Baby nutrition at 7 months: menu options, allowed foods

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

A child at 7 months has become more independent and active. He is constantly engaged in "research" activities, requires the attention of adults, as well as providing him with complete security. Development and intensive growth require additional nutrients that the old feeding norms no longer make up for. How to make a menu for a child at 7 months and how should it be combined with his lifestyle?

Psychomotor Development

Baby every day pleases and surprises parents with the emergence of new skills. Not so long ago, he just started to sit, while at the age of 7 months he independently steps over his legs, rises at the support, crouches and sits on his knees. Interest in the surrounding world arises in the desire to get acquainted with various objects that are in his field of vision. The kid grasps large toys well and shifts them confidently from hand to hand.

Childis now beginning to crawl, while doing it equally well back and forth. This way of movement opens up new horizons for the baby: it becomes possible to take any object of interest on their own, as well as get to know the space better. Interest in the surrounding contemplation is not limited, and the little researcher, at the first opportunity, always tries everything that is in the access zone “by the tooth”. The kid with pleasure, at the request of adults, finds familiar objects, turns towards the speaker, having heard his own name. At this age, attachment to relatives is especially manifested. The child recognizes loved ones with whom he rejoices in meeting after a long sleep. Wariness appears towards strangers.

Wake time is accompanied by constant babble - regularly repeated syllables that are mistakenly perceived by adults as conscious speech. At the same time, the baby's babbling is the initial attempts to communicate, imitation of adults, as well as an expression of an emotional state. The baby turns from a listener into an interlocutor who willingly repeats intonation and syllables.

Feeding Features

The ability of the baby to sit, as well as confidently hold objects in his hand, allows you to organize in a new way the way food is consumed and the menu of the child at 7 months:

• feed from a spoon, while to gain skills in using the device - give a crumb a spoon;
• feeding the baby should be carried out exclusively in a sitting position, and preferably if he takes a seat at a common table in a special chair;
• allow to get acquainted with what is contained in the plate, sloppy, while "manual" in a very informative way;
• to drink from a cup and invite the baby to drink on his own from a drinking bowl or non-spill bottle;
• set your own example of behavior at the common table, which will form the rules for eating in the future.

Feeding: when, how much and what?

So, what to feed a baby at 7 months? The feeding regimen for babies of this age includes five meals a day. The main feature is the formation of meals that correspond to full-fledged future breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Day after day, new products are replacing mother's milk, which is now given exclusively before bedtime and in the morning.

Between feeding intervals of 4 hours at the same time correspond to the physiological capabilities of the child's body, without causing discomfort from the gastrointestinal tract. There are certain rules for food consumption. At the same time, the amount of food eaten depends largely on the characteristics of the baby:

• speed of metabolic processes;
• constitution;
• physical activity.

Let's figure out what to feed a baby at 7 months. An approximate baby diet is presented:

• Vegetable puree.
• Baby formula or milk.
• Egg yolk.
• Porridge (on vegetable broth or milk).
• Meat puree.
• Cottage cheese.
• Kefir.
• Jared or freshly made fruit puree (you can also give juice to a baby at 7 months).
• Bread.
• Crackers (drying or cookies).

So, what to give a baby at 7 months? There is a traditional order of introducing complementary foods: vegetable purees, cereals are offered at 6 months with breastfeeding, earlier with artificial feeding, after 2 weeks alternately - yolk, kefir, butter, meat, after 8 months - cottage cheese.

Breastfeeding diet

The introduction of complementary foods at 7 months performs two main tasks - it compensates for the lack of mother's milk, and also prepares the baby for eating adult food. There is an opinion that with normal lactation in the mother, the time for the introduction of complementary foods can be postponed until later. Although there is a second point of view, which is directed in favor of the introduction of complementary foods:

• helps to master chewing skills in a timely manner;
• Experiencing various new foods stimulates the motor and enzymatic functions of the digestive system;
• gives the baby additional sources of energy, minerals and vitamins, building material, compensating for the costs of increasing physical activity, development and growth.

Now let's see what explains the presence of various dishes on the baby's menu.

What kind of cereals can a child have at 7 months?

satiety.

At the same time, the “first” porridge for a child should be one-component and liquid. Only after its successful introduction into complementary foods should some other ingredients be added. Thus, it will be easier to identify which product the baby will have an allergic reaction to. At the same time, you can cook porridge yourself or use ready-made offers.

For cooking, they use this method: before cooking, grind or chop the already cooked porridge with a blender. To the required consistency, it is diluted with vegetable broth, milk formula or breast milk.

You can calculate the volume of ingredients to create porridge by measuring the right amount of cereal with a spoon:

1. To make the porridge 5% liquid, take 1 small spoonful of cereal for half a glass of water.
2. After a couple of weeks, you can switch to 10%, adding 1.5 tsp to the same volume of water. cereals.
3. A new dish for babies is introduced from a small spoon. Portions with good tolerance increase every day, by the end of the 2nd week reaching 150 g and completely displacing breast milk from one feeding. The ideal time to eat is 10 am for second breakfast.

Eggs - boiled yolk only

What else is included in the diet of a child at 7 months? Eggs in the baby's menu appear only after the introduction of porridge. There is no particular difference in properties between quail and chicken eggs. In their raw form, any of them is an opportunity to get sick with salmonellosis. Doctors all the time insist on observing the necessary rules for their preparation: beforewash thoroughly by boiling, check for freshness (missing ones “stand” vertically in water or float), cook for at least 10 minutes.

Yolk, like protein, can cause allergies. Therefore, it is administered with caution. At a 10-hour breakfast, they offer a yolk (1/8), grated with milk, on the tip of a spoon. After 3 days, in the absence of allergies, the yolk is increased to 1/4, gradually increasing to ½ of the yolk a maximum of twice a week.

This valuable product will provide a growing body with vitamins, phosphorus and selenium. If the baby refuses to eat the proposed yolk in its pure form, the product is mixed with vegetable puree or porridge, which can also diversify the child's diet at 7 months.

Vegetable and butter

Consider this product. The nutrition of a child at 7 months includes vegetable oil, which is added to vegetable purees, as well as a small amount of butter, which softens cereals. With a normal reaction of the baby, the amount of the latter is increased to 5 grams, and the vegetable - up to 5 ml.

Kefir and cottage cheese

Baby's nutrition at 7 months also includes cottage cheese and kefir. The introduction of kefir at the same time requires the same rules as any other new product - from a small amount. After getting to know the child with him, you can easily introduce cottage cheese into the diet. A teaspoon of it is diluted to a homogeneous consistency with kefir, increasing the volume daily by 2 times. In order to track the emerging reaction to a new product, it is offered to the baby for the 2nd breakfast. Atnormal tolerance, the intake of kefir and cottage cheese is transferred to the 2nd half of the day (for an afternoon snack), when these products are best absorbed.

To feed a baby at 7 months old, it is unacceptable to buy market cottage cheese, as well as “adult” store-bought kefir. The safest and most useful are products from special children's departments, as well as those purchased in a dairy kitchen. At the same time, when buying, you should always be interested in the composition and date of manufacture. Fermented milk products can be given to a child every day, while observing age norms. In the baby's diet by the end of the seventh month of life, cottage cheese is 30 g, while kefir is about 170 ml.

It is necessary to temporarily refuse kefir when an unstable stool appears, from cottage cheese - with a rapid overgrowth of the fontanel, as well as in the presence of kidney disease.

Artificial Baby Diet

It should be understood that artificial feeding does not fill all the needs of a small organism, like breastfeeding. Even adapted high-quality mixtures cannot provide the baby with the necessary nutritional important elements. Therefore, feeding a 7-month-old formula-fed baby requires the introduction of complementary foods a month earlier than natural-fed babies.

Unfamiliar foods for the baby have long been in the diet of artificial children - mashed potatoes, cereals, egg yolk. According to indications, liver, meat, kefir and cottage cheese can be introduced into the menu earlier.

Mashed potatoes and meat broths

On the baby's menu from 7 monthsmeat appears in the form of mashed veal, lean beef, chicken fillet, turkey, rabbit meat. It should be noted that the range of food departments for children is ready to offer a huge selection of products from domestic and foreign manufacturers (Hipp, Heinz, Grandmother's Basket, Gerber, Agusha, Tema, Fleaur Alpine, etc.). It is important to look at the age recommendations indicated on each jar.

Trying to diversify the baby's diet at 7 months by introducing meat, it can be cooked at home, which is not at all difficult:

1. Meat, chopped into pieces, cook until tender.
2. Chop thoroughly with a blender.
3. Dilute before feeding to a light puree consistency with ready-made broth.
4. If the child refuses the proposed dish, add it to vegetable puree or porridge.

Meat products are digested longer than the same vegetable soup for a 7-month-old baby, therefore, they are always given lunch time. Light, hateful broths are used to create vegetable puree soups, cereals. They improve the digestion process, while increasing the activity of the secretory glands.

During this period of time, the baby on artificial feeding tries new types of cereals, and also gets acquainted with mashed vegetable soups on meat broth, and other multi-component purees. What fruits can a child at 7 months in this case? Apple, banana, prunes, pear - these are the fruits that the baby can already try. Meat puree once a week can replace liver puree.

Regardless of the speciesfeeding, crumbs of 7 months should be offered to try solid food, of course, if they already have teeth. Rusk, drying or children's cookies for an afternoon snack is a great opportunity to stimulate the chewing process in time. At the same time, from homogeneous purees, a slow transition to food containing small lumps and pieces begins smoothly. At the same time, a special grater is used to create puree from fresh vegetables and fruits, while boiled vegetables are chopped simply with a fork.

Fill up the cookbook

For the most part, young mothers think about how to diversify the baby's diet at 7 months so that it is diverse. Recipes for toddlers are easy to make.

Pumpkin oatmeal

Ingredients:

• about 50g pumpkin;
• 12g oatmeal;
• 50ml water;
• 70ml milk;
• butter.

The pumpkin is thoroughly washed, peeled and seeds are cut into small cubes, poured with boiling water and stewed for half an hour with the lid closed. Next, oatmeal is poured in, hot milk is poured in, after which the stewing process lasts another 20 minutes on low heat. At the very end, everything is whipped with a blender.

Rice and apple porridge

Ingredients:

• rice flour - 10g;
• 40g apple;
• 70ml milk;
• 30ml water;
• butter.

First, the milk is brought to a boil, then pour the rice, ground previously into flour, stirring all the time. 5 minutes boil. Purifiedthe apple should be grated, then mixed with porridge, and then grind in a blender. Add butter at the end.

About etiquette

The baby is growing up before our eyes, therefore, a 7-month-old baby should be taught proper behavior in the kitchen:

1. Let the baby strive to master the art of using a spoon as a method of independently obtaining food. Tune in mentally that learning how to handle a spoon is more important than order and cleanliness in the kitchen at the moment.
2. Since the baby is already sitting confidently, get him a high chair that will meet safety requirements.
3. Eating food should be an extremely enjoyable experience. If the child refuses some food, do not force feed him. At the same time, try to find out the reason for the refusal. The food was probably too hot.