The transition of a baby to new food is an important stage in his development. However, the beginning of complementary feeding raises many questions. Let's figure out when it is better to introduce the baby to new food products and how to make this acquaintance beneficial for the baby.
How old should you start?
Pediatricians advise for the first time to offer complementary foods to babies from 5-6 months of age.
If the health, development and growth of a breastfed baby does not cause complaints from parents, it is recommended to feed such a baby from 6 months. Babies receiving the adapted formula are ready for new food a little earlier and can try complementary foods at 5 months. Also, from 5 months of age, it is worth starting to feed babies with poor weight gain.
Your baby is ready to try complementary foods if:
- He began to ask for food more often.
- Its weight has doubled compared to its birth weight.
- The child confidently holds his head and knows how to turn it to the sides.
- When solid food enters his mouth, it is not immediately pushed out by his tongue.
- The baby has not been sick in recent weeks.
- The child learned to sit.
- He will not be vaccinated anytime soon.
- The baby is interested in the food of the parents.
What to give first?
There are several options for how to start acquaintance of the baby with new food products. Each of them has supporters who give strong reasons for choosing a certain product to start feeding. You can start with:
- Fermented milk products. Adherents of the opinion that such products are the best choice to start complementary feeding emphasize that they differ least of all from the food (milk) that the baby is used to, therefore, the body's reaction to such nutrition will often be good.
- Vegetables. This type of complementary food is recommended first if you are overweight or of normal weight. Also, vegetable complementary foods should be chosen first for babies who have frequent constipation.
- Kash. They are advised to start giving to babies who are poorly gaining body weight. It is also recommended to start feeding with porridge for children with unstable stools. Porridge should be given buckwheat, corn, rice or oatmeal. Acquaintance with cereals from wheat and barley begins after 8 months.
Previously, pediatricians recommended starting a child's habituation to an adult menu with juices. Now they are opposed to the early introduction of juice into the diet of babies, because it is an allergenic product that can irritate the baby's digestive tract.
How to give complementary foods?
To introduce your baby to new food, choose a time when both you and the baby will be in a good mood and are not tired for the day. Before you start preparing the first meal for your baby, be sure to wash your hands. It is also very important to check the temperature of the food that you will give to the baby for the sample.
Offer a spoonful of a new meal at the start of a feed when your baby is probably hungry. It is not necessary for the child to eat everything from the spoon, he can just lick or taste an unfamiliar product. If this experience does not cause joy, try again with the same product the next day. If the baby is delighted with the new taste, you can offer a little more. Further, the toddler must definitely continue to feed with food that has long been familiar to him (milk from the mother's breast or a mixture).
Be aware that the baby, receiving new food from a spoon, can be indignant and capricious, because he is used to receiving food continuously. After the first taste of a new dish, the child should be closely observed until the end of the day. Mom should be alerted to any discomfort, and in particular the appearance of a rash or a change in stool. If the stool and skin are in order, the next day will delight the baby with a serving twice as much.
What if the child refuses to eat?
You should never force a child to try new food. From each new complementary food product, the baby will receive not so many calories and nutrients, because the main purpose of complementary feeding is not to feed, but to please the baby with new food, making it a pleasant discovery.
Many children take a long time to get used to innovations and it can be difficult for them to switch to thick food. In this case, the mother needs to be patient and give the baby the opportunity to get used to the new consistency and tastes of food. Most babies are not against sweet porridge or fruit puree, but vegetable, meat, and fish dishes often cause protest. Some people only like freshly prepared food, and ready food from the store is spat out. Other kids, on the other hand, like store-bought purees more, and mother's cooking does not cause delight.
In any case, if the crumb does not approve the new dish from the first try, there is no need to despair. Offer it to the baby a few more times, but if the child clearly shows that he does not want to try a new product, you should not insist. Be calm if you get angry and give vent to anger, the problem can only get worse.
Check the thickness of the food, and also make sure that the baby is already hungry and not too tired. Also try to eliminate any distraction, such as a working TV. Other children playing nearby can also distract the baby from food.
If the child does not want mashed potatoes, give him water - he may be refusing food due to thirst. Also, you do not need to insist if the baby does not want to finish his portion. In general, it is important to be patient, since screaming and irritation will definitely not improve the baby's appetite.
Equivalent replacements
You can offer a baby who refuses a certain product with other food, which will be an equivalent substitute. For example, if a child doesn't want one dairy product, he may not mind another. Yogurt can be replaced with cottage cheese, kefir, milk-based desserts.
A kid who refuses to try vegetable complementary foods should be offered a wide variety of vegetable combinations. At the same time, foods that have a rather pronounced smell (for example, broccoli) should be mixed with more neutral vegetables (like mashed potatoes). Experiment with cooking methods - if the kid doesn't like mashed potatoes, you can boil or stew vegetables, cut into slices. The toddler who categorically refuses vegetables is advised to replace them with fruits.
Kids often dislike meat because of its texture, so you should try to grind this product very carefully and mix it with broth and vegetables. Babies who cannot get used to meat complementary foods can be given other sources of protein - cottage cheese, fish, legumes.
Tips
- Complementary foods should always be given before feeding a baby with formula or breast milk.
- The volume of the product should be increased gradually. To the full volume recommended for the child by age, the portion of complementary foods must be brought in 7-10 days.
- The transition to a new group of complementary foods should be done only after good getting used to the previous group. Usually it takes about two weeks to get used to it.
- To make it easy to track the response to each new product, you should first introduce a monocomponent food. This means that the baby is given only 1 type of cereal, vegetable or fruit.
- When preparing meals for your baby, you can use a blender and mixer, or wipe the food through a sieve. If the dish turns out to be too thick, it should be diluted with a mixture, water, a decoction of vegetables or breast milk.
- Vegetable food is recommended to start with zucchini, cauliflower, turnips and potatoes, and fruit food - with an apple, pear and banana.
For information on whether it is worth buying ready-made baby food in jars, see the program of Dr. Komarovsky.
For more information on the introduction of complementary foods, see Dr. Komarovsky's program.
Find out if your child's weight is normal using the following calculator.
