A newborn baby receives 100% of the nutrients with mother's milk, and it is believed that until 6 months the baby does not even need water. However, a growing body every day requires an increasing number of calories, and there comes a time when parents think about how to diversify the baby’s menu. At the same time, it is important to remember: complementary foods should be administered with extreme caution.
Pedagogical feeding
At the age of 4-6 months (depending on the development of the baby), you can begin to introduce him to adult food. Pedagogical feeding is not intended to feed the baby. The main task is to prepare the digestive system for new products. According to this theory, a child’s first feeding should be administered exclusively in micro doses — small pieces of “adult” food the size of a grain of rice. At the same time, you can give your baby everything that is on mom’s plate - meat, cereals, vegetables, cottage cheese. The main thing is that the food should not be too salty, spicy or sweet. At the same time, breast milk should remain the only source of saturation of the baby's body with nutrients. After 8 months, pedagogical complementary foods for the child can be gradually replaced with normal.
Standard option
For most mothers, pedagogical feeding of the infant may seem too complicated. Often parents want to quickly feed the crumbs with new food and forget about the rule of microdoses. As a result, the baby’s stomach does not withstand the load, serious eating disorders appear. Therefore, for hasty mothers, it is better to opt for the standard path.
Pediatricians advise starting infant feeding with one-component cereals, and it is better to introduce mashed potatoes and juices secondarily. The baby should receive the first portion of new food at the beginning of feeding - 1 teaspoon will be quite enough. After this, the baby is breast-fed. Each day, the serving volume should increase, and after 1-2 weeks, one day's feeding is completely replaced by complementary foods.
Rice or buckwheat is the best cereal to start with. When the baby’s body gets used to them, you can try corn and oatmeal. Along with this, it is worth starting to introduce the crumbs to vegetable and fruit juices and mashed potatoes.
At the age of 8-9, meat can be introduced into the baby's diet. The easiest way is to buy ready-made baby canned goods in the store. But for caring mothers who are not looking for easy ways, it is better to cook meat purees on their own - twisting fresh veal in a blender. Closer to the year, fish and poultry meat already appear on the crumbs menu.
It is important to remember that complementary foods should only include fresh and natural foods. Instead of concentrated juices, it is advisable to give crumbs to stewed fruit, and store purees to be replaced with homemade ones prepared using breast milk. In addition, each child has his own eating habits, so if the crumbs resist one or another food, you should not force him - in time he will get used to “adult” food and will be more loyal to innovations.