How to add complementary foods to your baby
As the baby grows, breast milk or formula milk powder can no longer meet the baby\’s needs, so adding complementary foods in a timely manner is essential. However, due to the uneven quality and ingredients of food, many new mothers do not know how to add nutritious and safe complementary foods to their babies. In response to this problem, we invited a number of nutrition experts. After their suggestions and experience sharing, we summarized the following points on the best ways to add complementary foods to babies:
Option 1: Test the taste first, then slowly increase the amount
When the baby is four months old, you can start adding vegetable puree or fruit puree. Start with a single food, such as pure pumpkin puree, and try it first to see if the baby can accept the taste of this food. If you pass the \”small trial\” step, you can gradually add new foods to your baby. When adding new foods, you can mix the new foods with previously successfully added foods so that your baby can slowly adapt to the taste and texture of different foods.
When the baby has more and more types of food, you can gradually increase the amount of food each time, but it must be increased gradually to allow the baby\’s gastrointestinal tract to adapt slowly, and do not add too much food at once.
In addition, as long-term breastfeeding babies, they need to develop good habits of eating and eating delicious and fresh food. Therefore, parents need to be patient and add complementary foods step by step, and do not violently stuff all the food into the baby\’s mouth because of being too hasty and anxious. Not only will this confuse your baby, it can also undermine your baby\’s health and happiness.
Option 2: Pay attention to safety and hygiene
When adding complementary foods, parents need to pay special attention to food safety and hygiene issues. Because babies\’ gastrointestinal functions are relatively weak, they are vulnerable to bacterial invasion. Therefore, before adding complementary foods, parents need to carefully check the freshness of the food and follow scientific operating steps when handling the food, such as hand washing, cooking the food, covering the food, etc. These operations can effectively reduce the risk of Bacterial infection rate.
In addition, pay attention to the cleaning and disinfection of tools used for complementary feeding. First of all, parents should prepare a set of tableware specifically for complementary feeding, including spoons, bowls, cups, etc. Secondly, before use, parents should clean these utensils with hot water and detergent, and then sterilize them with boiling water or steam. They should be very clean.
Option 3: Gradually increase nutritional content
When adding baby complementary foods, we must first calculate the time and amount based on the child\’s personality and growth and development status, rather than blindly adding them according to the data in the standard book. When the baby is about four months old, you can start to add vegetable juice, fruit juice, warm milk, rice juice and other foods, and only add one kind of food a day, no more than 20 ml at a time, thereby gradually increasing the baby\’s acceptance of different foods. Secondly, when the baby gets used to a single food taste and his appetite gradually increases, you can gradually increase the type and amount of food added so that the baby can gradually get used to different tastes and textures. Finally, parents are adding supplements to their babiesWhen eating, pay attention to some tea, juice, rice porridge, etc. that have nourishing functions and nutritional ingredients. Try to choose highly nutritious foods, and make reasonable combinations according to the baby\’s age and gastrointestinal condition, so that the baby can get a comprehensive and balanced diet. Nutrition.
Option 4: Match ingredients according to baby’s taste
Babies\’ tastes also need to be taken into consideration. As children\’s tastes gradually develop, they gradually accept more complementary foods and can continuously supplement new nutrients to ensure health. Therefore, parents can let their babies taste more food at the appropriate time, including meat, vegetables, fruits, etc., and match them according to their baby\’s taste. When your baby can accept meat and various vegetables, you can slowly start to try more complex meat-vegetable combinations such as braised meat and braised vegetables.
In short, adding complementary foods is a step-by-step process. On the premise of ensuring safety and hygiene, parents need to follow the baby\’s taste and appetite and add complementary foods reasonably to ensure that the baby gets comprehensive and balanced nutrition.
