Complementary foods for babies: timing, types of complementary foods, necessary products

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

Baby's body is developing. He actively moves, sits down, tries to stand up. Weight gain starts to drop. This is one of the signals that it is time to introduce complementary foods. When is the best time to do this?

Not so long ago, just a couple of decades ago, it was believed that 2-3 months was already time. Now, most doctors unanimously agree: it is best to introduce complementary foods at 6 months. True, this figure refers to the feeding of the baby for months during breastfeeding. The fact is that breast milk is rich in substances necessary for the development and growth of the child, and mixtures may lack some components. When to start breastfeeding breastfeeding? Artificial babies are best introduced to complementary foods at 4 months. At this point, the digestive tract is already mature enough to accept new food. The activity of enzymes has become higher, their concentration has approached the adult.

There is another prejudice - some believe that complementary foods should be introduced only after the appearance of the first tooth. This is not true. After all, the appearance of teeth is individual, for some they appear by the year. And in the absence of a variety of nutrients, a child can even develop rickets! There are othersmore indicative, signs of the readiness of the child's body to receive new food. Infant complementary foods are introduced during breastfeeding by months.

Why are breastfed babies introduced complementary foods at 6 months?

There are several reasons for that. First, before this age, babies have a food push reflex. Everything that gets into their mouths they push out with their tongues. There is this reflex in order to protect the child from getting into the mouth of foreign objects that can be swallowed or cause suffocation. The baby still does not know how to spit. After attenuation of this reflex, you can try to feed the baby with a spoon. He will be able to take food into his mouth and swallow it.

The baby's posture plays an important role in breastfeeding readiness. At 6 months, babies usually begin to sit. Sitting down to eat from a spoon is much more convenient. The baby can even show a pose of his desire or unwillingness to eat. If the food attracts him, he may lean forward towards the spoon; if not, he may lean back.

Children spend a lot of calories, so mother's milk is no longer enough for them. The fact is that more solid food has more calories than liquid, which turns out to be like an aqueous solution of nutrients. After all, milk is 88% water. Porridge is much more nutritious. You can understand that a child is not saturated with mother's milk by the fact that he begins to ask for breasts very often.

At this age, children actively show interest in everything that happens around. Including food. They see adults eating something and reach out to try adultsproducts.

All of these signs indicate a child's readiness for the introduction of new foods. All children are individual, so the period for the introduction of complementary foods can fluctuate by half a month in one direction or another. If these signs are not present, and 6 months old, wait 2-3 weeks.

Dangers of early and late introduction of complementary foods

If you introduce new foods into your child's diet too early, your child's body may not be ready for it at all. The food contains microorganisms that the baby's immunity can not cope with. Food can be poorly digested and also cause allergies. And a new treat can also reduce a baby's interest in the breast or bottle, leading to a decrease in the mother's lactation or weight loss of the baby.

Why shouldn't we introduce complementary foods too late? Mother's milk is low in iron and zinc, and the baby can only get these elements from food. With a lack of iron, iron deficiency anemia develops. The baby needs more and more nutrients and weight gain will decrease every month. Also, the lack of sufficiently solid food will inhibit the chewing reflex and the further development of the muscles of the jaws and tongue. And they will still be needed not only for food, but also for speech.

Pediatric and educational complementary foods

The most popular pediatric food, otherwise it can be called traditional. Its purpose is to take care of the he alth of the child. Enter the diet of infants complementary foods for months. First, new food is given to the baby in a microdose, and within about a week, its amount is brought toage norm. The body of the child receives the necessary nutrients. Milk is gradually being phased out of the baby's diet.

Pedagogical complementary foods - this is when a child receives new products in microdoses from the table of adults. A microdose is the amount that fits between the tips of the nails of the closed thumb and forefinger.

Pedagogical complementary foods for babies have not so much a nutritious as a cognitive function. He introduces the child to the diet of adults. Breast milk remains the main food, at least up to a year.

Fruit or vegetables

What to enter first? For many years it has been customary to start complementary foods with fruit juices or purees. Modern doctors do not advise doing this. Fruits are quite aggressive food for the gastrointestinal tract of babies. It is better to wait with them. In addition, purees, and even more so juices, are rich in sugars, and this can have two undesirable consequences. Firstly, a child can gain a lot of weight, and not so much due to the growth of the whole organism, but due to the accumulation of excess adipose tissue, and secondly, after sweet purees, boring cereals and vegetable purees may not be to his taste at all.

Where to start?

So, the most suitable foods to start feeding a baby are vegetable purees and cereals. They are low in sugar and acids, which can irritate the stomach. Most often, it is advised to start with light and hypoallergenic vegetables. But if the baby is not gaining weight well, then doctors often recommend starting the first feeding of the baby with cereals. Kashichoose gluten free. These are cereals made from corn, buckwheat and rice. The fact is that the baby's body is not yet able to digest gluten, and this will give him an unnecessary load and harmful substances.

Mistakes in introducing complementary foods

Do not immediately give the age dose of the product. It is best to start with about a quarter of a teaspoon. Usually, the amount of new food is brought to the age dose in a week, but sometimes the process is extended for a month, while, if there are no he alth problems, other dishes begin to enter the diet in parallel. It is important to monitor the condition of the baby: does he show signs of discomfort, what color and consistency does his stool have and how often does it occur.

No need to introduce complementary foods in the afternoon. If you give a new product to your child in the morning, it will be easier to follow his condition throughout the day.

Do not introduce new products too often or, on the contrary, delay this process. The optimal interval between the introduction of a new food is a week.

Don't rush. It is not necessary to introduce two products on the same day. Also, all dishes must include one component.

There are times when you shouldn't introduce new foods into your baby's diet. This happens when his body is weakened: during an illness, a week before vaccination and a week after it, during travel and extreme heat.

How to introduce complementary foods

How is the correct feeding of the baby? It is important to do this in a calm environment so that the child is not distracted. Mom can try a spoonful of puree herself andshow her facial expression how delicious it is. After all, babies already distinguish and copy facial expressions! You can breastfeed your baby immediately after weaning. Breast milk still remains in his diet, and the process of sucking the breast for the baby is pleasant and soothes him. If a child refuses to eat a new food, do not force him, but try again in a week.

If a baby is breastfed and does not drink water, water becomes essential when complementary foods are introduced. After all, the new food is more solid and contains less liquid.

There are recommendations for feeding babies by month.

Vegetables

To avoid constipation when feeding in infants, a he althy baby with a normal and especially large weight should start with vegetables. The baby is ready for them at 6 months. They are introduced in the form of a puree. You need to start with vegetables such as zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, potatoes, carrots. What is important to know? At the beginning, mashed potatoes are given from one vegetable, then, when the baby has already familiarized himself with all the others and his body has accepted them, you can make mashed potatoes from two vegetables. You should not get carried away with potatoes, they are difficult to digest in infants, so they are usually used as a component for mixed mashed potatoes. First, green vegetables are introduced into the child's diet - they are less allergenic than orange ones. The first can be zucchini, then cauliflower, then broccoli. A child can start pumpkin from 7 months, carrots even later, 2-3 times a week and in combination with other vegetables.

How to cook vegetable puree

How to cook zucchini for the firstbreastfeeding or following vegetables? It's easy to do. Vegetables should be washed, peeled and seeds removed. Then you need to cut them into cubes and put in a saucepan or double boiler, put to boil. Boiled vegetables are chopped with a blender, adding a little broth in which they were cooked. The consistency of the resulting puree should be quite liquid and resemble kefir. It should be consumed immediately and not stored in the refrigerator. No s alt, no sugar, no spices are needed.

Kashi

Introduced next month if the baby is he althy. As already mentioned, you need to cook corn, rice and buckwheat porridge. Porridges are boiled for feeding babies on the water, sugar is not put. Children up to a year are forbidden both cow's and goat's milk. But you can add a little breast milk or formula. Porridge after the introduction of each can be alternated every day. Usually, children are given porridge in the morning and evening, but if they are overweight, it is worth introducing it only in the morning. Porridge for babies in consistency should resemble mashed potatoes. To do this, the finished porridge is ground with a blender or the cereal is ground into powder in a coffee grinder before cooking.

Millet porridge can be introduced at 8 months.

Meat

Children are ready to eat meat from the 8th month. It contains bioavailable iron, which is an excellent prevention of anemia.

Meat is also introduced into the child's diet in the form of mashed potatoes. It is right to start with veal, beef, turkey, rabbit. Chicken is considered quite allergenic. With self-preparation of minced meat, boiled meatpassed through a meat grinder 2 times. A month later, you can add meat broth to the child's diet. At 9 months, you should try steam minced meatballs. Around the same time, the baby's body is ready for fish. It is worth using it 1-2 times a week. But if the child suffers from allergies, then fish and broth should not yet be on his menu. But pork will enter the diet of a child only one and a half years and in very small quantities.

Fruit

As early as 7 months, applesauce can be introduced into the baby's diet. At 8 months, prunes are introduced. Ideally, it should be introduced in parallel with rabbit meat. This balances the action of the products. For breakfast - porridge and fruits, for lunch - meat and vegetables. The next fruit might be a pear. You can also introduce other fruits that are characteristic of the place of residence. Peach, apricot. Many children love bananas.

Drinks

From the age of 7 months, herbal teas can be introduced into the baby's diet. And after he recognizes the taste of apple and prunes, you can cook compote from them. Dried apricots can be added to compote only after a year.

What a baby can eat by one year

By the year, the baby's body is mature enough to eat yolk, cottage cheese, fruits and juices. His menu already includes vegetables, cereals, meat and fish; you can replenish this list with a small amount of bread, cookies, sour-milk products, vegetable and butter. As for the yolk, you can use chicken or quail eggs, preferring the latter, because theyless allergenic. It is best to eat the yolk in the morning, adding it to porridge or grinding it with breast milk.

Cow's milk under one year is not recommended, especially since it is unable to replace breast milk or formula. In the year it can be administered if the child is not prone to allergies and did not eat a hypoallergenic mixture. If the baby refuses to drink it, you can mix it with breast milk or baby food first.