What Food Should Be Given To 6 Months Baby
Topic: What Food Should Be Given To 6 Months Baby?
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From 6 months of age one of the main changes in the baby’s feeding takes place. This is when you should start offering your child other types of food besides milk. It is what is known as the start of complementary feeding, whose name means precisely that, which is a diet that complements lactation, whether maternal or artificial.
What Food Should Be Given To 6 Months Baby
Until 6 months of age, infants should exclusively feed on milk. This diet, which both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Spanish Pediatric Association recommend is with breast milk since it is the most natural and beneficial for mother and baby, it will be on-demand, that is, always and when the baby requires it and for as long as necessary.
Is my baby ready to eat other foods?
As with other facets of child development, not all babies are ready to start complementary feeding at the same time. That is why you must offer new foods without forcing or forcing the baby. Some signs that the baby is ready to start complementary feeding are:
Supports setup unaided – you have lost the extrusion reflex – that is, you don’t spit or push food with your tongue when it touches your mouth.
You are interested in the foods you see around you: these indications generally occur around 6 months of age, so at this stage it is recommended to start complementary feeding. At that time, you can start offering your baby other types of foods, such as fruits or cereals, gradually incorporating cereals with gluten. Don’t forget that milk will continue to be your baby’s main food, so you will often breastfeed if you are still breastfeeding, or the formula if you have chosen to breastfeed.
How to introduce food?
The new foods that you are incorporating into the baby’s diet should be offered one by one, waiting at least 3 days before introducing a new one, to observe possible reactions, intolerances, or allergies. Cook the food in the healthiest way possible (steamed, boiled, or grilled) and give it or crushed it (in the form of creams or purees) or in small pieces or mashed with a fork, depending on the capacity of each child. . Avoid using salt and add a splash of olive oil.
Although there is no total consensus on the order and time when to start offering certain foods, most professionals recommend starting with cereals, fruits, and vegetables at 6 months of age (except for green leafy ones, such as spinach and chard, which are delayed up to 12 months); white meats (chicken, lamb, turkey, rabbit …) around 7 months; add the veal at 8 months and start with the white fish (hake, sole, monkfish, etc.) at 9 months. It is recommended to introduce the egg, legumes, and cow’s milk from 12 months; red fruits and nuts (always crushed, as they can cause drowning) at 18 months; and shellfish and other crustaceans at 2 years of age.
The environment, essential to arouse interest in food
It is possible that on some occasions the baby refuses to eat and rejects the foods that you offer. In these cases, you must take into account some key factors for the child to show interest in food. Do not force the baby to eat, since in addition to being counterproductive (it may be that he does not eat due to feeling bad or having discomfort) you will only get the opposite effect, and the meals can become a real odyssey.
Avoid using television and other electronic devices to entertain your child while eating. The goal is for you to be interested in new foods, not just eat, so it’s better if there are no distractions.
A good way to get curious about food is to let it research, touch, handle, and taste it for itself. It doesn’t matter if you get your hands dirty or stain the floor, which has an easy solution. In addition, some experts conclude that playing with food stimulates the cognitive development of babies.
Comfort and safety
The child must be comfortable and at a suitable height. It is appropriate to use an age-appropriate high chair from the start of complementary feeding. The Polly Progres5 by Chicco is an evolutionary high chair with five different configurations to adapt to the growth of the baby.
It is a single high chair approved to be used as a practical hammock from 0 months; like a conventional high chair, as soon as the baby is able to sit up on its own (around 6 months); and as a booster seat up to 36 months. For this, it has a zipper system that will allow you to adapt it to each stage.
Family Eating Together
At mealtime it is important that the whole family gets involved and participates in this routine and sits together at the table. Eating is a social act, a moment that we usually enjoy with friends or other family members. Children frequently act by imitation, so it is convenient that they see us having a fun and pleasant time in front of the food so that they associate it with something positive. The moments at the table will be relaxed and without tension, since if we are nervous when we feed the baby, we are also transmitting our mood and the situation may worsen.
By following these tips, starting complementary feeding, an important milestone for your baby’s growth and development, will be easier. Over time, around 12 months or so, your baby will be able to eat like another member of the family, always trying to make them healthy and balanced dishes.
What Food Should Be Given To 6 Months Baby In Menu: The First Porridge and Purees
Six-month baby food plan
There is currently no need to rush into diversifying a baby’s diet. Follow our tips to help you feed slowly like a senior. So far, your baby has been exclusively fed on breast milk or artificial milk. However, your baby is already prepared for a special menu for his 6 months of life in which you can introduce fruits or vegetables.
A menu for 6-month-old babies
Between 5 months and 7 months, the baby doubles the weight he had at birth. The child begins to sit up and tries to touch everything around him with his hands. He has partly reached his digestive maturity: he is able to discover new eating sensations little by little. There is only one golden rule: don’t be in a hurry.
Menu for a 6-month-old baby
• Breakfast: give the breast or a bottle of about 210 ml without forcing it to finish.
• Food: between 100 and 200 g of vegetable puree mixed with 10 to 15 g of meat and a little oil. For dessert you can take compote, pureed fruit or yogurt.
• Snack: applesauce and / or yogurt. Occasionally, a bottle or breast. Dairy is a must if you haven’t had it at noon.
• Dinner: mashed vegetables with a little oil, followed by milk.
– Do not add salt or sugar to food.
– Always check the temperature of the food before giving it to the child to taste.
– The child should drink half a liter of milk a day (milk, dairy).
Ideas for feeding a baby from 6 months
For the first six months of life, a milk-based diet is enough for the baby. To avoid allergy problems, which currently affect 15-20% of the population, too early nutritional diversification is not recommended. Breastfeeding is ideal, but you shouldn’t blame yourself if you don’t want to or can’t breastfeed: industrial milk is an effective substitute.
There is infant formula for each growing age of the baby: starting milk until feeding diversification and continuing milk until the first year. The diversification of food begins with the introduction of gluten-free flours, then fruit as a complement to milk, then vegetables, and continues with the incorporation of meat.
The period between 5 and 7 months is that of the introduction of vegetables, starting with those with a slightly sugary flavor, such as carrots or leeks. It is not convenient to mix different vegetables at the same time to be able to detect more easily, if necessary, the food to which the child may be allergic. You can start with the meat right away, later with the fish, and then with the eggs.
In the case of children with allergic parents, it is convenient to delay the incorporation of foods such as eggs, fish, exotic fruits, or nuts (peanuts, walnuts, etc.) and their derivatives until the baby is one year old and, if it is possible, even two. If you do not have enough time to cook, you can turn to the little food, irreproachable from a nutritional point of view.
How to feed a baby with a spoon
The time has come for the first tablespoons (a silicone teaspoon is preferable, as it is less irritating to the gums than a metal one), but at this age the teaspoon must be, in addition to a means of feeding, a game.
It is advisable to start using it in one of the four meals, but without forcing the child. You have plenty of time to get used to it.
True or false in infant feeding:
The calcium is essential for growth: true and thanks to this mineral bones grow stronger.
Vegetables provide more vitamins than fruits: false. Fruit and vegetables provide different vitamins. Some are richer than others, that’s all.
It is not necessary to eat meat to take iron: true . Especially in the case of babies, who drink a large amount of milk to start and continue, in which they find the amount of iron essential for their growth. Conversely, when the consumption of follow-on milk decreases or is replaced by cow’s milk, the meat becomes the main source of iron.
Two eggs equal one steak: true. In terms of protein, a 100g steak equals two eggs. That same amount of meat equals 100g. fish or 80g. of ham.
The 7 Foods You Should Never Give Your Baby
In the first six months of life, the baby must maintain its exclusive diet through breastfeeding, without introducing complementary foods. In some cases, the baby requires that some milk formula be administered, but the food par excellence in the first stage of his life is breast milk.
However, after the six months have passed, an adaptation period begins in which the child can receive additional feeding, which serves as a complement to breastfeeding. These foods are usually simple and light, they are generally very similar in all families.
Mothers begin to supplement the baby’s diet with soft, natural, and simple porridges. The fruit porridge is typical in the snack, then other products that are not from the dairy family are gradually incorporated.
Therefore you must be careful so that new foods are not harmful to your body. It is also necessary to adapt the preparation and the quantity of the product, to facilitate its digestion and promote its maturation.
7 Foods You Should Never Feed Your Baby
Although sometimes it is inevitable that children eat certain foods, with babies it should be less complicated because mothers are responsible for the preparation of their meals and they should not consume more than their milk or some natural porridge.
However, due to ignorance or lack of interest, we fall into unhealthy eating routines for the little ones. In this sense, although it is not a habit, there are some foods that babies should not consume for any reason.
Even when it does not seem like it, there are certain foods that it is preferable that they are not part of the diet of children under 12 months and only in moderation from that age, up to four years.
To take care of the health of our little ones we must remember that these seven products must be eliminated from the usual diet that we administer at home. These might be:
1. Sugar is one of the foods that we should avoid
This food, although very common, does not need the baby because breast milk contains it . If our idea is to sweeten the food to improve its flavor, we can do it through fruits. Also, sugar can cause premature tooth decay.
On the other hand, sugar consumption conditions the diversity of the microbiota in the future, according to an article published in the journal Nutrients.
2. Honey
It is a natural substitute for sugar, whose use in children’s nutrition is very frequent. What many people do not know is that its composition is very similar to that of white sugar. Another drawback is the possibility that it contains bacteria that threaten the digestive system.
The consumption of honey before the year, according to several studies, can trigger the pathology known as infant botulism.
3.The Salt
Like honey and sugar, salt is used to enhance the flavor of food. This product should be removed from the diet of infants because it can be harmful to the health of the riñone s . It is only recommended in a moderate way for twelve months.
In addition, a study published in the journal “International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition” relates the consumption of salt in babies with an increased risk of high blood pressure in future ages.
4.Marine species
Certain types of fish and shellfish have high amounts of mercury, an element that is the product of contamination. This metal can accumulate in fatty tissue, causing acute poisoning or increasing the risk of long-term disease.
5.Some vegetables
Algae, chard, spinach, and borage, whose composition contains nitrate. This substance in excessive amounts could cause a hypoxic injury, according to an article published in the journal “Pediatrics Research” .
Although we talk about excessive consumption, it is contraindicated in babies because their bodies are small and therefore more concentrated.
6.Low fat modified products
It is not wrong to consume products with less fat, but we are talking about those skimmed, which have undergone special procedures to remove excess fat.
On the other hand, the fats of these foods are essential for the body of the little ones, they are a source of vitamins and calories.
7.Some foods according to their presentation
Food can be consumed in different preparations or presentations, which can modify its properties considerably. For this reason, certain forms of product administration should be avoided in the baby’s diet.
Therefore you should avoid raw preparations of animal origin, uncrushed nuts, rice-based drinks, potato chips, meringues, ice creams; among others.
To take into account!
Complementary feeding can be introduced from 6 months. However, certain precautions must be taken in this regard. Although the diet must be varied, when they are still very small there are certain foods that it is recommended not to administer.
In this way they will be gradually introduced into the diet as the child grows and develops.
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