Additional Nutrition for Infants

Breast milk is the healthiest, most convenient and cost-effective way to feed your baby. It contains all the nutrients the baby needs and the immune bodies that protect him from diseases. Women who choose breastfeeding try to keep their baby from the breast for as long as possible. But the baby is growing and needs a varied diet. When and how is it best to do this?

Breastfeeding is considered ideal for up to one year. But a baby cannot exist on milk alone; a variety of foods must be introduced into his diet. We’ll talk about which foods and when to give to your child.

From birth to three months, it is best to feed your baby breast milk. Or formula milk, if for some reason breastfeeding is impossible or there is not enough breast milk. In addition, the baby must be given boiled water. It is best to do this with a spoon, because babies quickly understand that sucking water from a nipple is much easier than milk from a breast, and for this reason many babies refuse mother's milk. If the baby is fed formula, then you can give water from a bottle. You can cook compote for your baby. Add 2-3 rose hips, half a teaspoon of sugar to about 200 ml of water and cook for 15-20 minutes. Mash the berries a little, strain the compote through cheesecloth, cool and give to your baby. Rose hips contain many vitamins, and the child will be happy to drink this decoction. Give your child only freshly boiled water or freshly brewed compote.

From three months you can introduce juice into your diet. Start with green apple juice. Grate the peeled apple on a fine grater. Squeeze the resulting puree through cheesecloth and give it to your child. You can add a little sugar. After about a week, when the child gets used to the juice, and if you do not notice any signs of an allergy on his body, you can add carrots to the apple. Apple-carrot juice is made in the same way as apple juice. First, make about 80 ml of apple and 20 ml of carrot juice, mix and let your baby try. If there is no allergy, you can mix the juice in equal proportions (50 ml and 50 ml). At three and a half months, you can give purchased juices in accordance with age.

At four months, fruit and vegetable purees can be given, gradually leading to one feeding being completely replaced from milk to fruit and vegetable purees. Start with fruit. Everything is the same as with juices, only you don’t need to squeeze through gauze. Give me an apple, a carrot, a little banana. There are many different purees available on the market, give them according to the age they are labeled.

Cook vegetables for your child. Potatoes, carrots, a little onion, zucchini, regular and cauliflower. When cooking, add a little salt. Grind the vegetables into puree. You can add boiled yolk (about 1/2) and black bread crumb.

From 6 months you can safely cook soup for your baby. Cook the soup in meat broth. Just choose lean meat: instead of beef - veal, instead of chicken legs - fillet.

At 7 months you can almost completely give up milk (infant formula). A sample menu might look like this:

Breakfast: milk porridge, tea (juice, kefir, compote)
Lunch: soup, fruit or vegetable puree, tea (juice, compote)
Afternoon snack: cottage cheese, cookies with milk
Dinner: vegetable puree with a piece of meat.
At night: milk (milk formula, kefir, tea, compote).

Give your child dairy products. Only by the year will it be possible to replace them with store-bought ones. Also, refrain from mushrooms, egg whites, and legumes for up to a year.

As a rule, after 6 months the baby begins to develop teeth. Teach him to chew food. You can give him cookies, a crust of bread. Closer to the year - sausage, a piece of boiled meat, cheese, boiled smoked sausage.