How to introduce solid foods to a baby – Why should you introduce semi-solids and solids to a baby at six months ? Milk will serve well during the first six months of life. Your baby’s health and nutrition will begin to suffer because the intake of only milk fails to meet the infant’s increasing demands of calories.
Tips on how to introduce solid foods to a baby !
One reason for starting semi-solids at six months of age is to provide the infant a chance for discovering varying tastes of different foods. Remember that taste buds have developed by this period of life.
After six months is the best time to begin learning the act of chewing and, in the process, strengthening the gums.
Your baby needs semi-solids and solids in addition to milk after a certain age. You must remember to introduce the first such supplementary food when he is six months old.
This is the time when his taste buds have just developed or are in the process of developing. It will be easy to get him used to foods other than milk right away.
If you make the mistake of delaying the introduction of such foods, he is likely to create a fuss in accepting these later.
What is weaning?
The dictionary meaning of the term is “to be taken off the breast”, “to accustom to food other than mother’s milk”, “to coax away from….” or “introduction of top feeding”.
When we talk about infant feeding and use the term “weaning”, what we usually mean is introduction of solids and semi-solids. It is as simple as that.
How to introduce solid foods to a baby – Which food and when ?
Anything that is easily digestible can be introduced. Begin with one food at a time a time. Watch how the child reacts to it. Wait for a week or two before you introduce another food.
Give the food in small amounts and slowly increase the quantity as he begins to like it and to tolerate it satisfactorily. Do not force the food and do not give it when you are in haste or in a bad mood.
It will vary from baby to baby but what is important is that this variation is perfectly within normal limits.
You should start with a fruit or a cereal when your baby enter his fourth month.
If you choose a fruit, you better begin with a mashed ripe banana. Its nutritional value is good, its availability is no problem and most babies like it and love to take it.
You may give a teaspoonful of it – yes, mashed with hygienic precautions – as such or mixed in a little milk. Slowly, increase the quantity. Before too long, to your surprise, he will be eating one full banana.
Fruits such as apple, chiku, mango, papaya (papita) and the like may also be given. Do not forget to mash these too.
If you are beginning with a cereal (or perhaps you can introduce it a week or so after the mashed fruit), suji (semolina) occupies the pride of place.
Make a paste of the roasted suji, sugar and milk. On the first day, give just half to one teaspoonful but gradually increase the quantity to about half a cup.
You may give any other cereal. In fact, there is not much to choose between them. A rice and pulse mixed preparation. Powdered rice when cooked in milk also makes an excellent custard for the infant.
The market is flooded with precooked cereal preparations. These require to be prepared as per instructions printed on the tin. These foods are based on a mixture of powder milk with some carbohydrates like rice and wheat, and are, undoubtedly expensive.
A wise energetic mother should, rather than spending large amounts on these tinned baby foods, provide her growing infant with all the nourishment that he needs from the very foods she uses to make the family needs.
Moreover, the foods prepared at home are fresh and give the infant a chance to taste variety.
A couple of months after the introduction of fruit or cereal, start boiled and mashed vegetables (as such or mixed with a little milk).
Tomato is strongly recommended. You may give any seasonal vegetable, say green leafy vegetables, carrots, beans, peas, etc. Avoid, however, radish, onion, and turnip.
Subsequently you may give him fish, egg, meat and other animal proteins. The late addition of these foods is to avoid the possible risk of allergy to the foreign proteins.
Egg is very good. Begin with its “yolk”. The “white” may be given some days or weeks later. Never give a raw egg.
By the time the baby is nearly nine months old, he is taking four or five semi-solids or solids. His milk intake is much less now. Do not panic about it.
It is all natural. Stop mashing the foods now. Try to give him biscuits, curd, bread, etc. In fact, he has cut some teeth and should begin to take the family food. Encourage him if he attempts to eat by himself as a part of his growing and learning.
The whole process of weaning should be gradual and completed by the time the child is between nine months and one year. Thereafter, he should be taking almost the adult diet of about 1,000 calories daily.
By this time, he should be taking just two servings of milk, a total quantity of half a kilo or so. If you insist on too much of milk he will not take enough of other foods.
Remember, even a one-year-old may need softening of hard foodstuffs and exclusion of spices. Just two or three feeds a day will not suffice for him. He needs to be fed more frequently – every two to four hours which means about five times a day.
Should the infant be given semi-solids, etc. before or after a breastfeed?
You should give the baby such a food a couple of hours after a breastfeed when he is likely to evince greater interest in it.
Should soft foods be discontinued when the baby is sick?
No, not at all. On the other hand, his needs for nourishment during illness are enhanced.
Because of poor appetite, he may like to take foods other than what he normally eats. During convalescence, as his appetite improves, you should further boost his intake so that he regains his health fast. You could even make your baby watch animal and pet videos when sick.
Along with the introduction of semi-solids and solids to the baby, you should begin to give him water as well. During hot summer months, introduction of water may be done rather earlier.
Make sure that the water you give is boiled for about 10 minutes and then cooled. Avoid using a feeding bottle for this purpose. Instead, feed with a spoon to begin with and with a cup or a glass when he is about seven or eight months of age.
Finally, a word about the water and food hygiene. A little relaxation on this front can cause many a problem in the form of infections, the leading one being gastroenteritis which is known to account for a big chunk of infant morbidity and mortality.
Avoid giving the baby a food that is kept overnight since such a food stands good chances of getting infected.
So, remember, diarrhoea affects the baby due to neither introduction of soft foods nor teething as in generally believed.
It is due to contamination of water or food that the baby takes. It may also be due to the baby’s tendency to pick up contaminated objects lying around and chewing them when he is teething.
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