Complementary Feeding

First Extra Foods — Fruits and Vegetables

Although breastmilk is still very important, it is necessary to give infants additional foods and drinks for providing more nutrients. The best first additional foods are fruit juices and purees, included in the infant feeding at 4 months of age. Fruits stimulate baby’s appetite, improve digestion.

Fruit and vegetable juices and purees should have room temperature. Start feeding your baby, giving 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of juice at a time once a day, adding another teaspoon each day. The following fruits and vegetables are recommended for making first juices for a baby: apple, black currants, carrots, pumpkin, pear, plum, apricot.

Children under 12 months old shouldn’t be given strawberry, orange, tangerine juices, for these fruits could cause allergic reactions. Also you should avoid grape juice, capable of increasing fermentation process in intestines.

Juices contain sugar, reducing digestive juices discharge, so give juice to baby at the end of the feeding, to prevent appetite decrease.

For children of 4 months of age, start to give mashed apples, bananas, this would prepare infant’s digestion to harder food. From the beginning, give half a teaspoon of the puree, increasing the single portion to 1-2 oz (30-50 g) during a week.

For the first extra food giving, it is preferably to make vegetable puree, made of carrots, squashes or vegetable mix. Vegetable puree should have homogeneous consistency, more liquid from the beginning, then making it harder. Children get used to eat cereals better after eating vegetables, rather than otherwise.

Generally, first extra food amount is not more than 2 teaspoons, then feed up the baby with breastmilk. During ten days, breastmilk is gradually substituted by the solid food for one feeding.

Food Allergy

It is important to vary fruit purees, but it shouldn’t be done more than once in 3-5 days. When introducing one particular product each 5 days, you can get to know for sure, whether this or that product could cause allergic reaction on your baby.

Food allergy has various symptoms: hard breathing, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, skin eruption, flu, running nose, watering eyes. If you note any of these symptoms with your baby, immediately call for a doctor.

How to Feed

When fed, to make swallowing easier for a baby, she should sit straight and vertically — on the feeder’s knees, in child’s chair or fastened to a baby’s seat. Don’t lean your baby back, to prevent his chocking.

Use a special rubber or plastic spoon with long handle, do not use steel spoon, it can injure child’s gums.

When starting to give fruit puree to a child, try to make the following: put a small lump of puree on the tip of a spoon and put it on the center of a child’s tongue. A child should get used to this new feeling, its completely new experience for him, as formerly he could only suck liquids, but not swallow solids.

It is better to give first extra food before giving breastmilk, in the morning. Choose such a moment, when your baby is not hungry, thus he would be more calm and patient when feeding. Try to be in good temper with your baby

Child’s Behavior When Feeding

An infant should get used to eat solid foods. If he turns out his heat, thus showing that he doesn’t want to eat it, do not persist, to prevent child’s negative attitude formation towards feeding. Be patient, praise him with hearty intonation, and finish feeding with breastmilk.

Very often, at the beginning of the experience, children can’t close their lips around the spoon. They start to suck, thus pushing the food out of the mouth. But this doesn’t mean that the baby doesn’t like the food.

There is no need to occupy infant’s hands with anything while feeding, they should be free, to adjust food to his mouth if there’s a need or a chance. Active role in feeding process forms an infant’s positive attitude and good mood.

When a child get used to eating with spoon, he could indicate himself the moment when he is hungry. When you move a spoon towards his mouth, he would opens it, and he would follow the spoon with his eyes during the feeding. If you make accidental stop, he even could get angry and impatient, starting grasping the spoon.

If he is full, and you proceed to feed hem, he turns out of the spoon, draws his attention on other things, he can start crying if you persist. Try to know how to understand your child, try to respect his needs. Just try to understand: your objective is not filling your baby with as much food as you can, but to grow up vigor and healthy child.

Other Extra Food — Cereals, Curd, Egg Yolk, Meat

The amount of first complementary food for a single feeding is 1/3 pound (150 g). When infant can eat it all, you can introduce the second complementary food — cereals.

It is better to start with rice porridge. Rice is soft cereal, it is hardly to cause allergy. After rice., 3-5 days later, you can suggest oat or buckwheat porridge to your child.

Feeding with wheat porridge is better to start when a child is 7 months of age. Generally (for about 10 days period), porridge can substitute second breastfeeding. You can add butter to the porridge, and green puree to vegetable puree (1-3 g for a portion).

From the age of 6 months give your child curds. Curds contain much protein, calcium and various salts, consequently it is unreasonable to give curds to the child earlier, to avoid overloading a child’s kidneys and dysbolism.

From 6-6.5 months egg yolk can be added, not earlier, for it could cause allergy. Mash hard boiled egg yolk thoroughly in vegetable broth. Start with a quarter of egg yolk, an, if there’s no allergy signs, increase to a half.

At the end of 7 months give a child boiled meat and offals (liver, tongue), making 1 oz (20-30 g) of thoroughly pureed meat for a portion.

Meat bouillon contains extractive substances, stimulates secretion and could cause allergy, so it shouldn’t be give to an infant. Health specialists recommend to give vegetables broth or puree soups, making 1 oz (20-30 g) for a portion, croutons could be added, from the age of 8-9 months.

Feeding After 8 Months

Generally, after 8 months lactation reduces, and more additional food is required for a child, as well as the product staff. New product is added — kefir. Kefir substitutes another breastfeeding. At this period a child is breastfed only twice — in the morning and in the evening before night sleep.

Fish could be given from the age of 8-9 months, give it once or twice a week instead of meat.

Gradually way of processing food for a child is changed. To the age of 1- months most children have their 4 teeth, so you can prepare more hard food, making you child get used to chew. You can give quenelles, served instead of meat, together with vegetable puree. Meat soufflé is also excellent for a child of 10-11 months.

From the age of 11 months introduce in your child’s feeding various puddings, casseroles, boiled noodles, steamed rissoles, grated fresh vegetables, kissel.

At 12 months most children have 8 teeth, so incr4eae the quantity of harder dishes.

Schedule of adding complementary food for children of 1-12 months of age

Products and dishes	0-3 months	4 months	5 months	6 months	7 months	8 months	9-12 months	to 12 months	Comment
Fruit juice, ml	5-30	40-50	50-60	60	70	80	90-100	90-100	from 3-х months
Fruit puree, g	5–30	40–50	50–60	60	70	80	90–100	90-100	from 3,5–4 months
Vegetable puree, g	—	10–100	150	150	170	180	200	200	from 4,5–5,5 months
Vegetable oil (corn, sunflower, g)	—	1-3	3	3	3	5	5	6	from 4,5–5 months
Milk porridge, g	—	—	—	50–100	150	150	180	200	from 5,5–6,5 months
Curds, g	—	—	—	10-30	40	40	40	50	from 6 months
Butter, g	—	—	—	1-4	4	4	5	6	from 6 months
Egg yolk, piece	—	—	—	—	1/4	1/2	1/2	1/2	from 7 months
Meat puree, g	—	—	—	—	5-30	50	50	60-70	from 7 months
Buscuits, g	—	—	—	—	3-5	5	5	10-15	from 7 months
Kefir and other sour milk	—	—	—	—	—	200	200	400-600	from 7.5-8 months
Wheat bread, g	—	—	—	—	—	5	5	10	from 8 months