Baby feeding less 4 months

Your Baby at 4 Months | Patient Education

Patient Education A-Z

Development

Babies this age enjoy cooing and laughing as well as seeing and communicating with people. In fact, they are so interested in the world that they often would rather look around than eat. If your baby is not interested in eating, try feeding in a darkened room or use a receiving blanket to gently cover the baby's face. This may encourage the baby to focus on feeding.

Spend lots of time talking, laughing and playing "word games" with your baby. Try making a funny face or noise and see if your baby will copy you. When your baby makes a sound, copy it. In addition to "baby talk," speak to your baby in long sentences to help your baby learn language. This is a great time to begin reading stories and enjoying picture books together.

You may want to try using sign language to help your baby learn to communicate in a different way. Beginning at 6 to 8 months of age, try using a hand signal every time you use a word like "hungry" or "tired. " Babies may use sign language to let you know their needs before they can talk. The book Baby Signs covers how to use sign language with babies.

Sleeping

By 4 months of age, most babies are capable of sleeping at least six to eight hours a night.

Everyone wakes up during the night, but we learn to settle ourselves and go back to sleep. If you respond to every squirm and sound your baby makes, you're not allowing him or her to learn this important skill. If your baby is still waking at night, there are several ways to encourage longer nighttime sleep:

Develop a soothing bedtime routine. Sing or read to your baby or rock your baby at about the same time each evening.
Try to place your baby in bed drowsy but still slightly awake.
Try using a night light.
When your baby awakens, try to settle him or her without feeding. Or, if you are bottle-feeding, try giving your baby some water instead of formula. If you are breast-feeding, try feeding from only one breast. By decreasing the amount of food eaten at night, you will help your baby go longer between feedings.
Try to delay the middle-of-the-night feeding by holding your baby, offering a pacifier or letting your baby suck on your finger. Even if your baby still needs to eat after 10 or 15 minutes, prolonging the period before feeding will help your baby sleep a little longer the next night.

For more information, see the books Helping Your Child Sleep through the Night, by Cuthbertson and Schevill, or Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth.

Feeding

Breast milk or formula has all the nutrition your baby needs now, and you should continue feeding your baby with breast milk or formula for the next two months. Your baby does not need any additional food until 6 months of age. Four-month-olds still have an immature intestinal system and cannot control their muscles for chewing and swallowing, and therefore they are not ready for solid foods.

If your baby is mainly breast-fed, continue taking your prenatal vitamins and give your baby 400 units of vitamin D each day.

Teething

Teeth may appear anytime during your baby's first year of life. It is difficult to know when a tooth is erupting unless you can see or feel the tooth. Most 4-month-olds begin drooling and putting objects in their mouths, but this does not mean they are teething.

Teething makes some babies fussy or irritable. It does not cause a high fever. If your baby appears sick or has a fever, please call your baby's doctor.

If your baby seems uncomfortable due to teething, you can help by:

Letting your baby suck on a cold teething toy.
Giving acetaminophen as directed by your child's doctor. Do not use acetaminophen for more than 48 hours.
Avoiding topical medications like Orojel or Numzit, which may cause later allergies.

Safety

A few extremely important safety tips:

Falls — Your baby is becoming much more active and cannot be left unattended on a high surface like a bed or changing table. If you have to leave your baby alone, put him or her in a safe place on the floor.
Hot Liquids — Your baby can reach and grab objects now, so don't hold hot liquids or sharp objects while holding your baby.
Car Seats — Your baby should always be secured in a car seat when traveling by car or taxi. The car seat should still face backward. Babies who are accustomed to car seats behave better during car trips when they are older. Remember that you need to buckle up too.
Small Objects — As your baby learns how to hold objects and put them in his or her mouth, keep small objects out of reach to prevent choking.
Pacifiers — Don't tie or pin pacifiers to pajamas, as this may cause strangulation.
Cribs — Crib toys that stretch across the crib should be removed as your baby begins to learn how to sit. You may need to lower the mattress so your baby cannot roll out.

Immunizations

Your baby will receive a second set of immunizations at 4 months of age, followed by another checkup at 6 months. Please bring your baby's immunization card to each visit.

Used by permission of Jane E. Anderson, M.D.

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals medical specialists have reviewed this information. It is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your child's doctor or other health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any questions or concerns you may have with your child's provider.

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Your 4-month-old: Week 2 | BabyCenter

Your 4-month-old may be eating less often – which frees up more time for playing! Rattles, light-up musical toys, and baby play mats are hits now. This week, get tips on getting your partner more involved in baby care, and learn what to do if your baby gets pinkeye.

How much should my baby eat?

Your baby has a bigger tummy now and won't need to fill up as often. Your little one may be satisfied with four or five bottles a day or six to eight breastfeeding sessions. (See how much formula and breast milk babies need at different ages.)

Your baby may have doubled their birth weight by now, and they're still gaining, of course, despite their more mature eating schedule. (The content of your breast milk has also changed, with more fat and minerals to match your baby's nutritional needs.)

Don't expect maturity in their eating habits, though: Your baby is easily distracted now, and feedings can become frustrating as they stop to watch a sibling or respond to an outside noise. If possible, try to minimize distractions by feeding them in a quiet, dim room.

Your baby's playtime

By now, your baby can play with their hands and feet for a few minutes at a time. They're fond of doing one action over and over again until they're sure of the result. Then, they'll switch things up just a bit to see if the results are different. Your baby is just like a little scientist, testing and experimenting over and over.

One day you may suddenly think it's pretty quiet in the bedroom and look in, only to discover that your baby, who so far has needed your attention almost every waking moment, is amusing themself in their crib. You may have time for that second cup of coffee!

At 4 months old, your baby may love to play with toys that crinkle or rattle, an activity gym or play mat with hanging toys to kick at and grab, and light-up musical toys. See more great toys for 4-month-olds.

Getting your partner involved

If you're the primary caregiver, it may feel like a reflex by now to step in whenever your baby starts crying. But it's a good idea to give your partner the chance to be the soother, too. Not only does this give you a break (which is huge!), it adds to your partner's confidence level and provides bonding opportunities. It's also beneficial for your baby to develop flexibility in adjusting to different comforting styles.

There are plenty of techniques you can encourage your partner to use, but it's also important to leave room for them to experiment and learn.

Remind your partner to assess your baby's needs (diapering, feeding, burping) and to fulfill those first. If crying continues, your partner can try to soothe your baby by holding them close, rubbing their back, or giving them a massage.

What is pinkeye?

Pinkeye, or conjunctivitis, is an inflammation of the eye that can be caused by a virus, bacteria, or allergen. The membrane covering the whites of your baby's eyes and the insides of their eyelids (called the conjunctiva) becomes irritated. As a result, their eyes may look watery, reddish, or crusty from dried eye discharge, which can be white, yellow, or green. They may even be stuck shut in the morning. One or both eyes can be affected.

What should I do if I think my baby has pinkeye?

Call your baby's doctor immediately. They'll need to examine your baby's eyes and will recommend specific treatment depending on the cause. It's also important to wash your hands often, especially before and after you examine your baby's eyes, to avoid spreading the infection. Pinkeye is pretty contagious, so beware of contracting it yourself. Keep your baby home from daycare and playgroups, and wash all bedding, washcloths, and towels frequently.

What's the treatment for pinkeye?

The treatment depends on the cause:

If the cause is bacteria (bacterial conjunctivitis), your baby's doctor will prescribe antibiotics, usually in the form of eyedrops or ointment.
If the cause is a virus (usually the case when your baby also has cold symptoms), the doctor may recommend diligent – but gentle – cleansing of the area with a warm washcloth and waiting it out for about a week.
If the cause is an allergen, they'll work with you to identify the source, which you'll then need to eliminate from your baby's environment as soon as possible. Special eyedrops may also be recommended.

Sometimes a blocked tear duct causes crustiness and makes your baby's eyes vulnerable to infection. Depending on the nature of your baby's case, their doctor may suggest tear duct massage or lukewarm compresses to help unclog the duct. If the tear duct remains blocked, they may refer you to a pediatric eye doctor. In rare cases, outpatient surgery is needed for a duct that remains blocked for a long time.

Your individual baby

All babies are unique and hit milestones at their own pace. Developmental guidelines simply show what your baby has the potential to accomplish – if not right now, then soon. If your baby was premature, keep in mind that kids born early usually need a bit more time to reach certain milestones. If you have any questions at all about your baby's development, ask your healthcare provider.

Look ahead to next week.

Learn more about your 4-month-old's growth and development.

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Breastfeeding on demand

You can often hear from a nursing mother: "I feed on demand, my baby requires a breast every 3. 5 hours." Or: “I have always fed on demand. In a year, we already had 1 feeding in the evening, and my child calmly refused to breastfeed. Before talking about the demand of the child, it is necessary to find out what modern women mean when they say - "I breastfeed."

Modern mothers consider breastfeeding necessary for feeding their baby. Just for feeding. Breast milk is food, the mother supplies the baby with the nutrients necessary for growth and development. When a baby suckles at the breast, he eats. Breastfeeding makes sense only as a process of supplying proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and microelements.

During suckling, the baby receives the nutrients it needs with mother's milk. This is the absolute truth. There is another unconditional truth, which is not given any importance in modern society, it is not taken into account and is not considered. Breastfeeding for a child is communication with the mother. We need to figure out how the child understands feeding on demand? Can he understand anything at all? Is there any difference for him how he is fed, for 15-20 minutes after 3. 5 hours or in some other way?

What is on-demand feeding

On-demand feeding of a newborn baby means putting it to the breast for every squeak or search. Squeak and search movements in newborns, even as early as the second or third day of life, begin to appear much more often than after 3.5 or 2.5 hours. The need for attachments increases rapidly, and by the 10-12th day of life, the need to attach to a child may occur 15-16 or more times a day. Applications vary in duration. The baby can fall asleep and sleep while sucking for, for example, 1.5-2 hours. Can release the breast after 1-2 minutes. And then ask her again. Why does a child need such frequent contact with his mother's breast?

That's why. Being in the mother's belly, in a calm, familiar environment, listening to the noises of the mother's body, being in a warm, cramped, confined space, the baby sucked his fist, fingers, loops of the umbilical cord, swallowed amniotic fluid. Learned to suck and swallow. After birth, experiencing discomfort for any, the most insignificant reason, the baby tries to get rid of it. You can get rid of discomfort by getting into the usual conditions of a comfortable stay. The only place where the baby after birth can feel the sensations familiar to him is in the arms of the mother. The only familiar action is sucking. The only familiar taste and smell is the taste and smell of milk and lube in the areola. Milk and lubricant have an odor and taste similar to the taste and smell of amniotic fluid. Therefore, experiencing discomfort, the baby squeaks, or begins to look for an object to suck with his mouth. Ideally, it is immediately applied to the chest. The baby becomes warm, cramped, he hears the beating of his mother's heart, breathing, grumbling in the intestines, he sucks and feels the familiar taste and smell. If such an action happens constantly, the baby gains confidence, no matter what happens, he will solve all his problems with his mother. The place of comfort is now under the breast, and you can suck on the breast.

This whole process is biologically justified. A newborn child does not feel the feeling of hunger, this feeling is not formed in him. It will begin to form at about two months of age. How to feed a creature that does not experience hunger ?! How to encourage him to take some action to get food? This can be done only at the expense of some other incentives. This stimulus for the newborn is constant bodily discomfort, thanks to which he wants to suckle all the time! The most intense, frequent and prolonged sucking in infants is observed in the first two or three months of life. It is in these first months that the main weight gain of the baby occurs.

Feeding in the first month

Baby falls asleep with breast in mouth, sleeps sucking for a while. Falling asleep deeply, lets go of the chest. After sleeping for a while, he wakes up, and is applied on waking. After sleep, he can stay awake for some time, for example, an hour and a half. During wakefulness, he may feel discomfort 2-3 times, for example, from a completely natural desire to pee, and having called his mother for help, having kissed for a couple of minutes, he will do his deeds. Then he will want to sleep, feel discomfort and, kissing his chest, will again fall asleep sucking. After some time, he will wake up and attach again. Then again a little "walk". And after some time, he will fall asleep at the chest again.

The daytime naps of a one-month-old infant feeding on demand vary in duration and number. There can be 4-6 dreams during the day, and they can last from 5-15 minutes to 2-2.5 sometimes 3 hours. "Around" each dream, the baby is applied to the chest, and applied between dreams several times. At night, the child falls asleep at the breast. Usually in the early morning hours, he begins to fuss and apply. In the morning, he almost never fully wakes up. The baby sleeps, from time to time, sucking on his mother's breast. Waking up in the morning, the baby is again applied to the chest. If you count all the attachments that have happened in a baby of one month of age, then approximately 16-20 attachments are obtained. This is how a newborn human cub behaves if it is given the opportunity to behave in accordance with physiological and psychological needs, which, by the way, are genetically determined. The child of the first months of life does not separate his personality from the personality of the mother and from her breast. Mom and her breasts, and everything connected with them, are the universe of the baby and himself.

In most cases, a modern woman, being afraid to “accustom a child to hands”, strives to limit his requests for suckling. A pacifier and a bottle of tea or water come to her aid in this matter. They, too, can be sucked ... The need for sucking seems to be satisfied. But only the need for communication with the mother during suckling is not satisfied, the peculiar chain of mutual assistance and cooperation between mother and baby is destroyed, the formation of maternal affection and concentration is disrupted. Is the difference in the two actions noticeable to the reader: the baby cried, the mother took him, put him to her chest and started rocking him, or gave him a pacifier and started rocking the stroller, even with the words “Why are you crying, my sun?”

The modern woman who gives a pacifier and pumps a stroller is not a bad person deliberately harming an infant. She is simply in captivity of prejudices regarding the relationship between mother and baby. She does not know how to behave correctly, does not know what to do in accordance with the natural needs of the child. If you tell her what the child really needs, she will exclaim in horror: “What is it, don’t let him get away with?!” Indeed, the child of the first months of life must not be let off the hook. For a woman who does not know how to comfortably carry a baby, and who does not know how to feed him in various positions (sitting, lying, standing and even moving), this can be very difficult. Especially if she is not sure of the correctness of her actions.

An action that should become automatic for the mother of a newborn: when the baby cries or shows other signs of anxiety, put the baby to the breast.

What's next?

The baby is growing. A fairly stable rhythm of daytime sleep begins to form in him, and a 3-4-month-old baby behaves quite differently from a newborn. Feeding on demand at this age looks something like this...

At three months, the baby has 10-12 feeds during the day and 2-4 at night. There are frequent applications for a short time, but their number is reduced. There may be a long night break in feedings, about 5 hours, but this is very rare. Much more often the night break is 2.5-3.5 hours. By this age, the baby's body is noticeably rounded.
At four months, the baby begins to breastfeed noticeably less frequently. The main feedings are associated with sleep: the baby suckles before bedtime, during awakening and during sleep, both daytime and nighttime. In this regard, he has a fairly accurate feeding regimen. And many babies stop breastfeeding when they wake up after daytime sleep, sometimes as early as 2.5-3 months.
At five months, the baby has 8-10 daytime feedings and 2-3 nighttime, attachments as well as in the fourth month of life, are organized around dreams - the baby eats when going to bed and some babies suck during awakening.
At six months, the feeding regimen changes. The most active sucking shifts to the last 2-3 hours before waking up from a night's sleep. The period of daytime wakefulness can be divided into two periods: in the morning, when the baby sucked during the night is rarely applied to the breast, and in the evening, when attachments become very frequent. In total, there can be 7-10 day applications and 3-4 night applications. At this age, the baby begins a period of acquaintance with new food - pedagogical complementary foods. Sometimes there are attachments associated with the introduction of complementary foods, the baby “washes down” samples of new food with mother's milk. But many children do not want to drink complementary foods. When complementary foods are introduced to an on-demand baby, it is never meant to replace feedings with complementary foods. This is practically impossible, because the main feedings of the baby are associated with sleep, and mother's breakfasts, lunches and dinners, during which the baby gets acquainted with new food, are located between the baby's dreams, during his wakefulness.
At seven months, the frequency of application is about the same.
At eight months, the feeding regimen changes. Since the baby shows high motor activity and is very busy exploring the surrounding space, in the daytime he forgets to breastfeed. In this regard, the number of daily feedings can be reduced to 6-8 times. The baby compensates for the reduction in daytime feedings by increasing the frequency and duration of nighttime feedings up to 6 times.
In the second half of the year, babies who stopped breastfeeding when waking up after daytime naps recall this habit again. The baby’s daytime sleep in the second half of life, as well as in the region of a year and older, looks something like this: the baby falls asleep sucking, sleeps quietly for a while, for example 1-1.5 hours, then starts tossing and turning, fiddling, worrying, at this moment the mother lies down next to , gives him a breast and the baby can fill up 10-15-30 minutes sucking. Mom may well use this time for her own rest - lie down, read, while the baby sleeps while sucking. I know my mother, a lover of embroidery, who used this time specifically for embroidery ...
Breastfeeding becomes more frequent at nine to ten months. In the daytime, this is 4-6 full feedings and about the same number of attachments for various reasons. The baby has new reasons for attachment. If, during active actions to master the world, the baby fills a bump or gets scared, he calms down with his mother's breast. There may be situations when you can comfort the baby by sitting next to him and hugging him. At night, 4-6 feedings remain, the baby begins to suckle more actively in the morning between 3 and 8 hours.
At eleven months, a baby can already have 2-3 complete complementary foods. Initiation to adult food in the mind of a child is not associated with breastfeeding: attachment to the mother's breast is something other than the desire to get enough of the product they like. As a rule, after the baby has eaten, he feels the need to attach himself to the breast. The number of daily feedings remains the same in the child, but the number of short-term attachments increases. There are active mid-morning feedings between 4 and 8 o'clock in the morning.
At ten or twelve months, the baby, if he is already walking, can sometimes breastfeed every time he comes to his mother, i.e. about every 15-30 minutes. Attachments around dreams and night sucking persist. Therefore, if a mother says that a child suckles once or twice a day, this means that there is no feeding at the request of the child. There are restrictions imposed by the mother, with which the baby has come to terms. He treats breast sucking like food, sucks on a pacifier or a finger to fall asleep or soothe, or falls asleep just like that, without calming down.
At twelve months, the baby is applied in about the same way.
At the age of one and a half years, there may already be one daytime nap, so there are fewer attachments associated with sleep. Preserved for morning sucking. The baby is very free with his mother's breasts. Sometimes it happens that he comes up to suck just for fun. For example, like this: he comes up, climbs on his knees, looks into his mother’s face, smiles, starts to swarm in his shirt, gets breasts, smiles at his breasts, sucks for 30 seconds and leaves.

As for the number of feedings per day when feeding a child on demand, their number is almost never less than 12. A newborn has 12 or more attachments, mostly they are all associated with dreams. And a child, say 1.5-2 years old, can also have about 12 attachments, only 3-4 are associated with sleep, and the rest are short-term attachments for various reasons. I suggest to all mothers reading this text - do not count the application, do not notice their duration. Breastfeed your baby as often as he asks, when you feel the need to.

Moms who don't think about breastfeeding without looking at the clock may get the impression that when breastfeeding on demand, the mother can do nothing but feed the baby. This is not true. After the birth of a baby, a mother begins another life, she is called life with a baby. That's all. The child is with the mother, not the mother with the child! Feel the difference! You need to be able to organize your life in a different way, in the first months, of course, the help of loved ones is very necessary. In the tradition of many peoples, it was customary for the first 40 days after childbirth to remove a woman from any housework and household chores, she was engaged only in a child. In some nations, objects that the mother of a newborn touched were considered “unclean”, therefore, they preferred to protect the mother from the rest of the household, allocating her a separate “corner” of the house, where no one bothered her and she did not interfere with anyone. Among the Slavs, such a restrictive custom was called a six-week. By 1.5-2 months, the rhythm of daytime dreams begins to form, and the baby has a kind of “regime”, the mother becomes more free.

For a mother who can't imagine breastfeeding without looking back at the clock, and who is sure that the “right” baby is the baby lying quietly in her crib all the time, feeding on demand will be a complete hassle. It will be much easier for such a mother if she stops looking at the clock and ties the baby to herself with a large scarf or uses a patchwork holder (sling). It will become easier for her if she stops running between the nursery and the kitchen, but takes the baby with her to the kitchen and carries him around the house with her, doing housework, in a box, a cradle, a special chair, if she tries not to put him off often, and pick up as soon as possible, postponing the baby only in case of emergency and not for long.

Breastfeeding is not the same as house arrest. In the conditions of modern society, it is possible to organize the exit of a nursing mother to work from about 6 months of age of the baby. If necessary, you can start working from the age of 4 months, but, of course, it is better not every day of the week and not full time. It is the responsibility of a breastfeeding consultant to help a mother organize her return to work.

Sometimes, when I advise mothers on breastfeeding, I suggest that they forget for a second that they are already living in the 21st century. I propose to return, for example, to the cave and ask what they will do if the child woke up at night, how to calm him down? If you are walking through the forest and trying not to attract the attention of predators, how to make the baby silent? If the child is thirsty, what will you give him? What is the baby used to, for thousands of years of its existence? To the fact that he sleeps on his mother while she wanders through the forest with a digging stick in search of roots, and wakes up when mother stops. Since mom stopped, then there is time to wake up and suck. Therefore, even now the child sleeps well, tied to the mother with a patchwork holder, wakes up when the mother, having done a few household chores, sits in a chair to take care of the baby.

Some mother, reading about the cave, will be offended, saying that she is a civilized creature. But please think. Man, mother's breast and mother's milk have been created by evolution over millions of years. They are made for each other. Baby food has created progress and more recently. The skills of motherhood and breastfeeding have also been lost by our society quite recently. A person is not physiologically adapted to artificial feeding and a pacifier. The mother's breast will not produce enough milk at 6-7 feedings per day. Nature did not know, when creating man as a mammal, that the time would come when the need for breastfeeding would be satisfied by some kind of pacifiers and nipples.

Changes that occur during the formation of the personality of a child who did not have full contact with the mother during prolonged breastfeeding are noted by modern research by psychologists and sociologists. These are changes with a minus sign. It would be better if they were not, these changes.

Breastfeeding is important not only for the baby, it is also important for the mother. During on-demand feeding, the woman's feelings change, a stronger attachment to the baby is formed, the woman becomes more sensitive to the needs of the baby. Deeper affection and understanding are not only preserved in infancy. They persist for life. For clarity, imagine what happens to a woman’s feelings if she tries to “withstand” a child, endures his crying, anxiety. What happens to a woman if she uses the recommendation from one very popular parenting book: "Go to the child if he cries for more than 15 minutes"? Speaking in abstract terms, humanity is interested in reviving the practice of breastfeeding. The revival of this practice is impossible without mothers realizing the true reasons for the child's need for attachment to the breast.

Lilia Kazakova, pediatrician,
Head of Lactation and Child Care Counselors

Diet for a 4-6 month old baby

Your baby is already 4 months old. He has noticeably grown up, become more active, is interested in objects that fall into his field of vision, carefully examines and reaches for them. The emotional reactions of the child have become much richer: he joyfully smiles at all the people whom he often sees more and more often, makes various sounds.

You are still breastfeeding your baby or have had to switch to formula or formula feeding. The child is actively growing, and only with breast milk or infant formula, he can no longer always get all the necessary nutrients. And that means it's time to think about complementary foods.

The optimal time to start its administration is between 4 and 6 months, regardless of whether the baby is receiving breast milk or formula. This is the time when children respond best to new foods. Up to 4 months, the child is not yet ready to perceive and digest any other food. And with the late introduction of complementary foods - after 6 months, children already have significant deficiencies of individual nutrients and, first of all, micronutrients (minerals, vitamins, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, etc.). In addition, toddlers at this age often refuse new foods, they have delayed development of chewing skills for thick foods, and inadequate eating habits are formed. It is important to know that, no matter how strange it may seem at first glance, with a delayed appointment of complementary foods, allergic reactions more often occur on them.

When is it advisable to introduce complementary foods as early as 4 months, and when can we wait until 5.5 or even 6 months? To resolve this issue, be sure to consult a pediatrician.

As a rule, at an earlier age (4 - 4.5 months), complementary foods are introduced to children at risk of developing iron deficiency anemia, as well as children with insufficient weight gain and with functional digestive disorders.

The optimal time to start complementary foods for a healthy baby is between 5 and 5.5 months of age.

The World Health Organization recommends that breastfed babies should be introduced to complementary foods from 6 months of age. From the point of view of domestic pediatricians, which is based on extensive practical experience and scientific research, this is possible only in cases where the child was born on time, without malnutrition (since in these cases the mineral reserves are very small), he is healthy, grows well and develops. In addition, the mother should also be healthy, eat well and use either specialized enriched foods for pregnant and lactating women, or vitamin and mineral complexes in courses. Such restrictions are associated with the depletion of iron stores even in a completely healthy child by 5-5.5 months of age and a significant increase in the risk of anemia in the absence of complementary foods rich or fortified with iron. There are other deficits as well.

The first complementary food can be vegetable puree or porridge, it is better to give fruit puree to the baby later - after tasty sweet fruits, children usually eat vegetable puree and cereals worse, often refuse them altogether.

Where is the best place to start? In cases where the child has a tendency to constipation or he puts on weight too quickly, preference should be given to vegetables. With a high probability of developing anemia, unstable stools and small weight gains - from baby cereals enriched with micronutrients. And if you started introducing complementary foods with cereals, then the second product will be vegetables and vice versa.

If the first complementary foods are introduced at 6 months, it must be baby porridge enriched with iron and other minerals and vitamins, the intake of which with breast milk is no longer enough.

Another important complementary food product is mashed meat. It contains iron, which is easily absorbed. And adding meat to vegetables improves the absorption of iron from them. It is advisable to introduce meat puree to a child at the age of 6 months. Only the daily use of children's enriched porridge and meat puree can satisfy the needs of babies in iron, zinc and other micronutrients.

But it is better to introduce juices later, when the child already receives the main complementary foods - vegetables, cereals, meat and fruits. After all, complementary foods are needed so that the baby receives all the substances necessary for growth and development, and there are very few in their juices, including vitamins and minerals.

Juices should not be given between feedings, but after the child has eaten porridge or vegetables with meat puree, as well as for an afternoon snack. The habit of drinking juice between meals leads to frequent snacking in the future, a love of sweets is instilled, children have more tooth decay and an increased risk of obesity.

With the start of the introduction of complementary foods, the child is gradually transferred to a 5-time feeding regimen.

Rules for the introduction of complementary foods:

preference should be given to baby products of industrial production, they are made from environmentally friendly raw materials, have a guaranteed composition and degree of grinding
Complementary foods should be offered to the baby by spoon at the start of feeding, before breastfeeding (formula feeding)
the volume of the product increases gradually, starting with ½ - 1 spoon, and in 7 - 10 days we bring it to the age norm, subsequent products within the same group (cereals from other cereals or new vegetables)
can be entered faster, in 5 - 7 days
start introduction with monocomponent products
it is undesirable to give a new product in the afternoon, it is important to follow how the child reacts to it
new products are not introduced in the event of acute illness, and before and immediately after prophylactic vaccination (should be abstained for several days)

When introducing a new type of complementary food, first try one product, gradually increasing its amount, and then gradually "dilute" this product with a new one. For example, vegetable complementary foods can be started with a teaspoon of zucchini puree. During the week, give the baby only this product, gradually increasing its volume. After a week, add a teaspoon of mashed broccoli or cauliflower to the zucchini puree and continue to increase the total volume every day. Vegetable puree from three types of vegetables will be optimal. The portion should correspond to the age norm. Over time, you can replace the introduced vegetables with others faster.

After the introduction of one vegetable (bringing its volume to the required amount), you can proceed to the intake of porridge, and diversify the vegetable diet later.

If the child did not like the dish, for example, broccoli, do not give up on your plan and continue to offer this vegetable in a small amount - 1-2 spoons daily, you can not even once, but 2-3 times before meals, and after 7 - 10, and sometimes 15 days, the baby will get used to the new taste. This diversifies the diet, will help to form the right taste habits in the baby.

Spoon-feeding should be done with patience and care. Forced feeding is unacceptable!

In the diet of healthy children, porridge, as a rule, is introduced after vegetables (the exception is healthy breastfed children, when complementary foods are introduced from 6 months). It is better to start with dairy-free gluten-free cereals - buckwheat, corn, rice. At the same time, it is important to use porridge for baby food of industrial production, which contains a complex of vitamins and minerals. In addition, it is already ready for use, you just need to dilute it with breast milk or the mixture that the baby receives.

Children with food allergies are introduced to complementary foods at 5-5.5 months. The rules for the introduction of products are the same as for healthy children, in all cases it is introduced slowly and begins with hypoallergenic products. Be sure to take into account individual tolerance. The difference is only in the correction of the diet, taking into account the identified allergens. From meat products, preference should first be given to mashed turkey and rabbit.

Diets for different age periods

Explain how you can make a diet, it is better to use a few examples that will help you navigate in compiling a menu specifically for your child.

From 5 months, the volume of one feeding is on average 200 ml.

Option 1.

If your baby started receiving complementary foods from 4-5 months, then at 6 months his diet should look like this:

	Breast milk or VHI*	200 ml
II feeding 10 hours	Dairy-free porridge** Supplementation with breast milk or VHI*	150 g 50 ml
III feeding 14 hours	Vegetable puree Meat puree Vegetable oil Breast milk supplement or VHI*	150 g 5 - 30 g 1 tsp 30 ml
IV feeding 18 hours	Fruit puree Breast milk or VHI*	60 g 140 ml
V feeding 22 hours	Breast milk or VHI*	200 ml

* - infant formula
** - diluted with breast milk or VHI

Option 2.

I feeding
6 hours Breast milk or VHI* 200 ml II feeding
10 hours Dairy-free porridge**
Fruit puree 150 g
20 g III feeding
14 hours Vegetable puree
Meat puree Vegetable oil
Fruit juice 150 g
5 - 30 g
1 tsp
60 ml IV feeding
18 hours Fruit puree
Breast milk or VHI* 40 g
140 ml V feeding
22 hours Breast milk or VHI* 200 ml

* - infant formula
** - diluted with breast milk or VHI

Option 3.

:

I feeding
6 hours Breast milk

II feeding
10 hours Dairy-free porridge**
Breast milk supplement 100 g

III feeding
14 hours Vegetable puree
Meat puree Vegetable oil
Breast milk supplement 100 g
5 - 30 g
1 tsp

IV feeding
18 hours Breast milk

V feeding
22 hours Breast milk

** - diluted with breast milk

Up to 7 months, increase the volume of porridge and vegetable puree to 150 g and introduce fruit puree.
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I feeding 6 hours	Breast milk
II feeding 10 hours	Dairy-free porridge** Breast milk supplement	100 g
III feeding 14 hours	Vegetable puree Meat puree Vegetable oil Breast milk supplement	100 g 5 - 30 g 1 tsp
IV feeding 18 hours	Breast milk
V feeding 22 hours	Breast milk

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