Your precious one will be a continuous source of pride and joy to you and will continue to win the hearts of your family and loved ones with her heart warming antics. She will have begun recognizing familiar faces and will start responding to you and making overtures herself by the time she is 6 months or a little older.
By now your little one is not so 'little' any more, weighing approximately twice as much as her birth weight? In addition to breast feeding, your baby now needs 2 to 3 supplementary feeds daily, preferably one in the morning, a second in the afternoon and the third in the evening.
She will also have got used to the liquid and semi-solid supplements in her diet. Most babies are at their active best and may also establish a fairly regular eating pattern provided you will need to pay special attention to her diet to provide energy for all her activities over the next 3 months. Your baby will need all her energies and so will you!
At this stage, your baby will welcome new textures in her diet like finely chopped and cooked vegetables, whole cooked dals, unstrained soups and juices. You can start reducing the number of breast feeds by introducing juices and liquids in your baby's diet.
Your little one may drool and be irritable at times and chances are that she's teething. Give your baby finger foods like a small piece of toast or carrot, peeled and de-seeded tomatoes or peeled cucumber to nibble. These will help soothe your baby's gum irritation. Your baby may also start showing signs of independence and will want to hold on to foods. Check out other teething foods such as Teething Biscuits, Whole Wheat Bread Sticks, etc.
These foods encourage your baby to be independent and also give her an opportunity to savor different tastes and textures.
Supervise carefully while your baby is chewing on such foods as she can gulp a big piece down and may choke on it. This is also a great opportunity for her to start learning eating techniques like biting and chewing. As your baby starts cutting teeth, she will want to nibble at anything that comes in her way. She may be irritable and refuse food, wanting to bite on hard objects. This is the time when you have to be most careful and alert and take care not to keep any sharp objects within your baby's reach as these can hurt her.
During the teething months, sometimes babies may show signs of indigestion or vomit out their food. This is usually a result of chewing on all kinds of things to ease gum irritation. Sterilize all the toys that your baby is likely to chew on. Be careful that your baby does not eat any uncovered food to relieve her irritation, as the latter may be unhygienic and cause digestive problems like diarrhea and dysentery. Please do not panic and do consult your pediatrician at such times.
You can also now start adding more flavors to your baby's food. Temper her meals with subtle spices and condiments like salt, pepper and herbs so that she develops a taste for them. Some babies may just love this addition to their meals and happily consume spicy foods like onion, garlic after 6 months while others may find even a simple carrot indigestible. Introduce spices to your baby's meals only gradually. Add a regulated quantity of iodized salt to your baby's meals, as it is rich in iodine. Iodine is extremely essential for the functioning of the thyroid gland which controls the metabolism of the body. Also, lack of iodine may lead to hormonal irregularities.
Changes in Weaning Foods
The food groups will remain the same as they were in the last phase viz. 5 to 6 months. Only the textures will change and now you can introduce a larger variety of foods to your little one's diet. As your baby grows older, around the age of 8 to 9 months, you can start with whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta instead of refined pasta and introduce dairy products other than milk (like curds, buttermilk, paneer, etc.) Liquid Supplements Milk and Milk products Your little one may have already accustomed herself to the supplements in her meals so you can now decrease the number of breast feeds per day and increase the fresh milk from 1/2 cup to about 1 cup per day to replace the breast milk. This is also an ideal time to start with home-made milk shakes, porridge diluted with milk, paneer (cottage cheese) to add good sources of calcium to your baby's diet. Try Chickoo Milk Shake or Fruity Phirnee, which are a good combination of milk and fruits and will please your little one. Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Soups Food Groups And their Combinations Make your little one's meals innovative and interesting. Use different combinations of foods, as shown in the table below, to introduce a variety of textures to your baby's diet and make it energy and nutrient rich. Food Groups Examples Suggested Recipe 2 Food Group Combination Cereal + Pulse Moong Dal Khichdi Cereal + Vegetable Spinach Pasta Puree Milk + Fruits Fruity Cream Cheese 3 Food Group Combination Cereal + Fruit + Milk Fruity Phirnee Cereal + Vegetable + Milk Palak Paneer Rice Cereal + Vegetable + Pulse Vegetable Khichdi These months are a great opportunity for your baby to start learning eating techniques like biting and chewing. So start by offering unstrained juices, soups and cooked vegetables. Babies also accept new flavors at this age. So try new additions like paneer, finely chopped veggies and also subtle spices like salt, pepper and herbs.
CHICKOO MILK SHAKE:
Chickoo is another very baby friendly fruit because of its natural sweetness, mild flavor and easy to swallow texture. Most babies relish chickoos, and so I have added milk to supplement it with calcium, protein and vitamin A. It is important to remember to remove the pith carefully and to peel off a nice thick layer of the skin, as these portions can hinder your baby's digestion, especially till the age of 1 year.
BANANA APPLE PUDDING :
A fruity meal that babies will love. This recipe will also encourage your baby to "chew" the food before she swallows it.
Most babies like to chew on biscuits, even if they have no teeth. A biscuit has been included in this recipe to add a little crunch and a taste of familiarity so that they enjoy this pudding more.
YUMMY APPLE PORRIDGE:
This wholesome porridge made of oats, apples and milk can be served as a dessert or breakfast after your baby is 6 months. Milk is a good source of calcium, which is extremely important for the development of your baby's bones and teeth. Oatmeal is high in energy, protein and fibre.
CORIANDER CURD RICE:
This mildly flavored combination of rice with a vegetable (coriander) and a dairy product (curds) helps you to introduce more flavours to your baby's food. It paves the way for her to adapt to the family food more easily later on, when she is about a year old.
This is a great recipe for a hot summer lunch. You can even grate a little bit of carrots or cucumber into this dish as a variation.
PALAK PANEER RICE:
This rice delicacy is appealing to most infants because of its bright green color. Spinach provides the much needed iron and folic acid for your growing baby while paneer is a good source of calcium. This nourishing rice serves as a full meal for lunch or dinner keeping your baby satiated for a longer time.
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