Baby nutrition: in a nutshell

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’s 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. 

Other things to know about feeding your young baby

• Cow’s milk, goat’s milk and soy milk aren’t suitable for children under 12 months. These products don’t have all the nutritional elements a baby needs to grow and thrive.

• If you’re breastfeeding and are vitamin D deficient, it could be difficult for your baby to get enough of the vitamin. You might like to read about healthy eating and drinking for new parents.

• If you’re bottle-feeding, giving baby a bottle in bed isn’t recommended. Holding your baby during bottle-feeding is safer and can help you bond and connect. It’s also a great opportunity for partners to take turns at bonding with their baby.
• Going back to work doesn’t mean you have to stop breastfeeding. You can express your breastmilk and refrigerate or freeze it, or you could consider partial weaning. 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
Your 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.

After six months, you can introduce small amounts of boiled and cooled water.  

Seven months
Keep using the above foods. Try introducing pureed meat and toast fingers or sugarless rusks.

Eight months
It’s 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 food into small pieces. Baby can also drink plain pasteurised milk at this time.

Some handy tips
Try not to worry if your child is a fussy eater. A relaxed approach is the best way to establish good habits and avoid later problems. As a parent, you decide what healthy foods to offer your baby, and your baby decides how much. You can also expect a bit of mess as children learn to feed themselves.

When babies are 9-12 months old, you can put healthy leftovers in a blender and reduce to a textured pulp. Spoon into ice cube trays or small plastic containers and freeze for quick meals later in the week.

But try to avoid microwaving milk and food in plastic bottles or bowls, unless they’re specifically marked as ‘microwave safe’. Microwaves make ‘hot spots’, which could burn your baby, and ‘cold spots’, where bacteria might survive. If you stop and stir the food midway through, then heat it further, you can overcome this issue.

Food and milk schedule after six months

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

• Early morning – breastfeed or bottle
• Mid-morning – breakfast and breastfeed or bottle
• Early afternoon – lunch and breastfeed or bottle
• Early evening – dinner and breastfeed or bottle
• Late evening – breastfeed or bottle (if needed).

This means 4-5 milk feeds a day. You can reduce this to three milk feeds as your baby starts to eat more solid food (6-9 months). Of course, your baby’s own milk intake might vary from 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).
• Fruit juice and soft drinks: these aren’t recommended. Juice is expensive and high in sugar, and it’s better for babies to get their nutrition straight from fruit. Soft drinks have lots of sugar and very few vitamins and minerals. 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 aren’t 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 they eat nuts or nut products. Also, nuts can be a choking hazard for infants and small children.
• Bad fat: this kind of fat comes in the form of saturated fat and trans fat.

Food additives
Generally, food additives don’t cause harmful effects. But if you think your child is sensitive to one or more food additives, speak to your doctor. You can also read more about food additives in our article on food labels and nutrition panels.  

Video: Babies and food reactions

20mb

This short video is about food reactions and allergies in babies. It includes information about reflux and lactose intolerance. It also notes that most babies vomit or spit up some breastmilk or formula. In some cases, this is the sign of a more serious condition that needs medical attention.

 

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  Newsletter snippet: Baby nutrition: in a nutshell
  

  By Raising Children Network

  Breastmilk or formula is all your baby needs until he’s six months old. You can get help for most problems with breastfeeding. 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:

  • 6 months: baby cereal, cooked pureed fruit or vegetables
  • 7 months: pureed meat, toast fingers or sugarless rusks
  • 8 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.

  If baby is a fussy eater, try a relaxed approach. A handy rule is that you decide what healthy foods to offer your baby. Your baby decides how much of them to eat.

  Avoid salt, sugar or caffeine, fruit juice, cow’s milk, goat’s milk and soy milk, nuts, honey and unpasteurised dairy products, and biscuits and sweets. Generally, food additives don’t cause harmful effects.

  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.