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What foods do you start babies on


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.

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When to Start Baby Food

Starting solids is an exciting and important milestone in baby’s development—one that not only opens them up to a brand-new world of flavors and textures, but also puts them on the right path to growing healthy and strong. Here’s what you need to know about how and when to start baby food for a smooth transition.

In this article:
When to start baby food
How to start baby on solids
Best first foods for baby
Introducing allergenic foods

When to Start Baby Food

Knowing when to start baby food is both crucial and tricky. Starting baby on solids too early means you might increase the risk of choking, obesity and bellyaches, but introducing solids too late means you might slow baby’s growth and encourage an aversion to solid foods, among other conditions. Fortunately, doctors have zeroed in on a sweet spot for starting baby food, which is sometime between 4 and 6 months of age—though, ideally, baby should be receiving their nutrition exclusively from breast milk until the six-month mark, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). How to tell if it’s time for starting solids for your little one? Baby will give you clues, including:

• Baby can sit in a high chair comfortably on their own. This is a major sign in terms of when to start baby food, says Lauren Kupersmith, MD, a pediatrician at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone in New York City. It means baby can hold their head up and doesn’t need to be propped up to stay in the upright position, which is important to avoid choking.

• Baby looks interested at mealtime. Babies likes to mimic what we do, so if your child likes to sit up like a big kid and watch you eat, then by all means let them try eating too.

• Baby can move food to the back of their throat to swallow. But if baby tends to push the food out of their mouth—not because they don’t like it, but because they can’t seem to get the food to where it needs to go—hold off on starting solids.

How to Start Baby on Solids

At 4 to 6 months, most of baby’s nutrition will still come from breast milk or formula, so don’t worry if baby doesn’t like eating food right away. Introducing solids is a gradual process, and every baby learns in their own time. Here are some general guidelines for how to start baby on solids:

• Feed baby with a spoon. Letting your child go at it with their hands may seem tempting (and super-cute), but it’s best that they learn the right way from the get-go. (And even then, be prepared to clean up more than a few messes!) Also, never put cereal (or any other food) in baby’s bottle—it’s a choking hazard.

• Start slowly. When introducing solids, a half spoonful will do at first—you may even want to talk baby through it (“Yummy!”). To make it easier for baby to get accustomed to the idea of swallowing solids, start mealtime with a little breast milk or formula, then offer some food (again, no more than a half teaspoon at a time) and finish off with more breast milk or formula. If baby cries or turns away when you present the spoon, try again some other time. Start off with introducing solids at one meal a day, then slowly work your way up. The morning is a good place to start, since baby is often hungriest at that time. When starting solids, baby typically won’t eat more than an ounce or two in one sitting.

• Try new foods more than once. Since babies’ tastes will evolve, you may need to try a food 20 times before a baby actually likes it, says Kupersmith.

• Stick with the same food for three days before trying another one. This makes it easy to track whether baby is allergic to a particular food.

• Try foods in different forms. If baby doesn’t like pureed food, try it mashed. After all, baby is learning about new textures as well as new tastes. It may be a case of trial and error until you find a winner.

Best First Foods for Baby

Got baby safely strapped into the high chair and bib? You’re ready to finally start feeding baby solids! There aren’t any official food rules for babies starting solids, and there’s no scientific evidence suggesting you should introduce one type of food before another, assuming the foods aren’t choking hazards. Nevertheless, baby cereal (such as oatmeal, rice and barley) is an “easy training food,” says Kupersmith, which is why it’s often recommended as baby’s first food; you can always mix it with more milk to build up to a thicker consistency. Many doctors also recommend starting vegetables before fruits, but there’s no evidence that this would make babies like vegetables more when they grow up—babies innately love sweets, and the order of introducing solids to baby doesn’t change that.

So why not simply start introducing solids with something you think baby will like? Here are a few common first foods for baby that are healthy and easy to eat (and, in the case sweet potato and banana, also easy to digest). Whatever you decide to feed baby, mash it with a fork or puree before serving whenever introducing solids.

  • Baby cereal, such as oatmeal, rice, barley
  • Sweet potato
  • Banana
  • Avocado
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Green beans
  • Butternut squash

If your child has been breastfeeding, check with your pediatrician about getting a jump on pureed chicken or beef when you’re starting solids. These foods contain easily absorbable forms of iron and zinc, which baby needs by 4 to 6 months, according to the AAP.

At around 9 months, baby should have already worked their way up to a variety of foods, including cereal, vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs and fish (see below regarding the last two). (Keep in mind, though, that baby will still get the majority of their nutrients from breast milk or formula until age one.) By now, baby will probably settle on three meals a day along with two snacks. Let them consume about 4 ounces of solids at each meal (equivalent to a small jar of strained baby food) and about half that amount for each snack.

Save honey and cow’s milk for after baby’s first birthday—there’s a risk for infant botulism with honey (a type of bacterial poisoning), and baby’s tummy isn’t prepared to digest large amounts of cow’s milk until they’re about one year old. Avoid adult processed foods and foods that are choking hazards (such as sticky foods, like large gobs of peanut butter; hard foods that are difficult to gum, like raw vegetables, nuts, seeds and popcorn; and round, slippery foods that haven’t been cut up, like grapes and cherry tomatoes). Instead, the first foods for baby, and those in the months that follow, should be soft and served mashed, pureed or (once baby seems ready to move up from the really mushy stuff) cut up into really little bits. “There’s pretty much free reign at that point,” Kupersmith says.

Introducing Solids Chart

Hesitant about improvising your first foods for baby? That’s okay too. If you prefer an “introducing solids chart” to help you plan out baby’s path, the guide below can come in handy.

Image: The Bump

Introducing Allergenic Foods

Much of the confusion around when to start baby food stems from questions concerning allergenic foods. These are foods that babies are most often allergic to. The major culprits include dairy, eggs, fish, peanuts and tree nuts. In the past, parents were advised to hold off on exposing baby to these foods, but now doctors recommend introducing them early, often and in age-appropriate format, which means starting off with purees and soft textures.

“Dairy is an easy starting point, given options such as yogurt and cheese,” says David Stukus, MD, director of the Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. You can also try scrambled eggs in small amounts, although baby may not be too pleased with the texture at first.

As far as peanut products go, the National Institutes of Health issued new guidelines in 2017 that encourage parents of children at high risk for peanut allergies to incorporate them into baby’s diet at 4 to 6 months of age. Giving these babies peanut products before the age of one actually decreases their risk of developing a peanut allergy before age 5 by 81 percent, compared to kids who are introduced to peanuts later in life. Parents of kids without the food allergy risk can start peanut products whenever they’d like, as long as the nuts are in an age-appropriate form: Peanut butter can be thinned out with water or mixed into a fruit or vegetable puree, and peanut powder can also be mixed into cereal and fruits. Don’t give whole peanuts or pieces of peanuts, since they’re a choking risk.

Allergic reactions to food are never just a fluke; they will happen with every exposure. Symptoms can range from mild (such as a rash or vomiting) to severe (such as trouble breathing). If baby has a food allergy, you’ll notice a reaction within minutes or up to two hours after eating the problematic food, Stukus says. If the symptoms are severe, call 911 right away. Otherwise, talk to your pediatrician; she can help confirm whether it’s an allergy or some other type of condition (such as a viral illness).

Expert bios:*

Lauren Kupersmith, MD, IBCLC, is a pediatrician and clinical instructor at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone in New York City, as well as a certified lactation consultant. She earned her medical degree from New York Medical College in 2005.

David Stukus, MD, is the director of the Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of allergy and immunology and a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. He earned his medical degree from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2002.

Updated January 2020

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.

Baby menu at seven months

0-6 months

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What should be the menu of a child at 7 months? What foods and in what quantity can be introduced into the diet at this age? When and at what intervals to give the baby to eat? We will help develop an approximate menu for a 7-month-old baby and answer the most exciting questions regarding the nutrition of a baby up to a year old. nine0003

7 min. for reading Feb. 17, 2022

Contents

  • Diet: when and how much should a child eat at 7 months
  • Baby menu at 7 months: introducing new products
  • Consistency of dishes
  • Meal schedule and approximate daily menu
  • Sample diet for a 7 month old baby allergic to cow's milk proteins: Table
  • FAQ
  • Breastfeed every 3-4 hours while breastfeeding.
  • If you give your baby expressed breast milk, he needs approximately 710 grams per day. With 5-6 meals a day, this is about 120 to 200 grams of milk per meal.
  • If the baby is formula-fed (FW), he needs 170 to 230 grams of formula up to 4 times a day, provided that 2 more feedings replace complementary foods. To find out how much mixture you need, be guided by the instructions on the package, the recommendations of the pediatrician. nine0016
  • From the age of 6 months, only mother's milk or adapted infant formula is not enough for a baby - he needs a variety of complementary foods. Introduce no more than one new product per day into the child’s menu at 7 months and consult a pediatrician first. After getting acquainted with different foods, up to three complementary foods can be given daily: this can be one or two tablespoons or 115-170 grams (8-12 tablespoons), depending on the baby and the specific product.

Important

The calculation of portions and the number of feedings depends on the individual characteristics of the development and needs of the child. Therefore, first of all, be guided by the recommendations of your pediatrician and the needs of the baby.

Baby menu at 7 months: introducing new products

The basis of the diet is still breast milk or infant formula. To diversify the menu, children's adapted food will help: fruit and vegetable purees, milk and dairy-free cereals, juices, as well as some products from the "adult table". nine0003

Cereals

At 7 months, dairy-free and milk porridges, along with breast milk, are the basis of a child's nutrition. To start complementary foods, choose gluten-free liquid one-component cereals with a high iron content: rice, buckwheat, oatmeal. A little later - corn and semolina. Start complementary foods with half or a whole teaspoon, gradually increasing the serving to 150 grams.

Important

Dairy-free porridge is diluted with breast milk or milk formula, milk - with purified boiled water. nine0042

Find out more: Gerber® Baby Cereals: product range

Vegetable and fruit purees

Vegetable and fruit purees diversify the diet and introduce new tastes to the baby. According to WHO recommendations, the best product to start with is a one-component vegetable puree made from zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower or potatoes. These vegetables are less allergenic than other foods. If the child does not have allergies, pumpkin, carrot, pea and tomato puree can be given a little later. nine0003

Find out more: Gerber® Vegetable Purees

After introducing vegetable purees into your diet, it's time for your baby to get to know sweet and healthy fruit purees. Like vegetable, fruit complementary foods are also recommended to start with one-component low-allergenic foods. Apple, pear or banana puree is best for this. Start with half or a whole teaspoon and gradually increase the serving to 100-150 grams.

Find out more: Gerber® fruit purees

Meat

Meat is a developmentally necessary product, rich in iron and protein, which is well absorbed in the body. Start with homogenized options. The product must contain only one type of meat (diet turkey, rabbit, chicken, veal) and no additional components. If the crumbs have a tendency to food allergies, choose meat very carefully, it is better to consult a doctor in advance. Pay attention to the composition of baby food and its age-appropriate baby. First, let the baby try half a teaspoon. If no adverse reactions occur, gradually increase the meat rate to 60 grams. nine0003

Find out more: Gerber® Meat Purees

Juices

Fruit juice is great for snacking and menu variety. Young children tolerate clarified apple and pear juice better, so they should be introduced first. Give the baby adapted baby juices: they do not contain sugar or other additives undesirable for the child. Ordinary store-bought juices can only be drunk by children over three years old.

See also: What kind of juice to start complementary foods for babies

Advice

Introduce your baby to juices after introducing cereals and vegetable purees. Often the child gets used to sweet juices and then does not eat foods with a less bright taste.

Egg yolk

In addition to cereals and mashed potatoes, boiled egg yolk is introduced at the age of 7 months, as it is an excellent source of omega-fats, selenium, phosphorus and vitamins. Please note that you need to give the egg not the whole, but only the yolk. But, like any other product that you give to try for the first time, it should be introduced carefully and little by little to make sure that the baby does not have an allergy. Do not combine with other food! Only when you "test" the yolk, it is allowed to add it to cereals and vegetable purees. nine0003

Important

It is believed that children with allergies can be fed quail eggs. But it is important to remember that quail eggs can also be allergic, as they also contain egg white - an allergen that is found in chicken eggs. Therefore, do not experiment, but seek the advice of a pediatrician.

See also: Introduction of complementary foods to children with food allergies

Baby biscuits and crackers

Some babies start teething at seven months. Therefore, you can add crackers and children's cookies to food. But do not forget that they should not be too hard so that the child does not get hurt and choke. It is also better to choose special products without added salt, sugar, synthetic leavening agents and preservatives.

Important

The child should eat solid food in a sitting position and strictly under adult supervision. nine0042

Consistency of dishes

The main component of the diet remains liquid and homogeneous (without lumps) - breast milk or milk formula, milk and dairy-free cereals. As the baby grows, the baby's food should change from liquid and homogeneous to thicker and puree, mashed. When the body adapts and is able to digest solid food, they begin to carefully introduce small, medium and coarsely ground foods, give children's cookies and crackers. At 7 months, some babies already have teeth, but the child cannot yet chew thoroughly and safely swallow vegetables, fruits and meat. Therefore, solid food should be given only in a grated form. It is important that the puree is not too thick, otherwise the child may accidentally choke. nine0003

Advice

If you are making puree yourself, carefully remove everything that is not rubbed and can get into the crumbs' respiratory tract: bones, fat, veins, skin, films. To make the puree easier to swallow, add some boiled water, unsalted vegetable broth, vegetable puree already familiar to the baby, or breast milk (milk mixture).

By about 7 months of age, the baby has mastered the skill of "palm grip" and can independently hold solid food in the handle. From now on, you can give your child special baby cookies or snacks. At the same time, make sure that the baby eats slowly, in a sitting position and does not choke. nine0003

Important

Baby should be ready to eat more sticky or solid foods. Therefore, before changing the consistency of food for a child, consult a pediatrician.

What can be given to children at 7 months and at what time to feed? Parents can begin to form a classic division of food consumption per day. But at 7 months, the baby needs to be fed not three or four, but five times a day at intervals of four hours. The first and final feeding is mother's milk or formula. Complementary foods are not given at this time in order to prevent overeating. nine0003

*Dairy-free porridge should be diluted with breast milk or infant formula given to the baby. Milk porridge is diluted with water.

Tip

Do not salt or sweeten food. It is better to introduce the baby to sugar and salt after a year.

nine0207
Feeding time Products Serving Size
I feeding 6 hours Breast milk or formula for infants with cow's milk protein intolerance 200 ml
II feeding 10 hours Nestle® Dairy-Free Rice Porridge* 130 g
Vegetable oil (add to food) about 1 tsp
Gerber® Apple or Williams Pears Fruit Puree 70 g
III feeding 14 hours Gerber® Vegetable Puree Broccoli, Cauliflower 170 g
Vegetable oil (add to food) about 1 tsp
Gerber® Meat Puree Tender Vegetables with Rabbit 30 g
IV feeding 18 hours Vegetable puree or dairy-free porridge** 170 g
Vegetable oil (add to food) about 1 tsp
Gerber® Tender Turkey Meat Puree 20 g
V feeding 22 hours Breast milk or formula for infants with cow's milk protein intolerance 200 ml

*Dairy-free porridge should be diluted with breast milk or formula for infants with intolerance to cow's milk proteins. **you can either alternate porridge or vegetables, or offer a mixed dish - porridge with vegetables.

Now you know what products and in what form can be introduced into the child's menu at 7 months. It is preferable if it is certified baby food that meets all age requirements and high safety standards. nine0003

See also: Do we cook ourselves or use baby food?

1. At what age should complementary foods start?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends introducing complementary foods to your baby's menu at 6 months of age.

2. Where to start complementary foods?

Experts advise starting complementary foods with one-component homogenized vegetable purees.

3. How much should a 7-month-old baby eat?

At 7 months, a baby needs a portion of food per day, which is equal to about ⅛ of body weight. This is 1000-1200 ml of food, excluding water, juices, children's tea. Divide this amount by 5 feedings and you will get an estimated amount of food per meal - 200-210 ml.

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Optimal nutrition for children over 6 months of age

Submitted by useradmin on Thu, 08/12/2021 - 21:24

Starting from the 6th month of life, in addition to breast milk (or its substitutes), your baby needs additional foods (complementary foods) to ensure healthy growth and development. In the absence of other recommendations from your pediatrician, the approximate time for the introduction of complementary foods is the 20-26th week of life (24th is optimal). Carefully study the characteristics of the products before introducing them into your baby's diet. It is important that the child gets used to natural food from the very beginning. Commercial foods may contain ingredients not recommended for baby food, including excess fat, salt, sugar, and preservatives; in addition, its consistency differs from that of natural, local products. nine0003

Your pediatrician will help you decide which product to introduce first complementary foods based on your child's nutritional and health status.

It is still necessary to continue breastfeeding on demand both day and night.

Breast milk is still the most important part of your baby's diet. There is no need to supplement your baby with substitutes (adapted milk formulas) as well as follow-up formulas (adapted milk formulas for babies over 6 months), as breast milk provides the baby with all the nutrients he needs. nine0003

Don't forget to breastfeed your baby after each feeding.

When introducing complementary foods, it is important to consider several important points:

  1. Frequency : offer your child new foods (complementary foods) 2 times a day.
  2. Volume : The introduction of new foods into a child's diet should be gradual. Offer complementary foods for trial, increasing by 2-3 tablespoons at each meal. nine0016
  3. Consistency: The food should be thick enough to make it easier to spoon feed and help the baby get used to food with a different texture than breast milk.
  4. Variety :
    • Start with one new product. Give it for three days, while paying attention to the reaction of the child. It is not recommended to introduce several products at the same time - this can provoke an allergic reaction and make it difficult to determine the product that should be excluded from the diet. nine0016
    • Consider cereals as the first food, such as thick porridge (rice, buckwheat or oatmeal) without added milk.
    • Vegetable purees - from pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, cabbage, spinach - are recommended to be introduced earlier than fruits. It is preferable to give the child local seasonal vegetables and fruits.
    • After the porridge is fully introduced into the diet, you can gradually start adding an egg, fruit, leafy greens, meat or dairy products to it.
      • nine0027
    • Baby orientation: It may take some time for the baby to get used to eating other than breast milk. Be patient and actively encourage your child. Don't force him to eat if he doesn't want to. Observe your baby and respond to his signals. Feed your baby slowly and patiently, at his own pace. Wait until he chews and swallows before offering something again. Stop feeding if the child refuses a new food for him, try to offer it another time. Use a separate plate so that you can see if the child has eaten everything that was offered to him. nine0016
    • Hygiene: Good hygiene (cleanliness) is essential to prevent diarrhea and other illnesses in the child. Use clean utensils and utensils when preparing food and feeding. Store food in a safe and clean place in accordance with the terms and rules indicated on them. Remember to follow the basic rules of personal hygiene - wash your hands with soap and water before preparing food and feeding the child, after using the toilet, after performing hygiene procedures and washing the child. Wash your child's hands before eating. nine0016

Products not recommended for this age:

  • Med.
  • Whole cow's (also goat's) milk. It is not recommended to give to children in the first year of life, because its composition does not meet the needs of infants and it can contribute to the development of anemia and allergies. To prepare cereals, you can use a small amount (diluted 1: 1 with boiled water) of cow's milk.
  • Citrus fruits (lemon, orange, mandarin). nine0016
  • Tropical fruits and vegetables.
  • Sweets, pastries, confectionery.
  • Fried snacks (chips, croutons, snacks), fast foods (fast food).
  • Tea (black, green, herbal), carbonated and/or sugary drinks, colorants.
  • Industrially processed meat products (sausages, sausages).
  • Salt, spices, food additives.
  • All types of nuts and seeds.

Always think about safety: do not give your child nuts, popcorn, small fruits or whole grapes, pieces of solid food that can choke on. nine0003

Feeding according to baby's needs

When you start weaning, the best time to do so is during the day when both you and your baby are in a good mood and relaxed. It may take a long time for a child to get used to a new food (complementary foods). Be patient and actively encourage him to eat, but don't force him. These are new skills for a toddler and take time and patience to master them.

Watch your child and respond to his signals.

Learn more