When Should I Switch from Formula to Baby Food?

Infant food supplementation refers to supplementary foods that should be supplemented to the baby in addition to breast milk and infant formula. Infant food supplements include baby rice noodles, pasty foods, baby noodles, baby rice crackers, baby biscuits, and other homemade foods.

Baby food

Infant food supplementation refers to supplementary foods that should be supplemented to the baby in addition to breast milk and infant formula. Baby food supplement includes

Before adding a baby's complementary food for the first time, you must make a simple assessment of the baby's health and digestive function. Only after confirming that the baby is in good condition (good appetite, etc.) can you start adding complementary food. When adding supplementary foods for infants and young children for the first time, the safety and nutritional standards of supplementary foods for infants should be considered first, and their ease of absorption and convenience should be considered second.

Babies under one year of age are still mainly milk, and supplementary food should be added every day on the basis of ensuring 700 ~ 800 ml of milk. The first supplementary food should be egg yolk. Neonatal iron stored in the body, mainly from the mother. Full-term newborns can add egg yolk to their staple food 6 to 7 months after birth, and premature babies and multiple fetuses can begin after the full moon. Egg yolk is the most abundant source of protein, iron, and zinc. It can fully enrich the baby's nutrition and is easy to digest. Egg yolks should not be fed directly to the baby's bottle. This can easily cause the baby to lose appetite. Babies who are allergic to egg yolk should wait until the intestinal development is further improved and the barrier effect on foreign proteins is further strengthened before adding egg yolk. This time usually waits for 7 months or even 1 year. Taking into account some problems that may occur with egg yolk feeding, a new complementary food for infants called egg yolk powder has emerged, which fully avoids possible problems such as infant absorption.

The supplementary supplements must be compatible with the baby's age. Adding complementary foods too early will cause vomiting and diarrhea due to immature digestive function, and digestive disorders will occur; adding too late will cause malnutrition and even refuse to eat non-dairy liquid food.

One to many

Gradually increase the variety of food according to your baby's nutritional needs and digestive ability. At first, you can only give your baby a complementary food that is suitable for the age of the month. After 3 to 4 days or a week, if the baby's digestion is good and the bowel movement is normal, try another one. Do not increase it in a short time Several. If your baby is allergic to a certain food, you can observe it within a few days of trying. Providing nutrition in order is important.

From thin to thick

When the baby started to add supplementary foods, he had not grown teeth. He could only feed the baby with liquid food, and then gradually added semi-liquid food, and finally developed into solid food.

From small to large

The baby's food particles should be small and the taste should be tender and smooth. Exercise your baby's swallowing function and lay the foundation for the transition to solid food in the future. When the baby is about to grow teeth or is growing teeth, the mother can gradually make the particles of food larger, which will help promote the growth of the baby's teeth and exercise their chewing ability.

From small to large

Each time you add new food to your baby, you can only feed it once a day, and the amount should not be large, and it will gradually increase in the future.

Stop adding when you are unwell

After eating the newly added food, the baby should observe the baby's digestion closely. If there is diarrhea or there is a lot of mucus in the stool, you should stop adding the food immediately and add it again after the baby returns to normal.

Do not eat liquid or muddy food for too long

Do not give your baby liquid or mud-like food for a long time. This will cause the baby to miss the critical period of developing chewing ability, which may cause the baby to have trouble chewing the food.

Don't quickly replace complementary foods with dairy

Within 6 months, the main food should be breast milk or formula, and other foods should be used as a supplement.

Added complementary foods should be fresh, hygienic and taste good

When making food for your baby, don't pay attention to nutrition and ignore the taste. This will not only affect your baby's taste development, but also lay hidden dangers for picky food in the future. It may also make your baby averse to complementary food and affect nutrition intake.

Cultivate a happy baby

When feeding complementary food to your baby, you must first create a happy and harmonious eating environment. It is best to choose to feed your baby when he is happy and awake. Do not force your baby to eat when he or she expresses an unwillingness to eat.

Order of complementary foods for babies

6-7 months fortified iron rice noodles

8-9 months porridge, rotten noodles, minced egg yolk, fish puree, tofu, animal blood

10-11 months minced meat animal viscera grilled steamed buns molars (pie) crackers eggs

12-13 months thick congee, soft rice, minced meat and vegetables

Egg yolk powder is fresh

Summary

Breast milk is the best nutrition for babies. It can completely meet the growth and development needs of babies 6 months ago. Pure breastfeeding can meet all the liquids, energy and nutrients needed by babies under 6 months of age, without any complementary food. In fact, Many babies are unable to adapt to adding complementary foods too early.

Some mothers are worried that insufficient breast milk will affect the baby's development. They want to give the baby more nutrition and add complementary food to the baby too early. This will often be counterproductive and not good for the baby's health. Premature food supplements such as rice noodles can lead to insufficient protein intake and affect physical growth and brain development.

Some mothers feel that their breast milk is sufficient, and they have enough nutrition to feed their babies, but delay adding supplementary food. In fact, the content of iron in breast milk after 4 months is getting less and less, and it needs to be supplemented with complementary food. Some parents find it difficult to add complementary foods, especially when the baby just starts learning. The parents simply put rice noodles and milk paste into the bottle for the baby to drink, or simply postpone adding complementary foods. Learning to eat complementary foods is a new attempt for babies. Not only can they get more nutrition, stimulate teeth and oral development, train chewing and swallowing functions, but also the starting point for babies to reach a new growth ladder.

You can usually add complementary food to your baby from 6 months. Supplementary foods can be added to babies who are fed mixed or artificially fed after 4 months, while babies who are exclusively breastfed are later, but each baby's growth and development are different, and individual differences are not the same, so the time to add complementary foods is also Cannot be generalized.

Parents can determine whether to start adding complementary foods by the following points:

body weight

The weight needs to be doubled at birth, at least 6 kg.

Not full

For example, the baby can sleep all night until dawn, but often cry in the middle of the night, or the sleep time is getting shorter and shorter. The number of breastfeeding increases to 8-10 times a day or 1000ml of formula milk is fed, but the baby is still hungry. Cry, I want to eat soon. When the baby has an accelerated growth period around 6 months, it is the best time to start adding complementary foods.

development

The baby can control the head and upper body, can support or sit, the chest can stand up, the head can stand up, baby

reference picture

You can indicate whether you want to eat or not by turning your head, leaning forward, leaning back, etc., so that the situation of forced feeding will not occur.

behavior

For example, when someone eats next to your baby, your baby will be interested and may come to grab the spoon and grab the chopsticks. If your baby puts a hand or toy in his mouth, it means that the baby is interested in eating.

Tongue extension

Many parents have discovered that when they feed their baby with complementary foods, they often spit out the things they just fed into their mouths, thinking that they don't like to eat them. In fact, the baby s tongue extension is a kind of instinctual self-protection, called tongue extension reflex, which means that it is not yet time to feed complementary food. Tongue reflection usually disappears around 4 months. If you insist on feeding complementary foods before you disappear, you will not only feel very frustrated, but also make your baby feel unpleasant, which is not conducive to the cultivation of good eating habits.

Eat

If the parent picks up food and puts it in the baby's mouth, the baby will try to lick into the mouth and swallow

reference picture

The baby smiles and looks very happy and delicious. This shows that the baby is interested in eating. At this time, he can rest assured to feed the baby. If the baby spit out food, turn his head away or push his parents' hands away Explain that the baby does not want to eat and does not want to eat. Parents must not be reluctant to try again every few days. .