Supplementary Feeding Guide
Complementary feeding of the baby usually starts after six months . At this stage, concerns may begin to arise about how to improve the baby’s feeding.
In addition, there are other issues, such as the introduction of water in the diet and the perception of possible food allergies.
Complementary food
Babies need breast milk or formula milk for the first year of life to develop and grow.
Breast milk is the main source of food until the baby is six months old and, after that, it can be supplemented with complementary feeding.
Complementary feeding should be started after 6 months and never before 4 months. As the name suggests, the goal is not to replace breast milk, but to supplement food.
The chest is still important. But to get your little one to start experimenting with new flavors, you must be very patient, offer the new food as often as necessary, and not lose motivation if he rejects it at first.
He needs to learn to get used to new flavors, new textures, to move his mouth to chew, etc…
If a child refuses to eat a new food either because of its taste or texture, don’t worry or despair, otherwise you will damage your child’s relationship with the food.
If he doesn’t want to eat, calmly remove the dish and feed him as usual . The next day, try the offer again and keep it up until he accepts. With patience, you will be amazed at the results.
How should complementary food be
At 6 months, babies are still unable to chew. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce new flavors through porridge and porridge.
At this point, you can also start introducing the semi-solid baby food so that they begin to understand the movement of the mouth, and not just swallow it without chewing.
Little by little, as your baby feels more secure, you can start adding bits of soft food.
Every child is different. Therefore, you need to know your own baby well to know how he eats best. Not all babies accept the pieces in baby food. Some refuse to eat, simply spit, or choke in greater danger.
So if you find that your child isn’t ready for semi-solid foods, don’t worry and stick with the porridges. What matters is that he is well fed. Soon he will learn to chew naturally.
To begin complementary feeding, it is important that you also start to introduce the use of the spoon. Feeding baby food or porridge from a bottle is not a good idea because that way you will be preventing your child from learning to eat with a spoon.
It is recommended that you only give liquids from the bottle, such as milk or vitamins. Any other complementary food is best given with a spoon.
Start with complementary feeding
Food must be offered one at a time. Your pediatrician will be responsible for indicating the best options for this phase.
It is not recommended to give more than one type of food at the same time. This is because, in addition to exposing the child to many flavors at once, it is more difficult to detect the cause in case of allergy or intolerance.
It is likely that, at first, your child will not accept the new foods. So it’s always good to follow along and experiment with it.
After you introduce a new food into your diet, you will need to look at what your stools are like, if your stool is vomiting, if there are changes in your skin, or if you have any other unusual symptoms.
When you offer a food other than the previous one, you should follow the same procedure to check that it feels good and doesn’t have any strange reactions in your body.
In case this happens, you should go to the pediatrician as soon as possible. Also, you need to remove this food from your baby’s diet.
The baby’s stomach is still very tender. Therefore, it is necessary to respect a strict order of the types of food that will be introduced.
Be sure to consult your pediatrician to clarify any doubts about the best order to introduce new foods. Also, you can ask what are the best options at this stage and which ones to wait until the baby is older.
