by updated on November 9, 2014
Hello people! My last post was all about how to introduce and engage your kid to eat semi-solids (SS). In this post, I would like to discuss the kind of kids meal that can be introduced when you put your child on a SS diet. However, don’t discontinue breastfeed. It is still a wholesome baby food meal for another 6 months. So, new mommies, make sure to keep your milk supply up.
An ideal baby food diet chart of a 6-month-old baby may look like…
Breastfeeding: 3 to 6 times a day. It could vary from a snack feed to a whole kids meal. At times, it could just be for comfort. A mother can easily identify her baby needs and accordingly feed the baby.
Top feed: Cow’s milk (toned)/Formula milk. Again, there is no fixed quantity for this. It could be anywhere between 5 ml to 120 ml or even more. Depends on the capacity of your baby.
Semi-solids (SS): Initially, once a day (start with a few spoons and progressively increase the quantity) and gradually make it thrice a day (breakfast, lunch & dinner).
So, here is what TCT recommends. These items (in no order) are super healthy food and can be easily digested by your infant:
- Breakfast: Fruits | Mashed apple/pear/sapodilla (cheeku pulp)/banana. You can also make soup recipes or a shake out of these lovely fruits, e.g. Apple and Carrot can be given in the form of a nice warm soup. Banana milk shake is also equally acceptable.
- Lunch: Vegetables | Mashed potato/pumpkin/long melon (lauki). Add a pinch of salt to make it appetizing. Serve it warm.
- Dinner: To meet the needs of protein, iron & fibre, one of the meals should include lentils/rice based preparation. Broken rice and/or in water form (chaawal ka paani)/split yellow-red lentils (moong daal ka paani) – mashed and in soup form/broken rice prepared in milk (rice kheer)/semolina prepared in milk (suji kheer). Add a pinch of salt or sugar. But, just a pinch please… I usually serve it all bland!
- Sips of water in between is mandatory.
Make sure that your veggies, fruits, lentils and rice is washed with filtered water.
Your baby is full if he/she shows the following signs:
- Starts spitting food out
- Turns his/her head away from food/leans back in his/her chair
- Refuses to open his/her mouth for the next bite
But don’t give up if this happens too often. There are times and especially at the beginning when your kid might wince and reject baby food by spitting it out or by showing any of the other signs as mentioned above. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your child is full. Your baby might not eat enough or at all in the beginning. Don’t worry! Just don’t be upset. I know of NPs who felt like they have failed but the phase doesn’t last too long and in no time the baby gets a hang of all that is being served. A few rejections and bingo! You see him/her accepting all that is being offered. :)
So tell us how your experience was. Happy baby feeding!
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Filed under: Recipes Tagged: 6 month old baby, baby care after birth, baby feeding, breast milk, health and hygiene, healthy foods for kids, Recipes, recipes for kids
