Baby nutrition at 9 months: mode and menu

Your baby is growing rapidly, which means that mother’s milk or mixture is not enough for him. By the age of nine months, the child is likely to actively eat complementary foods in the daytime, but if this is not so, then do not panic. All children are different, so you just need to get together and develop a baby's food interest. Nutrition at this age is complicated by the fact that the child begins to demonstrate their tastes and eating habits. And it is quite possible that one fine morning, mother may be horrified to find that her baby no longer wants to eat the usual porridge or vegetable puree. A child’s nutrition at 9 months old must be balanced and strictly correspond to the regimen, it is important for parents to take this matter seriously, because the future eating habits of the little man depend on it.

Scheduled Feeding

When the child is 9 months old, the daily routine and nutrition are the key to the successful maturation of the baby, a guarantee of his well-being. Despite the fact that the mother’s milk or mixture is considered the basis of the diet of a nine-month-old baby, it is important to gradually transfer it to adult food. To do this, it is recommended to adhere to 5 feedings per day at equal intervals. A mother’s breast or a bottle with a mixture should be offered to a child only in the early morning and at night, and during the period of wakefulness and activity, introduce the child to new tastes and foods of different consistencies. The child’s diet at 9 months should coincide with the rhythm of the baby’s life, which means that you should not feed him immediately before bedtime or offer heavy food in the early morning. Just follow the schedule, this will allow you to avoid problems with sleep disturbance from overeating and gastrointestinal problems in the baby. An approximate schedule of the main meals of the child at 9 months:

The nature and amount of nutrition

In the period from 6 to 12 months, a physiological decrease in hemoglobin in the blood is observed in babies, which is why it is extremely important that the baby's nutrition at 9 months be balanced, include a diverse set of foods rich in vitamins and minerals. The consistency of the food should be thicker, the inclusion of slices is allowed, because the kids are great at chewing gums, and most already have their first teeth. The total amount of food that a child eats per day should be 12-15% of its weight. The volume of complementary foods should not exceed the mark of one liter. It is worth considering that for one process of eating, you need to give your child a strictly defined amount of certain foods:

• mixture or breast milk - 180-250 ml;
• porridge - 160-180 g;
• soup - 180-200 ml;
• fruit puree - 80-100 g;
• mashed vegetables - up to 200 g;
• mashed meat or poultry - up to 70 g;
• mashed fish - 45-50 g;
• yolk - half;
• fruit juices (diluted), fruit drinks, compotes - 70-100 ml;
• cottage cheese - 45-50 g;
• kefir or yogurt - up to 200 ml.

What should babies eat at the age of nine months?

A child’s diet of 9 months must include fish, poultry and meat dishes, vegetables and fruits, as well as cottage cheese, kefir or homemade yogurt. An important role in the formation of the baby's immunity and nervous system is played by oils and fats. Nutrition of a child of 9 months on artificial feeding must necessarily combine butter and vegetable fats. After all, the milk mixture does not contain all those components with which breast milk is so rich. At the same time, when compiling a baby’s diet for 9 months of breastfeeding, it is necessary to take into account the lack of iron in breast milk, and mixtures are usually specially enriched with this component.

Also, do not forget about the combination of products in the diet. Vegetable oils are best added to meat or vegetables. Butter goes well with cereals, yolk and bread. With caution, it is worth introducing sour-milk products, especially kefir and cottage cheese, into lure. This rather protein-rich food can create a serious burden on the baby's kidneys that are not yet strong, and the high acidic environment will adversely affect the intestines. In order for fermented milk products to bring more benefits with minimal harm, it is better to cook them at home on special sourdough or live bacteria. Milk is also more careful, because cow's milk is the strongest and most common allergen.

Meat dishes

The diet of a child at 9 months must certainly include a meat component. Most suitable for a children's menu are turkey, rabbit and veal, but you should be careful with chicken, as it can cause allergies. Small portions of meat are best boiled or steamed; roasting in foil or sleeve is also allowed, but without the use of oil. Children are rather reluctant to eat this new product, as they do not like the unfamiliar fiber structure. To solve this problem, there are several tricks: you can mask the meat in vegetable puree, breed in broth or soften the consistency with oil. Closely monitor which products you add to the menu. Eating a baby at 9 months should be a priori safe, so give preference to homemade meat, or purchase it in specialized stores, which can confirm the good quality of products with certificates.

Introducing the kid to the fish

At 9 months you can already add fish to your baby’s diet. It is better to give preference to river fish, such as: pike, zander, hake, because they contain a large amount of easily digestible protein, but at the same time do not have a lot of fat. From sea fish, you can choose cod, pollock and flounder. It contains the necessary amount of useful minerals and trace elements, as well as the most valuable for the growing body - omega acids and iodine. Fish should be offered once or a maximum of two per week, it is best to combine it with vegetables or cereals. Cooking should be mainly steamed or boiled, you can also offer the baby a little fish stock. Many children are more likely to eat fish rather than meat, as it has a more delicate and soft structure. If there were no negative reactions to this product, then closer to the year you can give your child meatballs or fish cakes for a couple.

Cereals and cereals

The diet of a child of 9 months on artificial or breastfeeding, as a rule, includes various cereals. During this period, buckwheat, rice, semolina, oat, pearl barley and barley groats are useful for the baby. It is better to postpone millet and corn grits to an older age, since they are quite rough, contain a lot of fiber and are too aggressive for the children's intestines. In the child’s diet, cereals can appear not only in their pure form, they can also be used to make soups, meatballs and puddings.

Vegetable oils and animal fats

For the normal functioning of a small organism, a baby’s nutrition at 9 months should combine not only proteins and carbohydrates, but also fats. It is especially important to include various vegetable oils in the diet, because they are so rich in useful components that contribute to maintaining the body in good shape and can significantly strengthen the immune system. And for saturated acids and vitamins to enter the body, animal fats, especially fish fats, must be present on the child’s menu. The main thing is to observe the daily dosage (no more than 1 tsp) and offer the child a diet rich in fats in the morning: so as not to burden the digestive tract before bedtime.

Vegetables and fruits

Most often, it is the vegetables that first appear in the baby’s diet, the mother introduces the child to adult food, offering him various variations of mashed potatoes. At 9 months, the list of dishes for a child can be diversified by adding pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, legumes, corn, white cabbage, celery, beets and turnips. Also from this age you can add greens and some spicy herbs to dishes. From fruit, the baby will benefit from apple, prune and plum, pear and pear, banana, peach and apricot. It is better to wait a bit with berries and exotic fruits, as they often cause interruptions in the work of the stomach or severe allergies. If you offer juices to the baby, then let them be in a diluted form and preferably home-made. All fruits and vegetables must undergo thorough processing before getting to the baby on the table, this will help to avoid poisoning and other troubles with the digestive tract.

Infant nutrition

Breastfeeding at 9 months may not be as varied. This is due to the fact that breast milk satisfies almost all the baby's needs in calories and nutrients. However, parents should not neglect complementary foods, because after the baby has crossed the threshold of 6 months, milk alone will not be enough for him. In his diet must be present meat, cereals, fruits, vegetables and dairy products. However, it is worthwhile to adhere to a clear nutritional scheme, for this, offer your child breasts only at night and in the early morning hours, and in the daytime feed the baby with normal food. Such a regimen will contribute to the development of proper eating habits, as well as facilitate weaning in the future.

Lure

The nutrition of a child at 9 months of age on artificial feeding should be more diverse than in infants. After all, even the best premium mix will not be able to fully replace mother’s milk, even despite the fact that they have a high calorie content and are additionally enriched with vitamins and minerals. That is why babies who eat artificially, get acquainted with complementary foods much earlier, and by the year already almost fully eat from the "common table". Particular attention should be paid to protein foods, it is very important that from 6 months in the diet of a child on artificial feeding there should be meat and sour-milk products in the form of cottage cheese or kefir. The rest of the food can be introduced gradually up to 12 months.

Universal menu for the baby

It is not a secret for a smart and caring mother that the key to a good mood and well-being of a child is the correct daily routine and nutrition. Your baby needs to clearly distinguish between the time allotted for meals and sleep. For this, the mother needs to stop the chaotic feeding of the baby and shift all meals to daylight hours. At night and early in the morning we leave only the breast or mixture. A sample menu of a baby at 9 months may look like this:

• 6:00 - bottle with a mixture or mother's breast;
• 10:00 - oatmeal porridge, buckwheat or rice in milk (160-200 g) + a quarter or half of the yolk + fruit (50 g);
• 14:00 - mashed soup (for example, with pumpkin and carrots - 160-200 g) + mashed meat / fish / poultry (50 g) + bread or biscuit (5-10 g) + fruit juice (50 ml);
• 20:00 - cottage cheese (50 g) + homemade kefir or yogurt (100-150 ml) + fruits (banana, peach or apricot - 50 g);
• 00:00 - bottle with a mixture or mother's breast.

Common Parent Mistakes

Nutrition for a child is a very important, but rather difficult process. Some parents are fond of studying the relevant literature or the advice of their grandmothers to such an extent that the process of introducing a small family member to the usual food turns into a real test. How to avoid this? Pay attention to the list of the most common parental errors and try to bypass them:

1. Excessive perseverance. Do not force the child to eat something that he does not like, the baby already has its own tastes and preferences.
2. Overfeeding. All norms of daily food intake are given in the averaged version. You should not try to shove 200 g of porridge into a child if, after 100 g, he refuses to eat. All children are different, listen to your baby, otherwise it can lead to obesity and gastrointestinal problems.
3. Adding sugar. Do not try to make this or that food more attractive with the help of sugar; children quickly get used to sweets.

General recommendations

The food culture is instilled from infancy, it is very important to organize this process correctly from the very beginning. A few tips will help you get your baby up to 9 months old if you haven’t done this before:

1. Feed your baby in the strictly allotted time, try to comply with the regimen.
2. The kid should eat in the kitchen, sitting in a special chair. This will help from an early age to form the right associations with the place and rules of eating.
3. Try to ensure that the baby’s feeding coincides with general family meals, parents will be able to encourage the baby to become independent by his own example, he will learn to eat with a spoon faster.
4. Develop the child's ability to chew, for this less often offer him pureed food, give preference to soups with small slices, or knead the food with a fork to a heterogeneous consistency.

These tips will help you organize proper nutrition for your baby at an early age.