prunes, pineapples, etc. You can buy canned pureed fruits from baby food stores or give your child the same fruits as the rest of the family. Separate a portion of the fruit for the child, strain it through a sieve, and add just enough sugar to offset the sour taste. If you are giving canned fruit to your child, discard the syrup as it is too sweet for small children.

You can give fruit at any of the feedings, or even twice a day, depending on your child's appetite and how they absorb fruit. Usually fruits are given in the 14-hour or 18-hour feeding.

Give your child time to get used to each type of fruit. Most children have enough 50-60 g of fruit at a time. Cooked fruit (or canned food) can be stored for 3 days in the refrigerator. Bananas that you give to your child must be completely ripe, i.e. with black spots on the skin and light brown inside. Mash the banana well with a fork and add a little milk if the mixture is too thick.

Fruit is said to soften stools. But for most children, including newborns, the mentioned fruits, except for prunes, do not have such an effect. Prunes are a mild laxative and therefore doubly valuable for children suffering from chronic constipation. Such children can be given mashed prunes every day in one feeding and any other fruit in another.

If your child, on the contrary, easily upsets the stomach, then it is better to give him fruit once a day, and exclude prunes from the menu altogether.

In the second half of the first year, you can give your child raw fruits: apples and pears, peeled (pitted berries and grapes are usually given no earlier than 2 years).

Vegetables

Pureed boiled vegetables are introduced into the child's menu 2-4 weeks after cereals or fruits, or after both.

The most popular vegetables are beans, peas, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, beets, potatoes, celery, zucchini, pumpkin. You can give other vegetables (cauliflower and white cabbage, onions, turnips). Most children do not like the taste of these vegetables. But if your family loves any of these vegetables, then offer them to your child too (the too sharp taste of these vegetables can be softened by boiling them in two waters). Corn is not given to small children because of the tough husk.

You can give your child both fresh and frozen vegetables, boiled and pureed. You can give special canned vegetable purees.

Children are often very picky about vegetables. You may soon discover that your child does not like one or two types of vegetables. Don't push, but offer them every month. It makes no sense to force a child to eat those vegetables that he does not like when there are many other equally valuable vegetables. Many children like vegetables to be lightly salted. There is no harm in this.

At first, there will be many undigested pieces of vegetables in the baby's stool. This is normal if the stool is not liquid and there is no mucus in it. But do not rush to increase the serving of vegetables until the child's stomach adapts to them. If vegetables cause loose stools, stop giving them, and after a month start again in small portions.

Beets will turn a child's feces and urine red. We must remember that you gave the child beets, so as not to worry in vain and not to think that it was blood.

Spinach in children sometimes cracks the lips, and in some cases the mucous membrane of the anus. In this case, eliminate spinach from the child's diet for several months and then try again.

Vegetables are usually given at the 14-hour meal or at lunchtime for an older child. Gradually increase the serving of vegetables to a few tablespoons. Cooked vegetables can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. If you don't have a refrigerator, then don't leave cooked vegetables for the next day, as they spoil quickly.

Eggs

Egg yolk is a very valuable product because it contains iron. Approximately in the middle of the year, the red blood cells of the child require more and more iron due to the rapid growth of the child, who no longer has enough iron present in his blood at birth (there is practically no iron in milk, there is very little in other products).

Eggs are the most common cause of allergies, especially if everyone in the family suffers from it. The most common form of allergy is eczema (diathesis), when the skin, most commonly on the face and behind the ears, turns red, flaky, and feels hard and rough to the touch. The skin may then begin to become wet and crusty. Eczema causes itching.

To prevent allergies, try the following: Until the age of one, give only the yolk, since iron is contained in the yolk, and diathesis is usually caused by protein. Give a hard-boiled yolk (boil an egg for 20 minutes), as the longer any product is boiled, the less likely it is to be allergic.

Some children do not like the taste of egg yolk. You can salt it a little or mix it with porridge or vegetable puree. But, if because of this the child will not eat vegetables or porridge, do not insist.

Egg yolk is usually given between the 4th and 6th month, but some doctors advise waiting up to 7-8 months, especially if there is a family history of allergies.

Soft-boiled eggs and scrambled eggs are given no earlier than 9 months (mainly due to protein) and little by little, like every new kind of food.

Eggs can be given at any feeding. When you enter meat into the child’s menu, eggs can be given for breakfast or dinner, and meat for lunch.

Meat

Studies have shown that meat is very useful for children even in the first year of life. Many doctors now recommend giving meat starting at 2-6 months of age. Meat for a small child is either turned in a meat grinder several times, or rubbed through a sieve, or rubbed on a grater. Therefore, it is easy for a child to eat it, even while he has no teeth. Here is the easiest way to cook meat for a baby: scrape up the right amount of raw meat with the blunt edge of a knife or spoon and put it in a cup, which should be placed in a pot of boiling water. The meat is ready when the red color completely disappears. Milk or water can be added to the pulp, then the mass will turn out to be more juicy. Another method is to quickly fry a piece of meat to kill the bacteria on its surface, and then, holding it firmly in your hand, scrape it with a spoon. The red soft meat will be scraped off, but the veins will remain. The liver can be boiled until its color changes, and then rubbed through a sieve. Salt the meat to taste.

When the child gets used to pureed or scraped meat, he can be given meat that has been fried and minced. It is better not to use ready-made minced meat, as it contains pieces of meat that were in contact with the meat grinder and with the hands of the butchers. In addition, there is usually a lot of fat and sinew in the finished minced meat.

After the child gets used to beef, give him other types of meat: chicken, lamb, veal, liver, pork.

Pork should be cooked very carefully.

Six-month-old baby's diet

By 6 months, your baby's diet may include cereals, egg yolk, fruits, vegetables, and meats. Usually these products are distributed as follows: porridge and an egg for breakfast, meat and vegetables for lunch, porridge and fruits for dinner. However, there are no strict rules in this regard. Feed your baby in a way that is comfortable for both you and him. For example, if he is not hungry in the morning, you can give fruit and an egg for breakfast, vegetables and meat for lunch, and one porridge for dinner. If he has a strong stool, then you can give him prunes with porridge at every dinner, and additionally other fruits for breakfast.

Plain puddings

Puddings are less valuable food for a child than other meals. They add nothing new to the diet and take a long time to prepare. Fruit is in many ways a more valuable dessert. But, if you make puddings for the whole family, then you can give them to a small child after 6 months.

Sometimes puddings can do a good job. For example, a one-year-old child may suddenly completely refuse to drink milk. And with pudding, he can get about 200-250 g of milk. It happens that a child eats very little of each dish at dinner, then in addition to fruit, you can give him pudding. Puddings are also good substitutes for cereals if the child has fallen out of love with them (then for dinner you give him fruit and pudding or vegetables and pudding). Desserts that include gelatin are beneficial because of the fruits they contain. Gelatin itself is of no value for the nutrition of the child.

If your child loves fruit, digests it well, and drinks enough milk, you don't need to make regular puddings for him. The child must eat raw and boiled fruits at least every other day.

Potatoes and starch

Potatoes are good for lunch for a child with a good appetite or for dinner instead of porridge. In addition to starch, potatoes contain significant amounts of iron, mineral salts and vitamin C.

Boiled or baked potatoes are introduced into the child's diet in the second half of the first year. When you transfer the child to three meals a day, the potatoes will make his lunch more satisfying.

But often children choke on potatoes. Therefore, first dilute the boiled potatoes with plenty of milk to make a semi-liquid mass, and give it in small quantities until the child gets used to it. Salt to taste. If the child does choke, forget about potatoes for at least a month, and then try again.

If your child is rather fat and full of a meal of vegetables, meat, milk and fruit, do not give him potatoes, which will not add anything new to his diet.

Pasta and noodles can be substituted for potatoes from time to time. At first, they must be wiped through a sieve or thoroughly kneaded with a fork.

Fish

At 10-12 months, you can introduce white lean fish, such as perch, cod, flounder, into your baby's menu. If the child does not like fish, do not insist. Fish can be simmered or put into a bowl, pour milk over it and put in a pot of boiling water. Cook until done. You can give your child baked, boiled or fried fish prepared for the rest of the family. In any case, crumble the fish with your fingers and take out all the bones.

Sometimes you can have fish for lunch instead of meat. Unfortunately, many children do not like fish. Don't try to force feed them. Fatty varieties of fish are more difficult to digest and are less popular with children.

Food that can be eaten in the hand

By 6-7 months the baby is able to hold food in the hand. At this age, he wants to chew. In addition, it is a good preparation for independent eating later, for about a year. If a child has never been allowed to eat with his hands, then he is unlikely to have a desire to eat with a spoon.

Children are usually given a crust of dry bread, crackers or biscuits first. The child chews with his gums and sucks (perhaps his gums are itching due to the growth of teeth, then biting will give him more pleasure). Gradually, the bread dissolves in his saliva and some goes into his mouth, so that the child feels that he is achieving something. Of course, most of the bread ends up on the face, hair, furniture and clothes.

After 9 months, your baby's food will be mashed with a fork instead of mashed. Leave a few pieces whole (for example, carrots, beans). The child will take these pieces with his hands and chew them. He may also chew raw apple or pear slices.

Usually the first teeth appear around 7 months of age, and by the age of 1 year a child may have 4 to 6 sharp front teeth. But until he has molars, don't expect him to chew effectively.

Between 9 and 12 months, start giving your baby chunks of food.

If you continue to feed your baby only pureed food in the second year of life, it will become more and more difficult for you to make this change. Many people think that a child is not able to cope with bits of food until he has enough teeth. This is wrong. In fact, he can chew pieces of boiled vegetables, fruits, or cookies with his gums and tongue.

It happens occasionally that a child chokes on pieces of food, because that is how his larynx is arranged. But more often than not, it's because either he was moved from puree to chunks too abruptly and too late, or his mother forced him to eat when he didn't feel like it.

There are two important things to remember when moving from pureed food to chunks: First, the change must be gradual. First, knead the food thoroughly with a fork and put it in the child's mouth in very small portions. As the child gets used to the new texture of the food, make the pieces bigger and bigger. Another way to teach a child to eat in pieces is as follows: have him take a piece of food with his fingers, such as a cube of carrots, and put it in his mouth. If you try to put a full spoonful of pieces in his mouth, then this may instill in him an aversion to such a consistency of food.

It is not necessary to give all food in the form of pieces. To get the child used to this innovation, it is enough to give him only part of the food in the form of pieces every day.

Keep turning the meat carefully as it is difficult for a child to chew a whole piece. Often children chew the same piece of meat for a long time and nothing happens. But they are afraid to swallow unchewed meat.