Questions about the timing of the introduction of complementary foods and the list of products acceptable for each month have various controversial answers. After all, even 20-30 years ago, children were given the first adult dishes in the form of droplets of juice in the second and third months of life, today it is strictly forbidden, and the date of acquaintance with new products has moved to 5-6 months. In addition, the rules and order of input of complementary foods have changed. Some mothers find it difficult and cannot decide what can be given to the child at 5 months? To understand this, you need to consider the modern point of view of scientists, based on many years of experience and research.
When to start?
After conducting large-scale studies on the nutrition of crumbs in various countries of the world, WHO has developed recommendations that most pediatricians and mothers with experience agree with. They say that foods for feeding are given from the age of six months in addition to breastfeeding.
In practice, today, children's specialists adhere to the WHO methodology and recommend for babies with normal indicators of growth, weight, health and development to wait until a 5.5- or 6-month period. It is recommended to start feeding a baby at 5 months old if the baby is eating an adapted mixture. This recommendation is especially relevant for babies with a lack of body weight, poor appetite or, conversely, with a constant feeling of hunger, as well as problems in physical development (if there is low hemoglobin, rickets, and others).
Allowed Products
Having dealt with the timing of the introduction, mothers ask the following question: what can be given to the child at 5 months? The main goal of complementary foods is to provide the crumbs with additional calories and energy, so the prepared portion of the new product should have high energy and vitamin-mineral value.
By this age, babies begin to show a deficiency of iron and zinc, which means that one of the dishes is suitable for dating: mashed vegetables or gluten-free porridge. The successful introduction of complementary foods happened - after 2-3 weeks you can choose the next product.
A baby's diet of 5 months may include a vegetable mixture of several components, cereal and fruit puree. Each dish has its own nuances, which should be understood so as not to harm the fragile body of the baby.
The meat lure will be the next, but his child will receive by the seventh month. Fish, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt, egg, cookies and juices are introduced later.
Diet
At the age of five months, the baby eats 5 times a day. Feeding a child at 5 months with artificial nutrition and the successful absorption of complementary foods includes the following steps:
- The first time after morning awakening, a mixture is necessarily given.
- The second meal in the form of porridge will gradually outgrow the baby after a year in a full milk breakfast. After porridge, you can offer dessert - fruit puree.
- The third time at lunch the baby receives vegetable mass.
- Fourth and fifth feeding unchanged: the usual mixture.
With breastfeeding, the scheme is the same, only additional products are given at lunch and a fourth meal, since a break of 6-8 hours is fraught with a decrease in the lactation process in the mother's body.
Vegetables
The most preferred first serving of adult food is vegetable puree.
It has a lot of fiber, minerals and vitamins. Vegetables for feeding are chosen when the toddler has normal or overweight or trouble with stools in the form of constipation. Such products perfectly affect the functioning of an insufficiently mature intestinal tract.
There is another nuance. Having tasted the sweet porridge, which is so close in taste to the familiar milk, the little gourmet can take the vegetable neglectfully.
It is important to know what you can give your child at 5 months of vegetables. When choosing the first product, it is better to prefer zucchini, cauliflower, light pumpkin or broccoli, and other products at this age are still undesirable. If the novelty is well received by the baby’s body, then after 10-14 days you can try to offer a mixture of two vegetable components.
Which is better: home-made dishes or canned food?
Some mothers cook their crumbs themselves, while others choose mashed vegetables for children in jars. In fact, both options are good.
It is not difficult to prepare a vegetable portion for the baby, especially in the summer and autumn periods. Choose a seasonal vegetable, boil it without adding salt, and then beat to a uniform thick consistency. It will be useful to cook it in a double boiler - it boils quickly and almost all vitamin components are not destroyed.
Food from jars is no worse, especially it is useful in the winter-spring season, when the amount of vitamin-mineral components in natural vegetables is reduced. When buying, you need to pay attention to the composition, age group, production period and storage period. A children's finished product for this age should not have artificial additives and a large number of ingredients. You need to be prepared for the fact that at first mother will have to eat up almost all the mashed potatoes from the jar. It is suitable for no more than a day when stored on a shelf of the refrigerator, and if you are late with a meal for more than 24 hours, then the next day the serving will no longer work.
Porridge
This is the dish most gourmets eat with pleasure. Porridge will gradually replace the second breakfast, providing the baby with energy reserves, protein, fiber and vitamin and mineral components. It perfectly solves the problem with the missing grams, so it is assigned to babies with low body weight as the first complementary foods. Introducing it, you should know what you can give your child at 5 months of cereals. Buckwheat, rice or corn porridge is suitable for this age. Only such cereals are classified as hypoallergenic, since they do not contain gluten. This type of protein provokes babies with abdominal pain and problems with the finally immature digestive system. Acquaintance with healthy oatmeal should be postponed until eight months, and with semolina - until a year.
How to cook porridge?
At the age of 5 months, the baby should not cook porridge in cow or goat whole milk. It contains amylase, which the crumb organism cannot split due to the lack of certain enzymes. There are two ways to prepare a serving of porridge.
- The first is to boil ordinary washed cereal in water well and grind it with a blender into the finished mass. Sweetening or adding salt is not recommended.
- The second is to get dry porridge of industrial manufacture, corresponding to age, in the department of baby food. It is enriched with vitamin and mineral components and has a balanced formula. This method is more reasonable, since such porridge not only quickly cooks, but also has a pleasant taste, therefore it is very loved by growing gourmets.
When to introduce fruit puree?
According to the recommendations of experts, feeding a baby at 5 months begins with vegetable dishes, then porridge is added to the diet. After the successful introduction of the above items, as an additional dessert, you can offer the baby puree fruit. It stimulates the secretion of certain gastric and intestinal enzymes. With this additional intake with other types of products, a fruit portion not only does not irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa, but also helps to better digest other dishes.
Is it possible to give fresh juices and fruit purees?
Everyone knows that the richest vitamin product is fruit. In addition, they, as well as fresh juices or fruit puree, contain a wide variety of acids, coarse fiber and fructose, and therefore irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa.
As a result, the crumbs may have such an adverse reaction as regurgitation, diarrhea disorders, intestinal colic, abdominal pain due to high gas formation or allergic rashes on the skin. Because of this, the introduction of fresh fruits is postponed until late and is not suitable for a five-month-old baby.
What should be mashed fruit?
At the age of 5 months, the baby can only eat fruit jars puree prepared by industrial enterprises. They underwent heat treatment, therefore they do not cause gastrointestinal tract irritation and in most cases do not have allergic consequences. Puree in jars contains such thickening elements as starch, pectin and guar gum, which are characterized by enveloping and softening functions. Thanks to them, the irritating properties of fruits are also reduced. Many types of mashed potatoes are enriched with mineral and vitamin components in addition.
Before buying a jar of product, you need to pay attention not only to the period of suitability and recommended age, but also to the composition. Fruit puree should not consist of sugar, sweeteners, various food acids, dyes and similar components. The started jar can be stored for no more than 24 hours (only on the shelf of the refrigerator).
Mom can also mash in the home kitchen. To do this, bake or boil the fruit, and then grind it with a blender or wipe through a sieve.
The most suitable fruit purees for five months are obtained from apples, pears, plums or bananas.
Product table
To facilitate the task of mothers, experts have developed a list of products that are included in the baby’s food, by month. The table below provides information on complementary foods, brief recommendations, and serving sizes for 5–6 months of age.
Product tableDish | Recommendations | Serving Size |
Vegetable Puree | Start with a one-component mass of white-green vegetables, after 2 weeks add another ingredient | The first time ½-1 teaspoon, then for 5-7 days, a serving is about 150-170 g and replaces milk feeding |
Milkless porridge | Only gluten-free cereals. After the successful introduction of one species, you can try the following | Initially, the crumbs try ½-1 teaspoon, then a single serving (150-170 g) will displace the mixture or breast from one feeding |
Fruit puree | You need to start with a one-component dish prepared using the heat treatment of fruits, and with good assimilation, you can enter the following form | The initial sample of dessert after porridge is ½ teaspoon, for 5–7 days the dessert supplement increases to 60–70 ml |
conclusions
WHO and the Russian Ministry of Health are currently emphasizing that feeding a baby at 5 months of age mainly consists of breast milk or an adapted mixture. Complementary foods are introduced as needed. It simply complements the breast or mixture, but in no case completely replaces it. That is why at this stage of development, the introduction of new dishes in the indicated quantities should not become the end in itself of the mother.