When, from what and how to start feeding the child?

The transition of the baby to a new food is an important stage in its development. However, the beginning of complementary foods raises many questions. Let's understand when it is better to acquaint the baby with new foods and how to make this acquaintance benefit the baby.

Pediatricians advise for the first time to offer babies complementary foods from 5-6 months of age.

Your baby is ready to try complementary foods if:

• He began to ask for food more often.
• Its weight compared with the mass at birth has doubled.
• The child confidently holds his head and knows how to turn it to the sides.
• When solid food gets into his mouth, it is not immediately pushed out with his tongue.
• In recent weeks, the baby was not sick.
• The child learned to sit.
• In the near future he does not have to be vaccinated.
• Scarce is interested in eating parents.

There are several options for starting a baby with new foods. Each of them has supporters who make a strong case for choosing a specific product to start feeding. You can start with:

1. Fermented milk products. Proponents of the opinion that such products are the best choice to start feeding, emphasize that they are the least different from the baby’s usual food (milk), so the body’s response to such food will often be good.
2. Vegetables. This type of food is advised first with excess or normal weight. Also, vegetable supplements should be selected first for babies who have frequent constipation.
3. Kash. They are advised to start giving babies who do not gain weight well. Also start priming with porridge recommended for children with an unstable chair. Porridge should be given buckwheat, corn, rice or oatmeal. Acquaintance with cereals from wheat and barley begin later than 8 months.

To acquaint the little one with a new food, select a time when both you and the baby will be in a good mood and not yet tired during the day. Before you start cooking the first dish for the baby, wash your hands. It is also very important to check the temperature of the food that you will give to the sample of the toddler.

Offer a spoon of a new dish at the beginning of feeding, when the baby is probably hungry. It is not necessary that the child eats everything from a spoon, he can simply lick or taste an unfamiliar product to taste. If such an experience did not bring joy, repeat the test with the same product the next day. If the baby is happy new taste, you can offer a little bit more. Next, the toddler must continue to feed the food that he has long been familiar with (milk from the mother's breast or a mixture).

You can never force a child to try a new food. The baby will receive not every few calories and nutrients from each new product, because the main purpose of food is not to feed, but to please the baby with new food, making it a pleasant discovery.

Many children get used to innovations for a long time and it is not easy for them to go for a thick meal. In this case, the mother needs to be patient and allow the baby to get comfortable with the new consistency and nutritional tastes. Most babies are not against sweet porridge or fruit puree, but vegetable, meat, and fish dishes often cause protest. Someone just likes freshly prepared food, and ready-made food from the store is spat out. Other babies, on the contrary, like mashed potatoes more, but mom's cooking doesn’t cause delight.

Check the thickness of the product, and make sure that the baby is already hungry and not too tired. Also try to eliminate any distraction, such as a working television. Other children playing alongside can divert the baby from the food.

If the child does not want mashed potatoes, give him water - perhaps he refuses to eat because of thirst. Also, do not insist, if the crumb does not want to eat up his portion. In general, it is important to be patient, since the baby’s appetite will not improve from crying and irritation.

If you refuse a certain product to a baby, you can offer another food that will be an equivalent substitute. For example, if a child does not want one dairy product, he may not be against another. Yogurt can be replaced with cottage cheese, kefir, milk-based desserts.

A kid who refuses to try vegetable food, you need to offer a variety of combinations of vegetables. At the same time, products with a rather pronounced smell (for example, broccoli) should be mixed with more neutral vegetables (like mashed potatoes). Experiment with the methods of cooking - if the kid disliked the mashed potatoes, you can boil or stew the vegetables, cut into slices. Strongly discarding vegetables, the toddler is advised to replace them with fruits.

• Complementary foods should always be given before feeding the baby with a mixture or breast milk.
• The volume of the product should increase gradually.To the full volume recommended by the child by age, the portion of complementary foods should be brought in 7-10 days.
• It is necessary to move on to a new group of complementary foods only after being well accustomed to the previous group. Usually, it takes about two weeks to get used to.
• To make it easy to track the reaction to each new product, you must first enter the monocomponent food. This means that only 1 type of cereal, vegetable or fruit is given to the baby.
• In the preparation of dishes for the little ones, you can use a blender and a mixer or wipe the food through a sieve. If the dish turns out to be too thick, it should be diluted with a mixture, water, a decoction of vegetables or breast milk.
• Vegetable lure is recommended to start with zucchini, cauliflower, turnips and potatoes, and fruit - with apple, pear and banana.

On whether to buy ready-made baby food in jars, see the transfer of Dr. Komarovsky.

For more information on the introduction of complementary foods, see the program Dr. Komarovsky.