How Much Milk Should a Baby Drink After Starting Solids
For more information about how to know if your baby is gear up to starting eating foods, what showtime foods to offer, and what to expect, scout these videos from one,000 Days.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children exist introduced to foods other than breast milk or infant formula when they are about 6 months quondam. Introducing foods earlier 4 months former is non recommended. Every child is different. How do you know if your child is fix for foods other than chest milk or infant formula? Y'all tin look for these signs that your child is developmentally ready.
Your child:
- Sits upwards alone or with support.
- Is able to command head and cervix.
- Opens the mouth when food is offered.
- Swallows food rather than pushes it back out onto the mentum.
- Brings objects to the mouth.
- Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or nutrient.
- Transfers food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow.
What Foods Should I Introduce to My Child Kickoff?
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that for nearly children, you practise not need to give foods in a certain gild. Your child tin can begin eating solid foods at near 6 months one-time. By the time he or she is 7 or viii months old, your child can consume a variety of foods from different food groups. These foods include infant cereals, meat or other proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurts and cheeses, and more.
If your child is eating infant cereals, it is of import to offer a multifariousness of fortifiedalert icon baby cereals such as oat, barley, and multi-grain instead of but rice cereal. Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Assistants considering there is a risk for children to exist exposed to arsenic. Visit the U.S. Nutrient & Drug Assistantsexternal icon to learn more.
How Should I Innovate My Child to Foods?
Your kid needs sure vitamins and minerals to grow salubrious and strong.
Now that your child is starting to consume food, be sure to cull foods that give your child all the vitamins and minerals they need.
Click here to learn more almost some of these vitamins & minerals.
Let your child try one single-ingredient food at a time at commencement. This helps y'all encounter if your child has whatever problems with that nutrient, such equally food allergies. Look 3 to five days between each new food. Before yous know it, your child will be on his or her way to eating and enjoying lots of new foods.
Introduce potentially allergenic foods when other foods are introduced.
Potentially allergenic foods include cow'southward milk products, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree basics, peanuts, wheat, soy, and sesame. Drinking cow'south milk or fortified soy beverages is not recommended until your kid is older than 12 months, but other cow'due south milk products, such as yogurt, can be introduced earlier 12 months. If your child has severe eczema and/or egg allergy, talk with your child's doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods with peanuts.
How Should I Prepare Food for My Child to Eat?
At offset, it'south easier for your kid to eat foods that are mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. It tin can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. As your baby's oral skills develop, thicker and lumpier foods can be introduced.
Some foods are potential choking hazards, so it is important to feed your kid foods that are the right texture for his or her development. To help prevent choking, prepare foods that can be easily dissolved with saliva and exercise not require chewing. Feed modest portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always lookout man your child while he or she is eating.
Here are some tips for preparing foods:
- Mix cereals and mashed cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to arrive smooth and easy for your baby to consume.
- Mash or puree vegetables, fruits and other foods until they are shine.
- Difficult fruits and vegetables, like apples and carrots, usually need to be cooked so they tin exist easily mashed or pureed.
- Cook nutrient until information technology is soft plenty to easily mash with a fork.
- Remove all fatty, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish, before cooking.
- Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit, and then cut the fruit into small pieces.
- Cut soft food into modest pieces or thin slices.
- Cutting cylindrical foods similar hot dogs, sausage and string cheese into brusque sparse strips instead of round pieces that could get stuck in the airway.
- Cut small-scale spherical foods similar grapes, cherries, berries and tomatoes into modest pieces.
- Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.
Acquire more about potential choking hazards and how to forestall your child from choking.
How Much Milk Should a Baby Drink After Starting Solids
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/infantandtoddlernutrition/foods-and-drinks/when-to-introduce-solid-foods.html