Feeding Your
Infant Four
to Six Months Old
Your baby will be ready
to start to eat solid food at about four to six months of age. You can prepare this
yourself. There are good reasons for starting your child on solids at this age -
Baby may still be hungry
after a milk feed;
It lets babies get to know
different tastes and textures;
Babies need to learn how to
swallow solid food.
Chewing also helps in the
development of muscles in preparation for speech.
The iron stored by the
liver since birth will be diminishing.
You can give your child
the following quite safely -
Good quality
natural fruit juice - 30 to 60 mL daily.
Cereal -
Start with rice cereal with added iron. Mix about 1 to 2 teaspoons of cereal with a small
amount of breast or formula milk in a dish. Make it thick like porridge and give to your
baby at the same time each day. It may take a while for your baby to become used to this
new taste sensation. You could also use a little mashed pasta, rice or other cereal food
as the first solid food.
Dont add sugar or
honey.
Always feed the cereal to
your baby with a spoon.
Dont use baby biscuits,
as they have too much sugar in them.
Fresh fruits -
such as ripe banana, pear, pawpaw, rockmelon, peach or avocado.
Cooked fruits -
try apple and pear. Try to grate harder fruits and vegetables.
Canned fruits -
unsweetened or fruits in their own juices are the best and the easiest to use.
Cooked Vegetables
(fresh is preferable) such as potato carrots zucchini broccoli pumpkin sweet potato marrow
To cook -
steam vegetables. Then mash, blend or sieve them.
Dont add salt,
Vegemite, Marmite or Promite or margarine or butter to vegetables.
If your baby is under 6
months you may start with rice porridge and later add vegetables to rice porridge.
If your baby is over 6
months, you may add minced meat or fish as well.
Helpful Hints
Always test the temperature
of the food on the inside of your wrist before giving it to baby
It is not necessary to use
salt
Always give solids after
babys milk.
Dont bombard your
child with too much new food too soon. Give your baby only one new food every few days
If your baby doesnt
like a new food, thats all right. Wait for a few days and try again.
It sometimes takes a while
for babies to learn to eat from a spoon. Use a small teaspoon without sharp edges.
How much food does Your
baby need?
Start baby with 2-4
teaspoons of solids at each meal and increase to roughly half a cup by 6 months, or
according to your babys appetite.
Do not become worried if your
child wont eat solids or wont eat everything you give him. All babies are
different - some need more food than others and some do not need to start solids until six
months.
Do not force your child to
eat, he will eat when he is hungry.
Six to Eight Months
Old
At this age your baby
needs to begin to learn how to chew even if he does not have teeth. Solids should play an
increasingly important role in nutrition from now on.
Cereal -
continue
on using iron-fortified baby cereals at least until 9 months. Vita-Brits, Weet-Bix or
porridge could be started after 9 months.
Egg yolk -
You
may also give your baby the yolk of an egg. Only give a little at a time until your baby
gets used to it. You give it to your baby mixed with vegetables, or from a finger of toast
dipped into yolk, or give just the plain yolk.
Vegetables -
spinach, silver beet and green beans.
Meats
fish, steamed - make sure
there is no skin or bones
chicken, finely chopped or
pureed.
brains, mashed.
roast meat or steak - thin
flakes scaped off the meat.
lambs fry.
Babies often enjoy chewing
on a rusk.
Fruit juice -
60 to 12mls daily.
Teething usually starts
between 6 and 9 months of age. They usually like to have something in their mouth to ease
the pain and discomfort - a rusk is great.
They will also enjoy feeding
themselves using their fingers or a safe spoon. They also love chewing on foods such as
cooked carrot, celery, green beans, pumpkin; meat, fish, chicken, cheese; pieces of ripe
banana, peach, pear, small pieces of orange, apple; sandwiches, toast.
Nine to Twelve Months Old
Babies at this age should
be eating most of the same foods as you. But your should be cutting it up in small pieces
or mashing it.
vegetables
fruit
pasta dishes
potato
bread
pudding
meat, fish, chicken
whole egg
rice dishes
Raw apple, celery or
carrot should be grated
Do not add extra salt or
sugar to your babys food.
Dont give fried foods.
Avoid the
following - sweet biscuits, sugary foods, sweetened fruit drinks, cordials
and soft drinks, salty packet chips and crisps, nuts, peanuts, hard lollies, uncooked
carrot or celery and whole peas
Drinking from a cup
Between 6 and 9 months,
your baby can start to learn to drink from a cup.
To help him/her learn, give
him/her an unbreakable cup to play with and show him how to put it to his/her mouth. Then,
add a little water, juice or milk and let him/her learn to use it.
It takes most babies some
time to learn to drink from a cup. Dont worry if he/she makes a mess.
One-year-olds
Each day your baby needs
these foods to continue to grow to be strong and healthy:
Milk -
either breast milk or 4 small cups
Wholegrain
cereal, bread, rice or pasta - 3 servings
Yellow or dark
green vegetables - 1 serving
Juice -
1 small cup
Other fruits and
vegetables - 2 servings
Meat, fish,
chicken, eggs, cheese or legumes - 1 or 3 servings
Filtered water
to
drink
If you are breast feeding,
continue to breast feed for as long as you and your baby want to.
If bottle feeding, its
a good idea to start taking your baby off the bottle by twelve months and offer milk from
a cup.
pieces of fruit
fruit juice
peanut butter on plain
cracker biscuits or bread
small pieces of cheese or
cold meat
small cups of milk
Avoid all sweet, refined or
fatty snack foods.
Fluids and Vitamins
Water
It is good to offer your
baby water regularly. They may not want it however. Do not add sugar or honey to the
babys water.
Vitamins
Breast milk and recommended
infant formulas contain all the vitamins your baby needs for the first 4 to 6 months.
Fruit juice
When baby is 4-6 months
of age, you may wish to give some diluted fruit juice, especially in hot weather.
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