Baby nutrition: in a nutshell

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• Feeding up to six months 
• Introducing solids
• Food and milk schedule after six months
• Foods to avoid

Feeding up to six months

Breastfeeding is great for your baby. According to health experts, breastmilk is all babies need until they’re six months old. So it is worth making every effort to breastfeed.

Most problems with breastfeeding can be overcome with information and support. For some mothers, though, issues such as mastitis make it difficult to continue breastfeeding. If you can’t breastfeed, baby formula from a bottle is the next best thing. 

For more information about breastfeeding, bottle-feeding and nutrition, see our sections on newborns nutrition and babies nutrition. You might also like to read about healthy eating and drinking for new parents.

Breastfeeding and working
Going back to work doesn’t mean that you have to stop breastfeeding. You can express and refrigerate or freeze your milk, or you can partially wean. If you do continue feeding, slowly introduce your baby to a bottle or cup before you start back.

Introducing solids

You can start slowly introducing your baby to solids at around six months. It’s wise to introduce foods one at a time starting with a little bit of very milky baby cereal (mixed with breastmilk or formula). This can help identify food allergies or intolerances.

Here’s a quick guide to what foods you can introduce and when:

• Six months: baby is ready to try a world of different tastes and flavours. Along with baby cereal, available from the supermarket, you could also offer cooked pureed fruit (apple, pear) or vegetables (potato, pumpkin, carrot). See our homemade baby foods guide for how to make your own.
• Seven months: keep using the above foods. Try introducing pureed meat and toast fingers or sugarless rusks.
• Eight months: time for a bit more coarsely mashed food, like minced meat, chicken and rice. You can also introduce finger foods such as soft, chopped fruit, soft-cooked vegies, bread and toast, pasta, grated cheese (pasteurised), yoghurt and custards.
• 12 months: at this age, your baby is ready to eat a little of what the rest of the family is eating – as long as you cut foods into small pieces. Baby can also drink plain pasteurised milk at this time.

All babies are different, and this time frame is just a guide. There’s no point trying to force a child to eat anything. If a food gets knocked back one week, try it again next week. Babies can be offered a new food many times before deciding to try it.

Food and milk schedule after six months

Once baby is eating well, you can start a meal schedule. Your schedule might look like this:

Foods to avoid

• Salt, sugar or caffeine: babies’ systems can’t handle foods high in salt or sugar, or foods with caffeine (found in cola drinks and chocolate).
• Juice is expensive and high in sugar: it’s better for babies to get their nutrition straight from fruit. If baby is thirsty, plain tap water is best – it’s fortified with fluoride, which helps build enamel on baby’s developing teeth.
• Honey and unpasteurised dairy products: these might contain dangerous bacteria and are unsuitable for babies under 12 months.
• Cow’s milk, goat’s milk and soy milk: these are not suitable for children under 12 months. Babies need the nutrients found in breastmilk or formula.
• Biscuits and sweets: if you can avoid the temptation to give your child biscuits and lollies (at least for the first two years), you might be rewarded with fewer mealtime battles.
• Nuts: some babies have a tree nut or peanut allergy, which might cause a severe reaction if the babies eat nuts or nut products. Also, nuts can be a choking hazard for infants and small children.

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  By Raising Children Network

  Breast milk or formula is all your baby needs until he is six months old. When it’s time to introduce solids to your baby’s diet, you can start reducing milk feeds.
  
  Introduce foods one at a time, so you can identify any allergies or intolerances. You might like to try the following:

  • six months: baby cereal, cooked pureed fruit or vegetables
  • seven months: pureed meat, toast fingers or sugarless rusks
  • eight months: coarsely mashed food, soft fruit and soft-cooked vegies
  • 12 months: a little of what the rest of the family is eating, cut into small pieces.

  Avoid:

  • salt, sugar or caffeine
  • fruit juice, cow’s milk, goat’s milk and soy milk
  • nuts, honey and unpasteurised dairy products
  • biscuits and sweets.

  This article is an extract only. For more information visit raisingchildren.net.au/nutrition/babies_nutrition.html

  Sourced from the Raising Children Network's comprehensive and quality-assured Australian parenting website www.raisingchildren.net.au.