Foods you should feed baby
by RachelTheWriterWhen you’re weaning your little one, it can be difficult to know exactly what to feed to provide a nutritionally balanced diet. Here is a brief guide to what to feed your baby when breast milk is no longer enough.
First Foods
At approximately six months it is time to start introducing your baby to food. The best way to start is with pureed fruits and vegetables. You may wish to puree one vegetable at a time, or concoct your own mixtures. The wider the variety of fruit and vegetables you introduce, the better for your child. You could also consider introducing some gluten-free baby cereal, mixed well with your baby’s usual milk.
Next Steps
So your baby can now eat happily from a spoon. Now you can begin to introduce a wider range of foods. Stick to pureed foods, but you can now begin to introduce grains and lean meat or poultry. At this stage, avoid dairy products, fish and citrus fruits.
At the age of seven to nine months your baby should be introduced to mashed foods, rather than purees. From this age, your baby can eat many more foodstuffs. Small samples of your own food is ideal (as long as you haven’t added salt). Remember that the more tastes you introduce to your child, the less fussy an eater he or she should become. Finger foods such as sliced fruit can also be offered at this stage – just make sure they are soft fruits cut up small.
From the age of ten months your baby is becoming a lot more grown up! Baby should be following a regular pattern of three meals a day, with a wide range of chopped and mashed foods.
Make sure you check out the ‘Foods you shouldn’t give to baby’ for useful advice about foods to avoid during the weaning process.
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