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Introducing Solids: When to transition your baby To solids

Introducing Solids: When to transition your baby to solids

You’ve heard the saying breast is best when it comes to feeding your baby. And for the first year of her life, your breastmilk is all that your baby needs for optimal health and development.

But what parent isn’t anxious and ready to start feeding baby’s appetites with a spoonful here and a little taste there, particularly as your baby approaches 6 months in age?

Exploring what your baby likes—and doesn’t like to eat—is another way to discover her emerging personality.

Experts at the Mayo Clinic say if you’re not sure whether your baby is ready, ask yourself these questions:

    • Can your baby hold his or her head in a steady, upright position?
    • Can your baby sit with support?
    • Is your baby interested in what you’re eating?

If you answer yes to these questions and you have the OK from your baby’s pediatrician, you can begin supplementing your baby’s liquid diet and start introducing solids. Just remember that at this early stage, foods are mainly for socializing and motor skill development.

Follow your baby’s cues when it comes to starting foods. “Just because your baby is old enough to start solid foods doesn’t mean it’s the right time for her,” says Dr. William Sears, author of The Portable Pediatrician. “If your baby keeps turning her head away or pushing the spoon away, then she is clearly not ready.”

According to Dr. Sears, babies don’t need solid foods for nutritional purposes until they’re at least 1 year old, so there’s no pressure to make your child eat earlier, particularly if he’s nursing well or feeding on formula, says the well-known pediatrician.

Foods to avoid for allergy or bacteria-related reasons, until age 1, include honey, egg whites, wheat, nut products and berries. Skip the peanuts and shellfish until at least age 2, says Dr. Sears, because of allergy issues.

Start every meal with breastfeeding first, or formula if you’re feeding that, and then provide baby with the opportunity to try a new food. Introduce one food at a time, a week at a time, and watch for signs of constipation, gas, fussiness or bloating, which may indicate baby isn’t ready for that particular food.

Related articles: Breastfeeding is the best option to feed your baby

Here’s what to expect with feeding baby for the first year

Age 0-6 Months 6-9 Months 9-12 Months
What she’s eating Exclusively breastmilk or formula. Primarily breastmilk or formula. Primarily breastmilk or formula.
What to introduce At 6 months, pureed single-ingredient foods like banana, applesauce, pear, sweet potato, or rice cereal mixed with breastmilk or formula. Pureed mixed ingredient foods, like apple-banana sauce or pureed meats; increase the texture as she seems interested in it. Finely chopped finger foods like graham crackers, soft fruits, pasta, cheese, or fork-mashed foods from the family’s meal.
What to watch for Your baby can become constipated when you start solids, if this happens stop the food and increase nursing or formula feeding. And never add cereal to a bottle of breastmilk or formula, or feed cereal from a bottle. Emerging teeth; which allow you to begin to gradually increase the texture in foods. Choking is always a concern, so keep pieces small and odd-shaped, never tubular or round. Baby’s readiness to begin to self-feed; offer her small pieces of cheese, for example, and let her work on those fine motor skills in picking them up.

Other articles that have related themes to Introducing Solids: When to transition your baby to solids are:

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DIY Baby Food: Economical, Easy and Nutritious

DIY Baby Food: Economical, Easy and Nutritious

10 Ways to Shape Young Tastes

Tastes and cravings are learned in the body and in the brain but influenced mostly by cultural eating practices. While American children learn to love hamburgers, children in China or India learn to love other foods. Here are some time-tested ways to shape young tastes from birth onward.

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1. Breastfeed As Often and for As Long As Possible

Almost everyone now knows that human milk is the gold standard for infant nutrition. In fact, the positive effects of breastfeeding on adult health is the prime example of how early metabolic programming can protect against adult diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. You can lower the incidence of just about every disease by breastfeeding. And the effect is does related: the longer and more exclusively you breastfeed your children, the greater the health benefits. Research has traced some of these health-promoting effects to the fact that breastfed children grow up with lower and more stable insulin levels. Growing up with too high and unstable insulin levels in the bloodstream produces an unfavorable biological environment, so the body and brain cannot grow optimally. Other benefits of breast milk include its heart-healthy fats and immune boosters and the gut-friendly quality of human milk protein. Here are some specific ways that breastfeeding can shape young tastes.

It promotes a good gut feeling.

Breast milk is known as an “easy in, easy-out” food. Its perfect balance of the right kinds of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates makes it easy on the intestines. Breastfed babies begin life associating good gut feelings with eating. They also associate the warmth and comfort of being close to Mom with mealtime. Could there be a better food-mood connection?

It provides ideal metabolic programming.

Breast milk gives babies the best possible metabolic programming in the first weeks and months of life. The unique brain-building fats in breast milk help infant brains grow to be the best they can be. The many immunological factors in human milk help the baby’s own immune system to develop. It’s interesting to note that breastfeeding during infancy is associated with a lower lifelong risk of many diseases thought to be caused by immune system dysfunction, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease.

It introduces foods of the culture.

Breast milk plays an important part in transmitting taste preferences for different cultures’ cuisines. A mother’s milk actually carries flavors from the foods she eats. Breastfeeding gets babies ready to enjoy the more flavorful foods their families eat. Variations in the taste of the milk from day to day prepare baby for a varied diet in the years ahead.

It prevents overeating.

Breastfed babies seem to grow up being better able to decide how much to eat. Studies have shown that children who are breastfed are less likely to be obese in adolescence.

2. Shape Young Tastes by Serving Fresh or Frozen Baby and Toddler Food

Introduce your baby to the flavor of fresh foods right from the start. The less canned formula and jarred food your baby and toddler eats, the better. When toddlers eat fresh food, they learn what real food tastes like in the mouth and feels like in the gut. They learn to enjoy a greater variety of flavors and textures. These early encounters with solid food are a window of opportunity for shaping young tastes. If your baby and toddler eats only freshly prepared, unsalted, and unsweetened foods, your child will prefer these foods and be more likely to reject salty, sugar-sweetened junk foods. It’s as simple as that.

Infants and children do have a built-in preference for sweet-tasting foods. Breast milk is naturally sweet, and studies of newborns have demonstrated that babies just a few days old prefer sugar water to plain water. Babies’ inborn preference for sweet food is nature’s way of ensuring that they like to drink the good stuff – their mother’s milk – that helps them grow. Human mild and the healthy fresh foods that older babies enjoy such as bananas and other ripe fruits have a natural sweetness in them that is not overwhelming or artificial. A baby whose favorite foods are Mother’s milk and squishy bananas probably won’t go on to enjoy beverages sweetened with massive amounts of sugar, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners. These foods will taste sickeningly sweet when compared with the naturally sweetened foods he learned to love early in life. When artificial sweets hit the programmed receptors in the lining of his gut, they trigger an internal biochemical alarm that registers as “yucky.” On the other hand, children who grow up with a steady diet of sweetened, salted, and greasy fast foods don’t register these foods as “yucky” because they have become used to them.

3. Graze on Grow Foods

One of the most common problems parents of one- to three-year-olds raise during routine checkups is that their child doesn’t eat enough. We believe one of the main reasons parents think their child doesn’t eat enough is that they expect their child to eat three good-sized meals each day. But young children have tiny tummies about the size of their fists. They feel more comfortable grazing on mini-meals throughout the day. Grazing is actually healthier for them.

Not only do most kids eat too much junk food, most older kids eat too much — period! This is true of adults as well. “Supersize me,” we say at restaurants. We have come to view large portions as the norm, and this has turned us into a nation of habitual overeaters. There are sensors in the stomach called stretch receptors. When the stomach is filled with a certain volume of food, these receptors signal the brain, “Stop, you’ve eaten enough!” Research on animals suggests that those who eat too much end up with stretched stomachs that wait longer to send the stop signal. A grazer, someone who eats small portions more frequently, gets used to feeling satisfied with less. By offering your child frequent mini-meals throughout the day, you can literally shape the size and portion expectations of your child’s tummy.

4. Avoid the ‘Terrible Threes”

Don’t feed your child foods containing these three artificial additives:

  • high-fructose corn syrup
  • hydrogenated oils, or “trans fats”
  • any color additive with a number symbol attached to it (e.g., blue #1, yellow #5, red #40)

These are three easy-to-remember ways to recognize foods that merit the label “junk food. ” Not only are these ingredients themselves unhealthy for your child, but any packaged food that contains them is likely to be something you don’t want your kids to eat. If you make this one change – avoiding foods that contain any of these three ingredients – you will have gone 90 percent of the way toward de-junking your child’s diet. Food packagers actually add ingredients that are designed to entice children to crave a particular “mouth feel.”

5. Serve Nutrient-Dense Foods

Your baby or young child’s first foods should be grow foods, which we also like to call “superfoods.” These are the foods you most want your children to eat when they are older, so it’s important that they learn to like them and see them as a part of their everyday diet.

Grow foods are fresh foods or packaged foods that have undergone minimal amounts of processing. They are foods you eat as close to their natural state as possible. They do not contain artificial or factory-added ingredients, and they are nutrient dense — they pack a lot of nutrition into a relatively small volume of food. Nutrient-dense foods are different from calorie-dense foods, those that pack a lot of calories into a small volume of food. Studies have shown that children who are habitually fed nutrient-dense foods tend to prefer them and are less likely to overeat than children who are fed a steady diet of nutrient-poor foods.

6. Model Healthy Eating Habits

Studies have shown that children tend to develop food preferences and eating habits similar to their mothers’ preferences and habits. If you present nutritious foods as the norm (“This is what we eat”) and eat them yourself, your children will eat them, too. It’s as simple as that. It is also important to keep your preschool and school-age children from exposure to junk food and advertisements for junk food.

7. Shape Young Tastes, Don’t Control Them!

Studies have shown that rigidly restricting children’s access to certain foods focuses more attention on these foods and increases children’s desire to eat them. Parents who try to control their children’s eating habits end up with kids who are more likely to overeat and to eat the wrong kinds of foods. Also, children who are raised in families with highly controlling and restrictive attitudes toward eating tend to have a higher level of dissatisfaction with their bodies.

Instead, think in terms of shaping your child’s food preferences. “Shaping” means providing your child with opportunities to make wise choices, and directing and redirecting behavior in ways that help your child learn to be in charge of himself. It’s good discipline, applied to food. Shaping is like gardening. You plant the seed, and while you can’t control how fast the plant grows or when it blooms, you can pull the weeds around it and water it and prune it to help it grow more beautifully. Don’t coerce your children into eating or penalize them for not eating. Don’t make threats such as “You must eat your vegetables or you can’t watch TV.” Long-term studies have shown that this is a for sure way to keep your child from liking vegetables. It’s okay, though, to set some priorities: “Grow foods before fun foods!” Just make sure there’s a tried-and-true favorite grow food on the table so that your child is guaranteed to enjoy eating at least one grow food on the way to a healthy dessert.

8. Surround Your Child with Nutritious Foods

What’s in your pantry? Studies show that preschool-age children are more likely to eat the foods that are most accessible. When children see a bowl of fruit or a platter of raw vegetables sitting on the table as snack food, this is what they will eat. They won’t go looking in the pantry for junk food. (This strategy works on moms and dads, too.) Restock your pantry with the foods you want them to like. These will become their familiar foods, or “family foods,” the ones that are the norm for your family. One reason fast-food restaurants and junk-food snacks are so popular is that they are very accessible — no chopping, no cooking, no dishes to wash. Just place your order at the drive-through window, or pop open the plastic wrapper. Reminders that these foods are available can be found almost everywhere. Tastes are shaped not only in mouths and guts but also in little eyes. Make sure your kids see healthy food when they walk into your kitchen.

9. Expose Your Child to a Variety of

New Foods

We often hear parents complain, “My child just won’t try new foods.” Food researchers believe that an aversion to trying new foods is a built-in safety mechanism. Back when food was hunted or gathered from the fields and forests, it was smart to be cautious about trying new foods. Some could be poisonous – most likely the ones that were not sweet and that had a funny taste. Familiar foods, the ones the family ate all the time, were the safest. Experts in infant feeding and development believe that this innate fear is what causes a toddler to go through a stage of finicky or picky eating.

Whatever the reasons behind food aversions, getting children out of a food-choice rut can be frustrating. But it’s important to try. Your children need to eat a variety of foods to get the right balance of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. It takes creative marketing to get children to experiment with new tastes and textures. Here are some new-food marketing tips:

Start early.

Studies show that new foods are most likely to be accepted between two and three years of age. This is why it’s important to introduce a variety of grow foods during that window of opportunity in the early years.

Go small.

Begin with small amounts, such as 1 or 2 teaspoons. That way if your child doesn’t like the new food, no one gets frustrated and you don’t worry about wasting good food.

Make hunger work for you.

Children are most likely to accept new foods when they are especially hungry. Try offering new foods at times when your child is most hungry, such as at a midafternoon snack. A new food can be a fun novelty at snacktime. At mealtime, when other choices are available, a child may be less likely to try something new.

Hide the food.

Be sneaky. Hide a new food in a tried-and-true favorite food. Use a larger amount of the favorite food (e. g., four parts familiar food to one part new food), and each time you serve this combination, gradually increase the proportion of the new food.

Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Try the “rule of ten.” Studies from the Department of Nutrition at Penn State University have shown that repeated exposure (usually between ten and twenty times) to a new food eventually leads most children to accept it. So if your five-year-old shuns broccoli, don’t give up after only three or four times. Keep offering it in different presentations (e.g., steamed or raw with dip, drizzled with olive oil, covered with cheese, mixed with pasta, in soup and salads). Eventually your child will eat broccoli because it’s there, letting him know “this is what we eat.”

Play copycat to shape young tastes.

When you eat something that you are trying to get your child to like, let your child see you eat it with gusto. Children like to copy their parents, and they’re curious when it seems they might be missing out on something fun. If there’s something you want your child to try, eat it right in front of him without actually offering it to him. He may try the new food simply because you are eating it. Of course, you may have to fake it if you want your child to learn to like something you don’t enjoy. Parents who want to shape their children’s tastes toward healthy food often find themselves eating better when their kids are around. If a parent says, “No way am I eating that,” the child won’t eat it either.

Try the two-bite deal.

In our family we encourage our children, “Take two bites. If you like it, fine. If you don’t, you don’t have to eat it. You can try it again another time.” If it’s really a no, don’t push it.

Be enthusiastic.

Introduce the new food with enthusiasm and excitement. Make an appreciative face and say, “Yum, good!” Play show and tell: Name it, show it, describe it, take a bite yourself, and talk about how tasty it is. If you child rejects the food, don’t force the issue. Research shows that children are more likely to accept new foods when they are simply exposed to them rather than forced to eat them. Continue to serve the food, and one day your child may surprise you by asking for it. Be sure to present new foods positively. Children are more likely to try new foods willingly when the atmosphere around the table is happy and positive.

Co-cook.

Children are more likely to eat foods that they have helped to prepare. If they’ve invested a lot of time and energy in helping to make the meal, they are going to want to sample their handiwork. They may even try the new food during the preparation and enjoy it.

Try peer pressure.

Invite other children to your home for a meal – kids who you know eat a variety of foods that you want your child to learn to enjoy. When children see other kids, especially their friends or slightly older kids whom they look up to, eating a new food, they are more likely to try it.

10. Enjoy Happy Meals

Eating is supposed to be pleasurable. The more friendly the atmosphere around the table, the more likely your children are to try new foods prepared in different ways, and also to eat appropriate amounts – not too little and not too much.

“My kids just won’t eat healthy food,” you may complain. What good is all this nutritional advice if your kids won’t eat what you serve? For those of you with infants less than one year of age, following our advice will be a “piece of cake.” Just get them on the right track from the start (which also means getting yourselves on this same train), and they’ll grow up eating healthy.

But what about the rest of you? Your kids are several years old, and you’ve already “ruined” them with chips, crackers, and cookies, and they completely refuse anything green or brown. Take heart. Of course, you haven’t really ruined them. You (like 99 percent of Americans) just never thought it mattered much. Your children will eventually accept these changes. In fact, their hearts, brains, muscles, hormones, bones, skin, and immune systems will love ‘you for It (even if their attitudes don’t quite so quickly). They will grow up without heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and a whole host of chronic diseases. Maybe when they’re in their seventies and are able to play tackle football with their grandchildren, they’ll stop and finally realize “Hey, I’m still active and healthy, and I have my parents to thank for it!”

6–9 months. Your baby from birth to two years

Introduction of complementary foods: 6-9 months. Your baby from birth to two years

WikiReading

Your baby from birth to two years old
Sears Marta

Contents

Introduction of complementary foods: 6–9 months

Breast milk or formula with iron, or a combination of the two, provides all of the key nutrients your baby needs in the first six to nine months. nine0003

Consider solid food as a supplement to breast milk or formula, not as a substitute.

For a breastfeeding baby, solid foods are best introduced slowly and gradually so that they do not crowd out the more nutritious breast milk.

This text is an introductory fragment.

nine0021 0 to 3 months

0 to 3 months Need for sleep • Newborns can sleep up to 18-20 hours a day. Thus, your baby will sleep almost all day long. However, his (her) sleep time is unlikely to coincide with yours.

Initiation of complementary foods while breastfeeding

Starting complementary foods while breastfeeding • According to experts, today the most favorable age for the introduction of complementary foods to a child who is breastfed is 6 months. Until this time, the baby does not need complementary foods, since

Scheme for the introduction of complementary foods and dishes, approved by the State Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

The scheme for the introduction of complementary foods and meals, approved by the State Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences *numbers 3, 4, etc. mean that this product should be introduced from 3, 4, etc. months; **number 1 (column fruit puree) means that fruit puree is introduced 2 weeks after the introduction of juice; *** number 2 (column

nine0021 Scheme of introducing foods and dishes of complementary foods, recommended by the American pediatrician William Sears

Scheme for the introduction of foods and complementary foods, recommended by the American pediatrician William Sears Indicators that the child is ready to introduce solid foods into his diet: • The child can sit without support - this is the position it is supposed to receive solid food •

Introduction of complementary foods to a formula-fed child

The introduction of complementary foods to a child who is bottle-fed • Complementary foods are administered to a child on artificial feeding earlier than on natural feeding, starting from 4. 5–5 months of life.

Complementary feeding rules

Rules for the introduction of complementary foods IMPORTANT! Before you start weaning, consult your pediatrician! • Start complementary foods only if the baby is currently healthy and has stable stools. • Do not start complementary foods for at least a week before, during, and after prophylaxis0003

0-6 months

0–6 months In the first six months of life, the child should be offered the simplest toys, the main property of which is visual, tactile and auditory attractiveness. Since the vision of a child at this age is rather weak and he is able to see only

6-12 months

6–12 months Children in the second half of life begin to manipulate the toy and explore it. Therefore, the second requirement for toys appears: they must be not only clean (that is, they can be easily washed), but also durable. Even if the toy breaks, it must not

Introduction of complementary foods

The introduction of complementary foods The first complementary foods are recommended to be introduced from 5.5–6 months. Nature gives a signal about the need to introduce new food, sending the first tooth to the child and, as it were, testifying to the baby’s readiness to switch to more “serious” food. If earlier palm

Introducing complementary foods while formula feeding

nine0002 The introduction of complementary foods with artificial feeding Unlike peers who receive mother’s breasts, the “artificial” needs an earlier introduction of nutritional supplements and complementary foods. Thus, fruit juices must be introduced from 2.5–3 months, and after 15–20 days give

Introduction of complementary foods

The introduction of complementary foods Once you start reading the book, you will find that it is best to read the chapter that matches your child's age. But there is one exception: our step-by-step weaning program, which we start at 17 weeks. Many moms don't want

The first step of complementary foods - baby rice porridge

The first step of complementary feeding - baby rice porridge You can buy dry baby rice porridge in boxes at the grocery store or pharmacy. It is diluted with breast milk, formula or water. The soft milky taste of porridge will be familiar to the baby, and baby porridge is unlikely to cause allergies, that's why it is

Starting complementary foods at six months

Starting complementary foods at six months If you've been waiting until your baby is six months old before introducing complementary foods, you may want to take our accelerated program to make sure your baby is getting all the nutrients it needs. Not

Complementary Feeding Program Summary

Summary of the program for the introduction of complementary foods The earliest you can start weaning is at 17 weeks (four months), but many mums follow UK Health and World Health Organization guidelines to feed only

at what age to introduce with breastfeeding and artificial feeding, how to cook at home

When to introduce the first complementary foods

Today there are no hard and fast rules and deadlines for the introduction of complementary foods. Parents should first of all focus on the signs of the child's readiness for complementary foods. Here is what advises to pay attention to pediatrician, candidate of medical sciences Anna Levadnaya , author of a blog about pediatrics and not only on Instagram.

The child holds his head confidently.

  • Can sit with support, meaning it can be placed in a high chair or placed on an adult's lap.
  • The kid shows an active food interest: he is interested in food, watches what adults eat.
  • You are well organized and have no problem breastfeeding or formula feeding.
  • The child can put his hand to his mouth, puts various objects in his mouth, such as toys. In this case, the baby chews or champs. nine0089

As a rule, all these signs appear in the period from 5.5 to 7.5 - 8 months, but most often around 6 months. All babies develop differently, and one baby may be ready to try his first puree or porridge as early as 5 months, and another at 6 or 7 months will refuse the new food you offer.

What complementary foods a child needs in the first months

And here again, there are no strict recommendations and rules. On the contrary, many experts agree that it doesn’t matter which dish you start complementary foods with, the most important thing is to provide the right nutritional interest. In this case, the child will eat all the foods that you offer him. nine0003

In Russia, it is customary to focus on the following scheme for the introduction of complementary foods. The first to introduce cereals or vegetables, depending on the weight of the child. As a rule, vegetables are first, then cereals, then meat, then fruits, then cottage cheese. In some US states, for example, on the contrary, it is recommended to start complementary foods with meat. But the general message of the recommendations is to maximize the variety of tastes and textures in the first year of life. From vegetables in the first months, you can offer zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, carrots, potatoes. Of the cereals, gluten-free are the first to be introduced: rice, buckwheat, corn. From fruits - apple, pear, banana, peach and others. From meat - it is better to start with a rabbit, turkey, chicken, veal. nine0003

— At the very beginning, complementary foods should be puree-like, says Anna Levadnaya. - It is better to give preference to monocomponent purees so that the baby learns to distinguish between different tastes. As you introduce vegetables and cereals, add butter and vegetable oils to them. If there are no problems with the introduction of complementary foods, it is recommended to use the maximum variety of food textures as early as possible. Starting from 7-8 months, the baby can and should be introduced to semi-solid foods. This is very important for the correct formation of food interest, and for the development of chewing skills, the correct functioning of the tongue, the development of speech, the “tweezer” grip, and the coordination of the work of hands, mouth and eyes. If you do not introduce semi-solid food in time, then there may be problems with the introduction of already solid food, and after a year the child will refuse it completely. Therefore, starting from 7-8 months, the baby can be offered mashed or pureed food, such as a banana. From 8-9months, give the so-called "finger" food: cut into pieces soft fruits and vegetables, such as boiled carrots, potatoes, and put in front of the baby. By one year, the child is ready to eat solid food from the common table.

How to feed your baby properly

It used to be that complementary foods should be introduced very carefully and gradually, always in the morning, many parents still introduce each product over the course of a week or two, increasing portions very slowly.

— These recommendations are relevant, perhaps, only for the very beginning of complementary feeding, the first two or three weeks, — says Anna Levadnaya. - In general, in children without food allergies, the most rapid and varied expansion of the diet is recommended. That is, a new product can be safely introduced every 2-3 days. If you need to breed complementary foods, for example, baby cereals, then it is better to do this with breast milk or formula, and not with cow's. Whole milk is not recommended for children under one year of age. nine0003

Also with the introduction of complementary foods, offer your child water, either bottled for children or boiled. It is recommended to offer water from a cup so that the child learns to drink, and not from a drinking bowl, a bottle with a tube or a pacifier.

Photo: pexels.com, MART PRODUCTION

Monitor your child's well-being, in case of any changes that worry you, consult a doctor.

Complementary foods with natural and artificial feeding

Mothers often wonder if there are differences in the introduction of complementary foods with natural and artificial feeding. In both cases, the recommendations are the same: it is recommended to focus on food interest, signs of the child's readiness for the introduction of complementary foods. Usually, as we have already noted, the baby receives only breast milk or an adapted milk formula up to 6 months. With exclusive breastfeeding, it is not recommended to supplement the baby with water, especially in the first month, when lactation is established. Bottle-fed babies can be offered water. nine0003

For both breastfeeding and artificial feeding, it is recommended to offer the baby a new food before feeding, and then supplement it with breast milk or formula.

— It is desirable to keep breast milk or formula in the diet of a child up to a year, — says Anna Levadnaya. - After a year, it is better to leave the bottle completely, gradually reducing the amount of the mixture. After a year, preferably closer to one and a half, cow's milk can be offered if the child is not allergic to its protein. Breastfeeding can be continued as long as it brings pleasure to mother and child. nine0003

How to prepare the first complementary foods

Give canned puree and baby porridge or cook it yourself? This question worries many mothers.

“In fact, there is no universal advice here,” says Anna Levadnaya. - Do what is comfortable and best for you. But when choosing food, remember that you must be confident in the products you buy. If you are not sure, buy canned purees, industrial baby cereals. The main advantage of any industrial baby food is that the products from which it is made are tested for the content of pesticides, heavy metals, nitrates and other harmful substances (labeled up to 3 years). If you're cooking yourself, cook with either seasonal fruits and vegetables or frozen ones. It is best to do it for a couple - this is how most vitamins and minerals are preserved. The advantage of homemade products is that we can provide the child with a different consistency, which is very important. But in any case, choose what is more convenient for you, more comfortable, including financially. The main principle is to provide the baby with a varied diet. Alternate between different foods. nine0003 Photo: pexels.com, Enrique Hoyos

If you decide to cook yourself, follow our tips on how to prepare puree and porridge for the first meal.

Vegetable puree

Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, pumpkin are suitable for the first feeding. The vegetable should be fresh, without dark spots. We clean it from the peel, boil or steam it. Then we pass through a blender. The vegetable should be quite soft to get the most uniform consistency (if necessary, you can add a little boiled water). If it did not work out, then additionally the mass can be rubbed through a fine sieve. nine0003

Fruit purée

To make fruit purée for your baby, such as apple or pear, fruit must first be baked in the oven, then peeled and passed through a blender or sieve to obtain the most homogeneous consistency. Choose fresh, ripe, seasonal fruits.

Porridges

Soak groats (for the first feeding, remember, this is rice, buckwheat, corn) for 4-5 hours in warm water. Then dry, for example, in a preheated oven. Next, grind the porridge in a coffee grinder into the consistency of flour and cook in water until cooked, this is about 5 minutes. For one tablespoon you need about 50-70 ml of water. nine0003

The main mistakes of parents

In fact, there is nothing complicated in the management of complementary foods. Use the guidelines, common sense, and have fun introducing your little one to new foods. With Anna Levadna, we have compiled a list of mistakes that parents often make when introducing complementary foods. Try to avoid them.

In a hurry

It often happens that a child refuses the first complementary foods. Most often, this suggests that the baby is simply not ready for it yet. And the parents, by hook or by crook, are trying to feed him mashed potatoes or porridge. Under no circumstances should you force-feed your baby. It is worth postponing the introduction of complementary foods for one to two weeks.

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