Many parents look forward to the first fruit snack, a true milestone! From around 6 months, your baby is no longer satisfied with breast or bottle feeding alone and you can start with solid food. This supplementary food will play an important role in the daily diet and by the age of one your baby will already be ‘eating with the pot’. But which fruit and vegetables are suitable to give? And what does the new diet plan look like?
When to start supplementary feeding
The World Health Organization indicates that your child will receive sufficient nutrients from breast milk or infant formula for the first 6 months. You do not need to start supplementary feeding earlier. In particular, it is better not to give solid food to children who have an increased risk of allergies or eczema. Other children will start eating fruit at 4 or 5 months. The consultation agency will certainly guide you in this. You can often see for yourself whether your child is ready for his first bite:
- When you eat or drink, your baby looks at you with interest.
- Your baby makes smacking sounds.
- He wants to put everything in his mouth.
How to start?
From 6 months you can start with fruit as a snack and vegetables as a regular part of the meal . This vegetable can be supplemented with a potato or white rice. From 7 months onwards, meat, fish, chicken or egg can also be added. It is important to build up the feeding slowly in connection with your baby’s bowel movements. Start with one type of fruit or vegetable and give the same thing three days in a row to quickly detect any allergy. It is best to cook the vegetables in a little water because this way the vitamins are retained. In the beginning it is best to puree the food. The food can be mashed later. Eating from a spoon is also new for your child. Use a smooth, plastic spoon and don’t push it too far into his mouth. Sit directly in front of your child and make sure your head is approximately the same height.
Grain products become important from 6 months onwards, for example for the energy your child needs to move. Rice flour and corn flour are suitable for up to 7 months (these do not contain gluten). You can also add this to pumping breastfeeding. After 7 months, baby cereals containing wheat can be used. The amount can be increased gradually. You can also give bread from 7 months. First as a bread crust that your child puts in his mouth, later as pieces of bread with meals. Light brown bread is most suitable in the beginning. Spread the bread with margarine so that your child gets the right fats.
Around the age of 9 months, most children are ready for three main meals and you can then give them a snack twice a day . Preferably eat fruit once, at other times have a drink (tea, water or fruit juice) and something to nibble on such as a breadstick, rice waffle, cracker or bread crust. Of course it is still possible to continue breastfeeding. This is usually a feeding before going to sleep.
What kind of fruit and vegetables?
Specialists recommend fresh fruit and vegetables for your little one. Of course, pots are also very handy and just as healthy, but there are also disadvantages. The structure is very fine, which makes the transition to a real solid meal difficult, and the mixed fruit and vegetables make it very difficult to properly taste the different flavors. The jars also actually contain too little fat.
In the beginning, choose fruits and vegetables with a soft, sweet taste:
Fruit:
- Banana
- Apple
- Pear
- Melon
- Mango
- Apricot
- Peach
Vegetable :
- Zucchini
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Beans
- Broccoli
From 6 months, endive, spinach, beetroot, celery, fennel, turnip greens, purslane or kohlrabi can also be given.
What’s definitely not?
Do not use salt when cooking the vegetables. You should also only give your child honey after one year of age. Honey may be contaminated with spores of the bacteria that cause botulism, a serious disease. Products containing honey, such as baby biscuits, may be given.
The use of gluten for the first six months is also not recommended. Some children can’t handle this. Gluten is found in bread, pasta, biscuits and porridge made from wheat.
Nutrition plan
From 6 to 9 months: 4 meals
6 months
- Breastfeeding on demand
- For formula feeding: 1 x follow-on milk porridge with rice flour and 2 x follow-on milk
- Expand to three tablespoons of crushed vegetables, one to two tablespoons of crushed potato or white rice or bean puree and a teaspoon of oil or diet margarine.
- Add some breast or bottle
- Snack: fruit
7 months
- Breastfeeding on demand
- For formula feeding: 1 x porridge (mix rice flour with baby cereal) and 2 x follow-on milk
- Hot food with meat and yogurt
- Snack: fruit, bread crust
8 months
- Breastfeeding on demand
- Porridge (with baby cereal)
- Sandwich and breastfeeding/follow-on milk
- Hot food with meat and yogurt
- Breast or bottle feeding before bedtime
- Snack: fruit
From 9 months: 3 meals
9 months
- Porridge or bread with breastfeeding/follow-on milk
- Bread with breastfeeding or cup of follow-on milk
- Hot food with yoghurt
- Snack: fruit, tea, water, or a juice with a ‘nibble’
- Breastfeeding on demand
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