At the age of six months and more, babies begin to look at the world quite meaningfully, recognize relatives who are nearby, try to communicate, are interested in toys, make attempts to sit down, get up, crawl. It is at this age that pediatricians recommend introducing the first complementary foods.
Breastfed baby - how to introduce complementary foods
At six months of age, breastfed babies can already receive complementary foods. It is better to start with vegetable one-component purees. They are mainly made from hypoallergenic vegetables - squash, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Fruits are recommended to be introduced secondarily, as they contain a lot of acids and can irritate the baby's stomach. An approximate menu for a child of six months in the first week of complementary foods looks like this:
- breakfast - mother's milk;
- second breakfast - 1 teaspoon of vegetable puree, supplemented with milk;
- lunch - 2 teaspoons of puree, milk supplement;
- afternoon snack, dinner, night feeding - milk.
If you are in doubt about when to start complementary feeding and which product to give first, consult your pediatrician. Only he can tell what your child needs.
Complementary foods are recommended to be introduced in the first half of the day to see the reaction of the child's body to one or another food. After a week and a half after successfully consuming a one-component vegetable food, you can start trying mixed and fruit purees. You should not force-feed a child, if the baby spits, does not want to swallow - replace mashed potatoes or postpone the introduction of complementary foods for a week.
Closer to seven months, you can replace one main feeding with vegetable or fruit puree, by eight - introduce chicken and beef puree, millet and buckwheat cereals into the diet, and replace them with one breastfeeding, and by nine - leave mother's milk just before bedtime and at night. All changes in the children's menu are very individual, you need to monitor the behavior of the child and the reaction of his body before feeding a new type of food.
The baby feeds on formula - when to start complementary foods
For children who are bottle-fed, pediatricians recommend introducing complementary foods earlier, from four to five months. You also need to start with one-component vegetable puree. By six months, the baby's menu should be as follows:
- breakfast - milk mixture;
- second breakfast - buckwheat or millet porridge on a mixture;
- lunch - vegetable puree;
- afternoon snack, dinner, night feeding - mixture.
Cow's milk is not recommended for children under one year old. At the age of six months, you can try to introduce kefir, little by little, monitoring the child's reaction.
By seven months, afternoon tea can be replaced with fruit puree, by eight - given chicken or beef puree for dinner, by nine - replace breakfast with porridge, and for lunch, cook light soups with vegetables and pasta. If the child's teeth have not yet erupted by this time, all dishes must be grinded in a blender until they are mushy. It is quite possible to give up milk formula closer to the year.
