Complementary and Solid Food for 6 Months Old Baby

Solid foods, or complementary foods, are what parents feed their babies after they’ve been exclusively breastfed for six months. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.

You may introduce solid foods to the baby’s diet when this time is over. Nonetheless, breastfeeding must be maintained concurrently with the diet for a minimum of two years.

The infant develops a sense of taste throughout the first six months of nursing. They will consume their new diet without complaining once you introduce it.

The standard advice for parents of 6-month-old babies is to give them water made from grains like rice and barley, which do not offer the infant any nutritional value.

For this reason, it is essential to introduce complementary foods to the baby’s diet as soon as possible. Therefore, the infant will not get enough nourishment from liquids.

Do it yourself, but make sure the meal is thick (puree form). For easier digestion and consumption, mash the meal thoroughly. Make certain the food you’re serving is wholesome and freshly prepared. The baby’s food must be smooth and free of clumps to prevent choking.

Testing

 
• Baby rice: Be careful to give the rice a good long boil while making baby rice. Next, add some breast milk and thoroughly combine everything. Since he is already familiar with the flavor of your breast milk, your baby will like the meal and have no trouble eating it.

• Pulses: You may then go on to feeding him moong dal.

• Vegetables: Carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, potato, and green vegetables are all excellent options for the baby’s first foods. Be careful to boil entirely and mash the ingredients before serving. At first, you may want to use the grinder to crush it, but as your baby grows, you can get away with just using a spoon.

• Proteins: Feeding the infant pulses or sprouts is a great way to guarantee they are receiving adequate protein. Soaking pulses till they sprout, drying them in the sun, then roasting them in the pan to remove the moisture and create a powder that can be stored for a longer time is the best way to preserve the health benefits of the sprouts. This way, you can ensure that the infant always has access to healthy, nutritious, and delicious foods. The sprout powder has to be boiled before being consumed.

• Try not to be in a hurry while preparing the dish.

• Introduce each new meal to the infant one at a time to ensure optimal acceptance.
  Stop varying your breakfast, lunch, and supper choices.

• Two or three diet meals may be given up to 9 months; the ratio of milk to solid food should be 50:50. After one year, a child will consume 70% solid food and just 30% breast milk.

• Once your infant eats at least two or three different foods, you may begin combining them to create a healthy diet. If the infant is doing well when fed rice, dal, and veggies individually, you may try giving him a mixture of the three. Provide meals that are both filling and healthy.

• Ensure no added sugar or salt is present in the baby’s meals.

• Honey shouldn’t be given to infants for at least a year.

• The milk of animals like cow, buffalo, and goat should be avoided.

• It is not safe to feed newborn eggs white. Instead, wait until your kid is six months old before providing them egg yolk.

• The baby should wait a year before being fed shellfish or red foods like mutton.

• Dry fruits, grapes, and other dense meals should be avoided for at least a year before you give birth.

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