Guidelines for adding complementary foods to your baby
Your baby needs a healthy diet to grow, and breast milk or infant formula should meet your baby\’s dietary needs for at least the first six months. When the baby is about four months old, some complementary foods can be added to supplement nutrition. However, for first-time mothers, how to introduce complementary foods may be a bit confusing. So what complementary foods should be added at four months? Let’s introduce it in detail below.
Cereal foods
Cereals are one of the main sources of nutrients your baby needs. Try to add rice flour or other cereal complementary foods to your baby, and arrange observation time after adding them. If it does not cause discomfort, you can gradually add them to the basic diet.
When adding complementary food for the first time, it is best to start with rice flour and add an appropriate amount of milk and water to make the most suitable substance. It is also important to slowly reduce the water content in the rice noodles and thicken the texture of the rice noodles. Next, you can start introducing foods like pureed rice, wheat flour, and oatmeal. These foods not only provide your baby with energy, but also promote your baby\’s digestion and intestinal health.
Vegetables and fruits
Adding vegetables and fruits to your baby is another important aspect of a healthy diet. Before adding these complementary foods, vegetables and fruits need to be minced into a puree. This will make it easier for the child to eat all the suitable foods. As your child becomes accustomed to juice, you can gradually increase the flavors and start using minced vegetables and fruits to provide more fiber and nutrients.
For babies aged four to six months, some vegetable and fruit supplements such as pearl dandelion juice, apple puree, banana puree and mango puree are good choices. When using these complementary foods, make sure the food is fresh and do not use expired food or refrigerated food.
Protein food
At four months, your baby still needs extra protein every day to promote body growth. It is not suitable to supplement with eggs or other high-protein foods at this time. At this time, you can feed your baby some fish or meat paste. Fish and meat are both necessary foods for the healthy growth of babies. After adding a comprehensive range of cereals and vegetable foods, these foods can be slowly introduced to maintain the baby\’s nutritional balance.
Tips for introducing complementary foods early
When adding complementary foods early, you need to pay attention to the following points: First, the addition of complementary foods should be gradual to avoid excessive burden on the baby. Secondly, before adding any new complementary food, try to add a single food first, and carefully observe the baby\’s reaction and allergies during this period. If no abnormalities are found, you can continue to add other types of food.
Finally, we need to teach parents how to perform correct operations when adding complementary foods to their babies. First of all, be fully prepared before adding food, and make sure the ingredients are fresh and hygienic when purchasing them; secondly, use tableware and tableware specially prepared for babies with microwave and dishwasher capabilities; finally, prepare the ground food in advance and feed it to the baby Food should be provided slowly in small spoons to allow the baby to gradually adapt.
To sum up, complementary foods can be added at four months. When adding food, you need to pay attention to the gradualAdd and observe the baby\’s reactions and allergies, choose fresh and hygienic ingredients, use professional tableware, etc. I hope parents can follow these tips to choose nutritious complementary foods for their babies.
