Porridge at 5 months on artificial. Complementary feeding of a bottle-fed baby. How to introduce basic products

Adapted milk formulas contain the necessary set of microelements that the baby needs for optimal development.

But with each new month of the child’s life, this need increases, and after five months the mixture can no longer fully compensate for the lack of substances such as iron, calcium and others. This fact is a direct indication for the introduction of complementary foods from the age of five months.

With the introduction of new food, the need for nutrients is met, which the child needs for optimal growth and increased physical activity. The functioning of the gastrointestinal tract also improves, which is very good for children suffering from frequent constipation. The skill of chewing is developing, which by this time has already begun to take shape.

Which products should I introduce first?

The most important question is where to start: with vegetables, cereals or fruits? If the baby is even slightly underweight, it would be better to introduce porridge first.

Important! First we introduce gluten-free grains! Gluten (found in oatmeal and semolina) can cause a very severe allergic reaction and bloating in the baby.

We start complementary feeding with rice, corn and buckwheat porridges. The easiest way is to buy a box and dilute it with boiled water. First, we introduce dairy-free milk, since this is the least burden on the baby’s digestive system.

The first week, slightly increasing the amount from one spoon to the desired portion, we give one type of porridge, it is best to start with buckwheat. And only then we gradually introduce the rest of the grains into the baby’s diet.

If the baby is overweight and has problems with stool, then we start complementary feeding with vegetables. Doctors also recommend starting with vegetables for children who are completely healthy and without weight deviations.

Not with fruits and juices, as our grandmothers and some “old school” pediatricians might recommend, but with vegetables. Of course, after a sweet, tasty mixture, vegetable puree may seem disgusting to the baby, but in this case the mother needs to be patient.

If the child does not understand that this ugly and green mother is trying to give him to eat, and is desperately trying to spit it out, then do not despair.

It should be offered more than once, but at least 10-12, and only if the baby stubbornly refuses to eat this vegetable all this time, offer a new one.

Many parents, if the baby does not accept this or that vegetable, switch to porridge. This is a big mistake, and you shouldn’t do it, as there is a possibility that in the future the child will not eat vegetables at all.

We begin the introduction of vegetable complementary foods with less allergenic foods, such as:

zucchini;
broccoli;
cauliflower and potatoes.

Later we try carrots and beets.

Attention! Don't mix vegetables! This can only be done after the child has tried all types.

Modern industry produces a huge range of different types of canned purees.

Based on consistency, this puree is divided into::

homogenized (from 4.5 months);
puree (for children 6-9 months);
coarsely ground (9-12 months).

Manufacturers often add a little salt when making canned food, so The child does not need to add salt to the puree himself.

If you make mashed potatoes yourself, then you need to boil fresh or frozen vegetables in steamed or boiling water, and then grind them to a puree using a blender. Then you should add a little vegetable oil or butter there for taste.

Scheme for introducing new food into a child’s diet

Prohibited Products

Important! There are foods that are strictly prohibited for a five-month-old child to eat. These are fish, meat, cottage cheese and eggs.

Such food is still very heavy for the baby and is introduced only after 6-7 months.

Table with hourly menu for the day

After introducing all age-appropriate products, the approximate hourly menu for the first complementary feeding of a five-month-old baby will look like this.

In the first months of life, the child feeds exclusively on milk - either from the mother’s breast, or in the form of formula if it is impossible to breastfeed. As the toddler grows up, such nutrition is no longer enough. Is it possible to start feeding a baby at 5 months, when is this justified, what foods to introduce and how to build a daily menu for a toddler?

Breast milk as the best nutrition

Milk from the mother's breast is the most optimal food for any child. This is a food that is ideally balanced in its composition, containing not only carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and proteins, which are also found in any mixture, but also special substances that are not found in mixtures. These are immunoglobulins, which strengthen the health of the baby and protect the baby from infections, and special factors responsible for intestinal maturation, and hormonal substances, and various enzymes.

This is why doctors recommend feeding only breast milk to infants up to 6 months of age. You should start complementary feeding earlier than this period only if you are unable to breastfeed, if the baby is sick (for example, with rickets or anemia), as well as if the mother has hypogalactia.

New products in the diet of a bottle-fed baby

Calculate your complementary feeding table

At 5 months of age, the portion of vegetables increases slightly and the following new products are introduced:

Porridge. Grain feeding starts with rice or buckwheat. You can also prepare corn porridge for the baby.
Fruits. For the first fruit purees, it is recommended to take apples, bananas or pears.
Vegetable oil. They begin to add it to vegetable purees in the amount of 1 gram, which approximately corresponds to 1/5 of a teaspoon.

How much should a baby eat?

The total amount of food per day for a five-month old baby is calculated based on his body weight. The child’s weight is divided by 7 and the total amount of food that needs to be given to the baby per day is obtained. By dividing it by the number of meals, you will find out the volume of one feeding. On average, 5-month-old babies eat 800-1000 ml of food per day. During one feeding, a baby of this age receives 160-200 ml of food.

As for complementary feeding products introduced into the diet of artificial babies at 5 months, their norms will be as follows:

Diet

A five-month-old baby is already undergoing the final transition from 6 feedings to 5 meals a day. The intervals between feedings lengthen and begin to be approximately 3.5-4 hours. The baby can wake up for the first feeding at 6 o'clock in the morning, then he needs to be fed at 9-10 o'clock, at 13-14 o'clock and at 17-18 o'clock, and the last feeding will be at 21-22 o'clock.

Sample menu

For a formula-fed baby, at 5 months after the introduction of new products, the menu will look like this:

For a child whose mother, due to insufficient milk supply, began to feed him at 4-5 months of age, the daily menu will be something like this:

Give new foods at the beginning of feeding, and to make their taste more familiar to the baby, add to the new food the food that the baby already knows (mother’s milk or the usual formula).

Consider the following nuances:

Give your child only fresh food. Prepare a portion for one time and do not store the prepared food, and if you used ready-made puree from the store, after opening the jar you can keep it in the refrigerator for no longer than 24 hours.
When preparing complementary foods for a 5-month-old baby, you should use a sieve or blender so that the baby receives only homogeneous and well-chopped food.
Always check the temperature of food before giving food to your baby.
You cannot force a child to try complementary foods if the baby refuses, is capricious or tired.

According to the World Health Organization, which collects and analyzes all accumulated experience in the field of medicine and human health, the best food for a child until he reaches the age of six months is breast milk. However, sometimes, for a number of reasons, the mother is not able to feed the child exclusively with breast milk, or the child is completely bottle-fed. In this case, complementary foods are introduced to the child at 5 months, which is due to his physiological needs.

Introduction of complementary foods to a 5-month-old baby with artificial or mixed feeding

Starting from 4-5 months, the child experiences the appearance of the first chewing movements, and the strength of sucking also increases. In addition, along with artificial formulas, children also receive some adaptation to “foreign” nutrition, which significantly facilitates the transition to “adult” nutrition.

The time for introducing complementary foods to a child at 5 months is usually discussed with a pediatrician, who assesses the degree of readiness for this difficult process for the child. You should also discuss with him the scheme for introducing new products.

Complementary feeding for a 5-month-old baby can include:

Vegetable purees, but it is better to give preference to soft (white and green) vegetables. Full volume – 100-150 g;
Fruit puree from dull fruits. Total volume – 60 g;
Porridges, best gluten-free - rice, corn, buckwheat. Full volume – 100-200 g.

Meat and fish dishes, as well as fermented milk products, are recommended to be introduced into a child’s diet at a later age.

General rules for introducing complementary foods to a child at 5 months

The general rules for introducing complementary foods to a 5-month-old child include recommendations that define the rules for introducing new products, the volumes and time required to increase the portion to the required volume, taking into account various factors.

Any new product should be introduced into the complementary feeding of a child at 5 months only when he is completely healthy.

Juices and fruits, which were previously considered the best foods for first complementary feeding, are now recommended to be introduced at a later age - from 7-8 months, since they quite often cause digestive disorders and various allergic reactions.

Complementary feeding of a baby at 5 months should begin with pureed foods. This consistency will gradually prepare the gastrointestinal tract for coarser food, so that by 10-12 months the baby can eat from the common table.

The introduction of complementary foods should begin only with a single product. If you have an allergy or a tendency to it, this approach will help identify negative trends in the early stages. When determining how much complementary feeding to give your child, you should know that the initial portion should be no more than half a teaspoon. The increase in volumes occurs gradually - over 10-14 days. Normally, during this time, a volume of 100-200 g of complementary foods should be reached, which can completely replace one of the feedings.

The child should eat the resulting complementary food with pleasure, and this is what determines how much complementary feeding to give the child. After reaching the full serving volume, butter or vegetable oil is gradually added to porridge or vegetable purees. You can also diversify your diet with fruit supplements. In some cases, you can divide the portion of complementary foods into two times.

It is recommended to spoon feed the baby when introducing complementary foods. Products that are used to prepare food for a child must be thoroughly processed beforehand. Commercial baby food can be used as complementary food for a 5-month-old child. As a rule, environmentally friendly products are used in its preparation, and in some cases such food is additionally enriched with vitamins and minerals necessary for the child.

Sugar and salt should not be added to dishes prepared for children. These products are not only not beneficial for a child at this age, but can also cause significant harm, provoking the development of various diseases.

From the moment complementary feeding begins, a 5-month-old child must be provided with sufficient fluids. This can be either simple drinking water or herbal teas that improve digestion.

Contraindications to the introduction of new products into complementary foods

Hot weather is also considered an unfavorable time for introducing new complementary foods. During this time, the child may be capricious, which may increase the likelihood of rejection of the new product.

During illness, it is better to postpone the introduction of new complementary foods to a child at 5 months. If the baby gets sick when one of the complementary foods has already been introduced into his diet, after recovery it can be returned to the diet in the same volume.

Approximate feeding schedule for a 5 month old baby

Towards the end of the fifth month, the child can be switched to a 5-time feeding regimen, in which the interval between meals will be 4 hours.

An approximate feeding regimen at this age is:

6.00 – feeding with breast milk or formula;
10.00 – vegetable puree (100-150 g) and 3 tablespoons of fruit puree;
14.00 – feeding with breast milk or formula;
18.00 – feeding milk or dairy-free porridge with added butter;
22.00 - feeding with breast milk or formula.

When introducing complementary foods to a child at 5 months, you should, of course, follow the recommendations of the pediatrician and other authoritative sources. However, in any case, the responsibility for organizing proper feeding lies with the mother, therefore, first of all, you should be attentive to your child and take into account his taste preferences in nutrition, as well as show the necessary flexibility when organizing the diet.

When should the first complementary foods be introduced during artificial feeding? How to respond to advice from older relatives about using new products as early as 3 months? What products to start with, in what quantity? How to reduce the amount of formula in your baby's diet? Recommendations from pediatricians on introducing complementary foods into the diet of an artificial baby.

There are many speculations regarding the introduction of complementary foods to bottle-fed babies. Who among us has not heard the stories of grandmothers and neighbors that already at five months their child was devouring borscht on both cheeks, and they gave him juice from the age of two months, and nothing, they grew up...

There is no point in blaming relatives for being “behind the times.” Indeed, thirty to forty years ago there were completely different recommendations, on which several generations of children and pediatricians were raised. A global revision of the standards that govern the introduction of complementary foods during artificial feeding occurred quite recently - around the beginning of the two thousandth.

Introduction Features

The World Health Organization initiated the revision of outdated standards. Recommendations that artificial feeding should be given early, that babies should be fed porridge with butter as early as 4 months, that fruit purees should be given even earlier, were recognized as not meeting the real needs of the child’s body.

How did such recommendations arise, and why did pediatrics obey them for so long? The fact is that in the twentieth century there was a massive transition of the population of civilized countries to artificial mixtures. However, the technology that would make it possible to produce more or less decent food did not exist.

The first mixture was powdered cow's milk, which a child's body cannot digest until eight months due to the lack of appropriate enzymes. Children were also fed using finely ground cereals (and the finest, as is known, semolina), and kefir. Such a diet could not meet the needs of the child’s body, so doctors advised enriching it with other products.

That is why the start of complementary feeding during artificial feeding was for a period of three to four months, and already at 5 months it was recommended to include porridge, fruits, vegetables, cottage cheese in the diet... Also for this reason, a contradictory stereotype developed about the preparedness of the digestive system of the artificial child for “foreign products”.

The opinion that a formula-fed child needs complementary feeding earlier because his digestive system is familiar with “foreign products” is fundamentally wrong. The transition to a new type of nutrition is easier for infants, since enzymes from mother's milk help them in the digestion process. Artificial animals do not receive these enzymes. Their digestive system matures later than that of infants.

Optimal timing

The change in modern ideas about the timing of the introduction of complementary foods was caused by the development of artificial nutrition. In the last fifteen years, adapted artificial formulas have been developed, which, although they could not come close to the composition of breast milk, have become its completely acceptable analogue.

The essence of the adapted mixture is the breakdown of the protein component in its composition, which allows the child’s body to absorb it fully. The mixtures are also enriched with a whole range of essential substances: microelements, fatty acids, vitamins. The composition of high-quality products clearly corresponds to the basic needs of the child’s body. This eliminates the need for early introduction of complementary foods.

WHO experts recommend the introduction of complementary foods during artificial feeding in the middle of the first year of life. The guideline for the mother should be the age of six months, until which the baby receiving the adapted formula does not need other products.

The deadlines can be shifted in one direction or another. New foods in the diet from about five and a half months are needed if the baby is very active, mobile, and requires more high-calorie food to compensate for energy costs.

It is necessary to wait before switching to an unusual diet if the child is sick, experiencing painful teething, or is restless as a result of an uncomfortable psychological environment at home. How easily new “meals” will be absorbed by the baby’s body directly depends on his physical and emotional state.

Principles

In the question of how and when to introduce complementary foods to an artificial baby, adhere to the following rules.

The mixture is important up to a year. In the first year of life, a child needs a whole range of nutrients. Adapted mixtures are prepared taking them into account. Therefore, the composition of the product for a newborn differs significantly from the composition of the formula for a child older than six months. At the same time, it is impossible to say for sure that by receiving cereal porridge and puree instead of a mixture, the child will be provided with everything necessary for proper development. And it’s not just that the diet is not easy to balance, especially when the little one refuses a number of foods. The problem is that nutrients from food are absorbed differently. For example, adapted formulas contain a huge amount of iron, to a significantly greater extent than the baby’s body needs. Manufacturers saturate them with a “reserve”, because the iron from the mixture is not completely absorbed, but in a volume of approximately 20-25%. For comparison, from red meat or liver, which are considered the main source of iron in the diet, this microelement is absorbed only in a volume of 5-10%.
The products do not displace the mixture. Of course, as the volume of new food in the child’s diet increases, the volume of the formula will decrease. But it is precisely to decrease, and not to eliminate completely. This essential nutritional element for the baby must be preserved at every feeding.
Five meals a day. Typically, artificial babies adhere to a feeding schedule by the age of six months. If you followed a free feeding schedule or until now fed your baby more often and in smaller quantities, now you can easily switch to five meals a day. This will be facilitated by increasing the calorie content of feedings.
New product - once a week. The body of an artificial baby is not at all adapted to food that is “alien” to it. Moreover, his digestive tract is even more vulnerable than that of an infant. Therefore, the introduction of new nutritional components cannot be rushed. One week - one product is the golden rule of healthy complementary feeding. At the same time, it is important for the mother to observe the body’s reaction: if a rash appears, or indigestion occurs, it is necessary to remove this product from the diet.

The task of complementary feeding in the first year of life is not at all to displace the main component of nutrition, which for an artificial child remains a mixture. It introduces texture, tastes, creates conditions for the functioning of the chewing apparatus, teaches table manners and the ability to handle cutlery.

Therefore, do not force your child to eat the product, even if you spent a lot of time preparing it. Don't insist, don't distract him by quietly putting a spoon in his mouth. A more correct approach would be to teach food in the usual conditions of your family: at a common table, when the baby watches his loved ones eat and tries to imitate them. This approach forms the right attitude towards food, in which there is no violence from adults.

Introducing new foods

The scheme for introducing complementary foods during artificial feeding may include products from different groups. The most popular first feeding options:

milk - kefir;
cereal - porridge;
vegetable - puree from hypoallergenic vegetables.

Pediatricians pay attention to the fact that the choice of regimen should take into account the health status and developmental characteristics of the baby. But in each case, dairy components cannot be the product of choice, since they contain milk protein in an undigested form. Until eight months, it is not absorbed by the child’s body, since the digestive system does not produce the necessary enzyme. Therefore, fermented milk ingredients should be introduced into the diet later.

Table - introduction of complementary foods when bottle-feeding babies from six months

Products	6 months	7 months	8 months	9 months	10 months	11 months	12 months
Vegetables, g	150	170	180	180	180	200	200
Porridge, g	150	170	180	180	180	200	200
Fruits, g		60	70	80	100	100	100
Meat, g		50	60	60	70	70	70
Cottage cheese, g			30	40	40	50	50
Yolk			1/4	1/4	1/2	1/2	1/2
Fish, g					30	50	60
Vegetable oil, ml	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Butter, g	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Based on the complementary feeding table for artificial infants, determine your baby’s feeding regimen.

Administer the product in the morning. To see the baby's first reaction, give it the second morning feeding. If diarrhea occurs, it will not happen at night.
Keep the numbers roughly. The indicated number of products is the maximum for each age. To avoid overfeeding, the baby should not be given more. If he ate less, this is not a cause for concern.
Reduce the volume of the mixture gradually. Give the mixture after complementary foods. Its volume will decrease from 200 ml to 50 ml at each feeding.
The consistency of the dishes should be puree. At the first stage, dishes are offered more liquid; by the year the consistency becomes thick, with pieces, and crumbly. The volume for the first acquaintance is half a teaspoon; daily, in the absence of a negative reaction, this volume is doubled. In a week it is brought to the recommended norm.

Vegetables are the first complementary food

It is recommended to use pureed vegetables in the first feeding at six months. They are optimally suited for children with normal development and children with a tendency to constipation. They are offered in the form of monocomponent purees, to which a second product is then added, and a third is gradually introduced. Thus, within one month the baby receives a multi-component puree.

Add vegetable oil to the dish, a little less than a teaspoon. It is important to consider that it is also a new product, and it must be introduced like other nutritional components.

For vegetables, choose zucchini, pumpkin, cauliflower and broccoli, green peas, and potatoes.

Porridge

Cereal dishes are often used as first complementary foods. The reason for this is the love of almost all kids without exception. However, pediatricians recommend starting with them if the child is behind in weight gain or is too active.

At the first stage, the baby’s diet includes dairy-free cereals, homemade or factory-made. The latter are more convenient, since they only need to be dissolved in the specified volume of water. Homemade cereal should be ground to flour in a coffee grinder and boiled in water in a ratio of 1:4. As the child grows older, the ratio of water to cereal changes to 1:2 per year.

One-ingredient porridges must contain rice, buckwheat or corn cereals. After eight months, oatmeal and semolina are introduced. Add butter to the dish. Milk is used as an ingredient after eight months, diluting it with water.

Fruits

It is better to start getting acquainted with fruits in the form of purees rather than juices. They contain valuable fiber that improves intestinal function. And they are not supplemented with sugar, like most industrially produced juices. The latter are rich in fruit acids, which have an aggressive effect on the fragile digestive tract, so it is necessary to include them in the diet after a year.

Choose fruits from your region, such as apple, plum, apricot, peach, pear. Use seasonal fruits and monitor the reaction. Banana can be offered as a hypoallergenic complementary food in winter. Fruits are well digestible, so they are suitable both for an independent “snack” and for dessert after porridge.

Meat

A valuable component of nutrition, which most children come to only at the age of eight months. Considering that vegetables and cereals are introduced before this period, there is simply no time left for meat. There is nothing wrong with this, especially since kids are not very willing to take this product. Grind the meat thoroughly in a blender or pass through a meat grinder twice, and then add it to the vegetable puree when boiled.

Use varieties such as turkey, rabbit, lean pork. Then, according to the degree of allergenicity, choose beef and chicken. When the baby learns to chew well, the meat component is not mixed with puree, but offered in its pure form - as a cutlet or meatball. Meat broth should not be given for up to a year.

Fish

It is administered after meat in the same way. Served with vegetable puree. The types of fish chosen are low-fat and hypoallergenic. These are distinguished by the white color of the pulp. Choose hake, pollock, cod. Sea fish is more suitable for baby food than river fish, since the latter has a specific smell. Boil the product and chop with a fork. When the baby grows up, it is enough to disassemble the fish into small pieces.

Cottage cheese

As a source of calcium, it is less relevant for children on a well-adapted formula. It should be introduced into the diet after eight months. Can be mixed with fruit puree. Use low-fat industrial cottage cheese for baby food, the quality of which you can be more confident than in a homemade product from the market.

Yolk

A difficult ingredient in children's diets, difficult for the digestive tract. It is allergic, so it should be handled with care. In terms of allergenicity, the yolk of a quail egg is lower than that of a chicken egg.

Mandatory introduction at four to five months, as required by the recommendations of previous years, is no longer relevant when feeding a child with a high-quality formula. Add the yolk, starting with the crumbs, to the vegetable puree. Do not combine it in one feeding with a meat or fish dish.

From about seven to eight months, the baby can be given hard snacks, baby cookies, and crusts of bread. These products are not complete complementary foods; they are used as “snacks” and are good for stimulating the development of the chewing apparatus.

The technique for introducing complementary foods to a bottle-fed baby largely coincides with the recommendations for infants. Modern pediatrics does not make significant differences between them, since the quality of artificial nutrition today has increased significantly compared to formulas twenty years ago. Do not rush to introduce new products, pay attention to the reaction and desire of the baby. If your baby enjoys eating them, you won’t have problems with his nutrition when he’s older.

The child’s development is not progressing - it is moving rapidly and requiring more and more energy. The baby receives most of it from mother's milk, but every month his needs increase. Parents inevitably start thinking about complementary feeding as early as 5 months. However, introducing new products is a serious test for both the mother and the baby’s body. You need to approach it carefully and competently, closely monitoring the baby’s reaction to food that is unusual for him. The advice of a pediatrician is also important, who will help you avoid mistakes and choose the right products.

If parents think that the baby is not getting enough to eat, they can start complementary feeding very early.

Is it possible to start feeding at 5 months?

Pediatricians are of the same opinion and call the time to start complementary feeding – six months. With a sufficient amount of breast milk and its high calorie content, the baby has enough nutrition, he can easily do without complementary feeding for up to 6 months. Dr. Komarovsky also insists on this breastfeeding regimen, considering breast milk to be the best product for babies. In addition, according to Komarovsky’s deep conviction, in order to keep a child on breast milk for up to 6 months without complementary feeding, the mother needs to eat well.

What signs determine a baby’s readiness for complementary feeding?

The age recommended by experts at 6 months for the first complementary feeding is an average figure. The development of each small organism takes place according to an individual plan, both in the sphere of the psyche and in the field of internal organs. It is obvious that the needs of children of the same age differ. Some signs will help you determine that your baby is ready for complementary feeding:

The baby's weight has doubled since birth. The premature baby gained 2.5 times his weight.
The ejection reflex has disappeared, when the baby’s tongue reflexively pushes out objects that fall into the mouth, playing the role of a protector. If you introduce complementary foods before this reflex goes away, the toddler will not be able to swallow food.
A confident “sitting” position when your treasure sits down without falling over or swaying.
The baby clearly does not have enough of his usual food, he diligently sucks the boob, after drinking a bottle of formula, asks for more, cries, feeling hungry.
The child turns away from the food in the spoon, showing his parents that he does not want to eat now.
Eruption of the first teeth.
Increased interest in the food that mother eats. The toddler may try to take a piece from his mother's plate.

Teething is a sign that the baby is ready to introduce complementary foods.

It would be wrong to talk about the presence of all signs, because children begin to sit at different ages, and everyone’s teeth grow differently. It is clear that you need to monitor the overall development of your treasure and not delay the introduction of complementary foods if you do not find all the described signs in him. A mother's heart and constant monitoring of the baby will tell you when the time has come to introduce complementary foods.

What foods can you feed?

Breastfeeding or formula milk is the main food for a baby at 5 months. When preparing a 5-month-old child for complementary feeding, you should gradually introduce him to new foods without forcing the transition to adult foods. Any pediatrician will tell you that you need to introduce new foods in small portions. In addition, the choice of products should be careful and competent. What is suitable for feeding a 5-month-old baby? Experts unanimously agree on porridge without milk and vegetable purees.

However, Dr. Komarovsky, known to us, advises starting to feed the baby with fermented milk products. The famous pediatrician argues for his proposals by the fact that most fermented milk dishes are as close in composition as possible to breast milk and formulas. Komarovsky considers an important factor in favor of fermented milk food to be the ability of fermented milk bacteria to suppress various intestinal infections and destroy harmful microbes.

How to start the first feeding?

Based on the above signs and having received the go-ahead from the pediatrician, parents need to competently organize the child’s introduction to unusual foods. Remember the following rules:

introduce a new product only when your baby is absolutely healthy;
You cannot start complementary feeding if vaccination is planned or the vaccination was done the day before;
serve only freshly prepared food;
create a menu using one-component compositions;
the consistency of the dish should be homogeneous and semi-liquid;
The first complementary foods should be introduced in the morning feeding to monitor the reaction of the baby’s body;
the amount of the new product should not exceed 1 teaspoon;
Having introduced your child to one product, introduce the next one no earlier than a week after the first.

Complementary feeding will become complete nutrition when a single serving reaches a size of 100-150 grams; until then, the mother should continue to feed the baby with milk or formula. The table will help you avoid mistakes:

The portion of complementary foods should be increased, gradually bringing it to normal

Optimal complementary feeding scheme

The scheme for introducing new food is the same for all foods and ages. Only one new product can be given to the baby at one feeding. Pediatricians recommend feeding children meals from one group: porridge or vegetables. When your baby begins to eat a full portion of dishes from the first group, you can move on to feeding dishes from the second group. The step-by-step feeding scheme is as follows:

A serving of 1 teaspoon of liquid porridge or puree is given to the baby at the beginning of the morning feeding, then the baby receives regular food (breast milk or formula).
The next morning feeding begins with two teaspoons of complementary foods, if the baby’s body has positively accepted the new product during the day.
The child is fed one product all week, doubling the portion at each morning feeding.
Having brought the quantity to a full portion, you can move on to another product, which should be given in the same proportions as the first.
When the child is a little accustomed to unfamiliar food, you can introduce it into the second feeding.
When doubling the portion of a new product, you need to halve the amount of an already familiar dish.
Make the transition from one product to another when the baby eats the full portion of the previous dish. After a while, when the child is quite accustomed to “adult” food, you can give him multi-ingredient dishes.

A new dish is introduced after the previous one has been fully mastered

Vegetables for first feeding

Experts recommend starting complementary feeding with vegetable purees. Vegetables contain a lot of useful substances and have a beneficial effect on the functioning of children's digestion. Use vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, and various types of cabbage, except white cabbage. How to properly introduce vegetable purees into your baby’s diet:

When choosing ready-made purees in jars, give preference to single-component homogenized types.
Take a teaspoon of puree, heat it a little until warm and give it to your baby before morning feeding. If your child tries the puree and immediately spits it out, don’t worry, the baby needs time to get used to the unusual food. Keep trying every morning by supplementing with breast milk or formula.
If the little one ate the food offered to him without any whims, double the portion for the next feeding. The serving breakdown for each day is as follows: 1,2,4,8 teaspoons. When their number reaches 150 grams, one feeding can be carried out only with vegetable puree.
Having mastered one vegetable with your baby, move on to getting to know another fruit. Remember that the introduction of a new fruit should take place no earlier than 2 weeks after the first product. Increase the serving size gradually.

To start complementary feeding, it is better to choose one-component purees

How to make puree at home?

Mothers who love to stand at the stove themselves and pamper their loved ones with home-cooked food will have to learn how to prepare dishes for the youngest member of the family. When planning to cook a dish yourself, adhere to the following rules:

Prepare puree from fresh, ripe, organic vegetables. Be sure to wash the fruit thoroughly and remove the peel before cooking.
Boil or bake vegetables for puree; you can cook them in a double boiler, placing the fruits in boiling water.
The consistency of the puree should be very tender, so carefully rub the boiled vegetables through a sieve or pass in a blender several times. Lumps and fibers are not allowed in a baby dish.
Dilute pureed vegetables with breast milk or vegetable broth.
Add vegetable oil to vegetable puree, starting with one drop in the first feeding, and gradually increase its amount to 1 teaspoon per serving.
Salting the dish is prohibited.
Ready-to-eat puree should be semi-liquid and warm; only in this form can it be offered to the child. Introduce a new type of vegetable after the baby gets used to the previous one well.

What porridges are suitable for babies?

Porridges are recommended for babies who are not gaining weight well. The ready-made porridges offered in stores contain sugar and are very popular with infants. Many little ones eat them with pleasure, but there is some danger hidden in such adoration. Having tasted the yummy food, the baby may refuse to eat bland vegetable puree, which is just as necessary for him as porridge. For this reason, pediatricians advise first introducing children to vegetables, and only then accustoming them to cereals.

For a 5-month-old baby, cereals such as buckwheat, rice, and corn are suitable. Oatmeal and semolina porridge are offered to children to try from 8-9 months.

The new diet excludes the introduction of cereals made with milk. The fact is that milk contains amylase, but the baby has not yet developed enzymes capable of breaking it down. Milk porridge is given at the age of 7-8 months. Industrially prepared porridges rich in essential ingredients will help ensure a balanced diet. Porridge for babies should be:

warm and liquid;
better without sugar;
served in sterile containers and from a spoon;
portions equal to 1-2 teaspoons, with gradual increase;
It is better to feed porridge before bedtime so that the child is full and sleeps deeply, Dr. Komarovsky also insists on this.

Your child's first cereal should be dairy-free.

Can I have fruit puree?

Our grandmothers remember their youth, when they fed their babies fruit purees, and they felt great. Many pediatricians, including Komarovsky, disagree with them. Baby nutrition experts warn that fruits are not advisable as the first new food for babies 5-6 months old. Such recommendations are related to the fact that puree is made from raw fruits. A breastfed or bottle-fed baby is accustomed to milk or formula; his stomach is not yet prepared to digest raw foods. Fermented milk products, cereals and vegetable purees provide such preparation.

READ IN DETAIL: how to introduce fruit puree into complementary foods?

Our favorite children's TV doctor, Komarovsky, believes that the first dishes that should be introduced to an infant at 5-6 months should be from a range of fermented milk products. Kefir, cottage cheese, homemade yoghurts are close to the composition of mother’s milk and are well absorbed by the baby’s body. The only requirement for such products is based on their calorie content. A well-known pediatrician advises choosing low-fat dishes that are prepared in specialized dairy kitchens.

In addition, the doctor confidently states that starting complementary feeding with fermented milk foods will help children’s digestion quickly and easily get used to the new menu. An important argument in favor of cottage cheese and kefir is the fact that they contain fermented milk bacteria, which promote the development of microflora in the intestines and help the rapid absorption of food. If your treasure is mixed-fed, his pancreas is under increased stress due to the processing of both milk and formula. Fermented milk food is perfect for such a baby as an initial addition to the menu.

According to Dr. Komarovsky, fermented milk products are excellent for complementary feeding

Scheme according to Komarovsky

In addition to useful advice, Dr. Komarovsky also developed his own scheme. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the description of the daily regimen:

First day. We give the child 2-3 teaspoons of warm kefir before the second morning feeding, supplemented with milk or formula.
Second day. We double the portion and feed again with the usual food.
The third day. We increase the volume of complementary foods to 40-60 ml, give it from a spoon.
Fourth day. Add some variety and add 1-2 teaspoons of cottage cheese to the kefir. We make sure to monitor the baby’s body’s perception of new food and pay attention to the consistency of the stool.
Fifth day. We increase the portion of cottage cheese to 30 grams, leaving the amount of kefir the same. If the baby is not full, supplement him with breastfeeding or formula.
Sixth and seventh days. The amount of fermented milk food a child receives in one feeding reaches 150-180 ml, which corresponds to one full serving of food. We are expanding the number of replacements and gradually introducing a new product for one more feeding per day. Following the instructions of the complementary feeding table, we continue to change the child’s menu, which in a few months will be completely transformed.

Having found out that we cannot do without complementary feeding, and that it is very important for babies, we looked at its various types. If there is a need to give the child new products, parents must provide them, even if the baby is less than six months old. The choice of products for the first complementary feeding is made by parents, but only after consultation with a pediatrician. Take into account all the recommendations and focus on the body of your treasure.

VseProRebenka.ru

Complementary feeding table for 5 months with artificial feeding

If a child is not fed breast milk, then complementary feeding begins at 4.5 months, and by 5 months they are completely replaced with one feeding.

What can you feed a formula-fed baby at 5 months?

If a mother is faced with the question of where she can start complementary feeding at 5 months with artificial feeding, then preference is usually given to dairy-free or milk-based (less often) cereals. But at this age, instead of porridge, you can start introducing vegetable puree.

How to introduce complementary foods from 5 months with artificial feeding?

If porridge is the complementary food for 5 months, then it is prepared with water and no sugar is added to it. Usually, instant dairy-free porridge is used - about a teaspoon on the first day. The amount of porridge is gradually increased, replacing one feeding with food if tolerated well.

If a mother prepares porridge with milk, then first the porridge should be 5% and only after 2 weeks 10% (5 or 10 g of cereal per 100 ml of milk). For the first complementary foods, choose buckwheat, corn or rice porridge.

If a formula-fed baby's complementary food at 5 months is vegetable puree, then only one vegetable is chosen for this new dish (usually potatoes or carrots). It is boiled until tender and ground with water to a homogeneous pasty consistency. On the first day, give no more than a teaspoon of puree, do not add salt.

When the child digests vegetables well, the amount of puree is gradually increased, and other vegetables can be added to it one at a time. You cannot force feed your child puree, but if the child does not want to eat it, then for a familiar taste you can add a small amount of milk formula for feeding.

At 5 months, the child should usually already receive fruit juice (up to 50 ml) and fruit puree (up to 50 ml), which, with artificial feeding, are introduced from 3 months. To properly introduce complementary foods, parents can use the special complementary feeding table that we offer below.

Infants are often particularly voracious - many breastfeed up to 20 times a day. Therefore, if the baby suddenly loses his appetite, the parents panic – what happened? Let's look at the possible reasons.	Does your baby already know the taste of juices and is ready for the next stage of complementary feeding? From 3 months it is recommended to introduce vegetable and fruit purees into the diet. We’ll tell you which ones exactly, and how to prepare them correctly – and give you a couple of recipes.
Newborns should not drink plain water! Find out what you can give to babies, how “children’s” water differs from “adult” water and what to look for when buying water for your small child.	It turns out that children should not drink milk! Our mothers and grandmothers did not know that cow's milk is harmful to the child. Do not give milk to babies under three years of age, especially if they have intestinal problems or allergies.

WomanAdvice.ru

Scheme for introducing complementary foods at 5 months, table of foods that can be given

With the birth of a baby, parents have many questions. For example, how to start complementary feeding at 5 months or at another age. After all, the child grows and develops quickly. And to satisfy his nutritional and energy needs, unlike at one month of age, there is no longer enough breast milk or an adapted formula. New products need to be introduced. But this must be done carefully, carefully observing the baby’s reaction. Not all foods are suitable as first food. In order not to harm the baby, it is important to follow the recommendations of pediatricians.

When to introduce complementary foods?

There is no consensus on the correct time to introduce complementary foods. Both too early and, conversely, late introduction can have negative consequences. In the first case, there is a risk that the child will consume less milk or formula and will not receive enough nutrients. Since the intestines are not yet ready for adult food, the likelihood of infection with pathogenic bacteria is higher. For the same reason, there is a greater likelihood of allergies. If the baby receives exclusively formula or milk for too long, then he simply will not have enough elements necessary for normal growth and development. Some diseases associated with element deficiency, such as rickets, may develop. In addition, sometimes difficulties arise with chewing, and an older toddler will not be able to adequately perceive the taste and texture of food.

What is the optimal time to start feeding babies? This is influenced by various factors. The best time for a breastfed baby is six months. This is a recommendation from the World Health Organization based on research. If we are talking about children on artificial or mixed feeding, then it is better to introduce complementary foods at 5 months, since the mixture cannot replicate the unique composition of breast milk and satisfy all the needs of the baby.

But even with full breastfeeding, earlier introduction of complementary foods is sometimes recommended. Most often this happens when the child is not growing well and gaining weight. It happens that breast milk is not nutritious enough, so additional sources of energy are needed. Although the speed of weight gain does not always change with a change in menu. After all, it cannot be ruled out that this is simply an individual feature of the toddler, especially if the parents are miniature.

Also, a new diet will help solve some tummy problems. Vegetables have a beneficial effect on the intestines, so the baby stops suffering from constipation. Although this problem is more relevant for bottle-fed children.

How do you know when your baby is ready for complementary feeding?

It is worth remembering that the recommended age of six months for starting complementary feeding is quite arbitrary. After all, each baby develops at its own individual pace, and the same applies to internal organs. Therefore, you can focus on such signs to understand whether the child is ready for new food.

His weight has doubled since birth. If we are talking about premature babies, then 2.5 times.
The ejection reflex has disappeared. Reflexive movements of the child's tongue help protect him from random objects that fall into his mouth. If you give food too early, the little one simply won’t be able to take it from the spoon.
The baby sits confidently.
He may turn away from the spoon, showing his reluctance to eat at the moment.
The little one doesn't eat enough of his usual food. He asks for more formula than normal, sucks mother's milk from both breasts, cries because he remains hungry.
The first teeth have erupted.
The baby shows interest in adult food, tries to steal a piece from the parent's plate and try it.

Of course, you shouldn't expect all the signs at the same time. It is difficult to say at what time the baby will learn this or that. He can sit at 8 months, and the first tooth can erupt by the age of one year. This does not mean that complementary feeding should be postponed. It is necessary to look at overall development.

If parents decide to start feeding their child at 5 months, then they need to think about how this will happen. It is unlikely that the baby will be sitting, so you need to feed him either on your lap in a reclining position, or in a special chair designed for children under six months old. It is important that the little one is absolutely healthy at this moment. If signs of malaise appear, it is better to introduce new food later. The same applies to vaccinations - it is not recommended to give complementary foods a few days before and after them. Otherwise, it will be difficult to track the negative reaction. In addition, a weakened body may not accept the new product.

The time will be unsuccessful when changes occur in the life of the family: moving or the mother going to work. This is stress for a little person; it should not be aggravated by changing his diet.

A child's main diet at 5 months is milk or formula, depending on whether he is breastfed or bottle-fed. Complementary feeding at this age is more about getting to know other foods and preparing for a new menu. The diet should change gradually. That is why any table suggests that the first portions should be very small. And not all products are suitable.

When introducing complementary foods, the regimen should remain the same. The first feeding of the day is an adapted formula or milk. But on the second day, the baby is offered complementary foods. Moreover, first the baby eats a new product, and then he is fed with the usual food to the full amount. It is worth giving food from a spoon, teaching the child to use cutlery. In addition, this is how convenient it is to measure the required portion.

There are several approaches to what can be given to a child. Depending on the characteristics of a five-month-old baby, dairy products, vegetables or cereals are recommended. The table will tell you which product is most suitable. It is important to introduce new food gradually, in the morning feeding, so as not to overload the digestive system, which is not yet ready for significant volumes. In addition, this reduces the risk of allergies, and even if one occurs, it will be possible to notice it in time and remove the product that caused such a reaction. After a month, you can try to give it again - it is quite possible that the baby will already outgrow the problem.

Complementary feeding scheme

The scheme for introducing complementary feeding to an infant is always the same, it does not depend on the selected products. In addition, it is used both at 5 months and at six months. You can only give your baby one unfamiliar food at one feeding. In addition, it is recommended to first introduce several foods from the same group, such as cereals or vegetables. Only when the baby eats the full portion, move on to the next one.

Usually the complementary feeding scheme looks like this.

The product in the form of a liquid puree is given to the baby in the amount of one small spoon in the morning feeding (depending on what his regimen is). Then they are fed with the usual food - milk during breastfeeding or formula.
The next day, if no negative reaction was noticed, give two spoons.
For a week, double the volume every day until the baby eats the full portion.
After this, you can give the next product. It should also be introduced from one spoon during the second feeding, and supplemented with food that is already familiar.
Every day, double the portion, reducing the amount of the previous product.
Once the baby begins to receive the full amount, it will be possible to move on to a new food. In the future, you can mix the components.

Of course, not all foods are suitable for first feeding. A fragile body simply cannot digest many. Therefore, it is important to introduce new foods to a child’s menu at 5 months correctly. Previously, children were given juice from the age of three months. Modern pediatricians do not recommend doing this, because the risk of getting an allergic reaction is quite high. Many people do not recommend choosing dairy products as your first meal, as they are difficult to digest. But if parents still made a choice in its favor, then they should give preference to fermented milk products, such as kefir. Whole cow's milk is not suitable for this purpose. It contains protein that is poorly absorbed by the child's body. It is even better to feed the child vegetables and cereals; the scheme for their administration is the same.

Vegetables for complementary feeding

If the baby has no problems with weight gain, then it is correct if the first complementary foods consist of vegetables. They will help provide the growing body with a sufficient amount of vitamins and cope with constipation, which many infants experience. The table will tell you which vegetable is most suitable. The main thing is that it should not be brightly colored; the optimal color is green. Zucchini is considered the least allergenic. This is what is most often given first. Then cauliflower, broccoli and other vegetables are introduced. But you shouldn’t rush with potatoes - due to their high starch content, they can cause discomfort in a child’s tummy.

You can feed your baby either store-bought purees from jars or homemade purees. It should be of sufficiently liquid consistency so that a child, accustomed to very liquid food, can swallow it freely. Neither in the first nor in the second case do you need to add salt or vegetable oil.

Making your own puree is quite easy. You just need to boil the required amount of vegetable and grind with a blender until smooth. To do this, the water in which the zucchini or other vegetable was cooked is poured into a separate container and added during the grinding process to achieve the desired consistency.

If children were born in the summer or autumn, then obtaining fresh vegetables may be a problem. It’s worth thinking about this during the season when there is a large selection in stores, buy as much as you need and freeze. Of course, if you have a large enough freezer. To make the product take up less space, you can process it: boil it, make a puree, put it in small containers and freeze it in this form. Then it will be convenient to take a portion for every day.

Porridge for babies

Porridge is a good addition to the diet of a 5 month old baby. The table will give information about which ones and at what feeding times. Three types are suitable for a baby up to one year old: rice, corn and buckwheat. They do not contain gluten, therefore they are the safest. Rice is considered less allergenic. But it may well become permanent; this problem is especially relevant for bottle-fed children. Therefore, most often mothers choose buckwheat.

As in the case of puree, you can buy porridge ready-made, which you just need to dilute with water. Its advantage is that it takes very little time to prepare. The second option is to cook it yourself.

To do this, boil regular cereals that adults eat. After it is ready, grind it with a blender or grind it through a sieve. You can grind the cereal itself before cooking, then the dish will turn out especially tender. If the baby does not want to eat porridge for several days, it is worth improving its taste by adding fruit puree. But the right thing to do is to avoid sugar for now.

Unlike a one-month-old baby, a grown-up toddler needs complementary foods. If there is a need or even just a desire from the parents, then it starts at 5 months. Adults decide what to feed the baby, vegetables or cereals, after consulting with the pediatrician. You need to know how and how much new food to introduce, what regimen to maintain. If everything is done correctly, complementary feeding will not cause any problems.

The most beloved and long-awaited child was born, and with him EXCESS WEIGHT. But caring for a child does not leave time for oneself or for the gym. And most diets can have dangerous consequences for both mother and baby.

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TheRebenok.ru

Baby's first feeding at 5 months

First food at 5 months

If a baby who consumes breast milk is healthy, develops well and feels great, then the first complementary foods are recommended to be introduced at 6-7 months. If the baby is bottle-fed, then the first complementary feeding at 5 months will be just right, and perhaps even at 4.5 months. The fact is that formulas for artificial feeding are very similar in composition to breast milk, but there are still some components that a child needs, but it is impossible to produce them artificially, which means that formulas cannot contain them. In this regard, from 5 months, the complementary feeding menu is enriched with fruits and vegetables, or rather, juices and purees prepared from them, which are rich in vitamins and microelements.

Breast milk may have different fat content or it may simply not be enough to provide adequate nutrition to the baby. In such cases, pediatricians also recommend starting complementary feeding earlier than 6 months and most often advise preparing porridge for babies. Porridge helps the baby gain weight and saturates his body with proteins and carbohydrates.

Complementary feeding from 5 months menu

1. porridge;
2. puree;
3. curds;
4. chicken yolk.

It is better to start the first complementary feeding at 5 months with fruit or vegetable puree. This puree can be bought at a pharmacy or store, but it is better to prepare it yourself and give it fresh. In order to prepare puree, fruits and vegetables must be peeled and scalded with boiling water, then grated on a fine grater or chopped in a blender. The introduction of complementary foods should begin with one fruit, and gradually move on to assorted fruits.

Once you are sure that the baby consumes purees with pleasure and without adverse consequences for the body, you can introduce curds and porridges into the baby’s menu. For the first feeding, oatmeal is ideal, which can be alternated with buckwheat. Porridge is prepared with cow's milk, if there is no allergy to it; if so, then with water or formula for artificial feeding. Before cooking, the cereals need to be crushed so that the porridge turns out homogeneous.

If you give a child just boiled chicken yolk, he is unlikely to eat it; most likely, he will take one bite and begin to choke. Therefore, you need to introduce yolk into your baby’s diet as follows: crush ¼ of the yolk and mix with fruit puree until a homogeneous mass is obtained. The yolk can be given only after the child gets used to the fruit and you are sure that there is no allergy to it. This is necessary so that if an allergic reaction to the yolk occurs, the mother can immediately identify it, without shifting suspicion to the fruit.

How to introduce complementary foods at 5 months

At 5 months, the child should be introduced to complementary foods very carefully, checking each product for allergic reactions. If you let your baby try, for example, applesauce, you should expect a reaction within 24 hours. If the child’s stool remains normal, and no skin rashes, shortness of breath or other signs of allergy appear, then you can try the next fruit or vegetable.

The first complementary foods should be introduced in the intervals between main feedings. For example, at the first morning feeding, the baby eats breast milk, the second feeding may consist of fruit puree, then breast milk again, and so on. In this case, it will be better if the baby eats his usual formula or milk before going to bed.

All daily complementary feeding at 5 months, together with breast milk or formula for artificial feeding, should be 900 - 1100 grams, depending on the physiological characteristics of the baby. In this case, the main part of the diet should be breast milk, and complementary foods should not exceed 350 grams.

It is very important that the child is healthy and feels great by the time of the first complementary feeding at 5 months. If a child is sick, then his body is weakened, and consequently the risk of allergic reactions increases. In addition, various symptoms of the disease can be regarded by the mother as a reaction to complementary feeding, as a result of which she will unreasonably refuse the false allergen, and therefore deprive the baby of the substances he needs.

Which is better fruits or vegetables

All fruits and vegetables contain various vitamins and microelements that are beneficial for baby's health. But at the same time, some fruits are absorbed better, and some worse. This is justified by the physiological characteristics of the child and his geographical location. The fact is that the body of a baby living, for example, in the harsh Siberian climate, adapts to the fruits and vegetables that grow in his region. It turns out that in Siberia the most common fruit is an apple, and a green one. That is why complementary feeding of a 5-month-old baby should begin with green apples, which, by the way, are recommended in Siberian maternity hospitals. The rest of the fruits should be given to the child with greater caution and in minimal quantities.

As for vegetables, Russia is very famous for them, which means that almost all of them are suitable for feeding a child of 5 months. The most useful and often found in store-bought purees are vegetables and fruits: carrots, apples, pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, celery. You should be very careful when handling citrus fruits, as they often cause allergies. Beets have a laxative effect, and therefore are not recommended for daily consumption and can be recommended as a preventive measure for constipation in a baby.

love-mother.ru

Making a menu for a five-month-old baby

Breastfeeding is very beneficial, but sooner or later the time comes to introduce your baby to “real” food. A child's menu at 5 months may include vegetable and fruit purees, egg yolk, juices and water. However, this rule does not apply to all children of this age. When introducing complementary foods, there are some nuances that must be taken into account when introducing your baby to foods other than breast milk.

Everything has its time

Some babies at 5 months already know the taste of vegetable and fruit purees and sip juices with pleasure, while others have not yet tried anything other than mother’s milk. In this case, the parents of the baby usually begin to worry whether it is time for their child to become accustomed to food other than breast milk. If the baby gets enough breast milk, he eats up, gains weight and feels great, there is no need to introduce complementary foods at 5 months. According to the World Health Organization, an infant should not try any new foods before the age of 6 months. Thus, the menu of a 5-month-old breastfed child can consist only of mother’s milk.

However, it also happens that a pediatrician may recommend introducing complementary foods from five months. This is usually caused by lack of weight. In this case, you can begin to introduce your child to new products, but this must be done gradually. As time passes and the baby gets used to the new food, his menu should be closer to the classic one, designed for a five-month-old baby. Feeding at 5 months will be described below.

Formula-fed children most often begin to try new foods from 4-4.5 months. As a rule, these are juices and purees, since adapted milk formulas cannot provide all the beneficial substances a child needs for full development. Therefore, upon reaching five months, artificial babies eat according to the norms described in the classic menu for a child of this age.

What can a 5 month old baby eat?

At the age of five months, the child eats five times a day. Meals start at 6 am and end at 10 pm. It is worth mentioning that this applies to children who are bottle-fed. Breastfed babies eat on demand at any time of the day, unless the mother adheres to the principle of feeding on a schedule.

Allowed products for a child aged 5 months, their norms and time of administration:

6:00 – 200 ml of breast milk or formula;
10:00 – 1/2 chicken egg yolk, then supplement with 200 ml of breast milk or formula;
13:00 – 150 grams of vegetable puree, then supplemented with 50 ml of breast milk or formula;
18:00 – 50 grams of fruit puree, then supplemented with 150 ml of breast milk or formula;
22:00 – 200 ml of breast milk or formula.

In between feedings, the baby should be given water and fruit juices.

This is a classic menu option for a child over five months old. This is the recommended diet for feeding a baby, however, the above does not mean that as soon as the child is 5 months old, you need to change the usual feeding option to the proposed one. You need to approach it gradually.

How to organize complementary feeding for a 5 month old baby

The menu described in the previous section includes several different products: egg yolk, vegetable and fruit purees, juices. If up to 5 months the child has not tried anything other than breast milk, new foods should be introduced into his diet gradually, starting with half a teaspoon. In this case, you should monitor the baby’s reaction to this or that product: whether a rash has appeared, red spots, or whether the character of the stool has changed. The date of introduction, the name of the product, its quantity, as well as the child’s reaction to them can be written down in a notebook or notebook specially created for this purpose.

The interval between new products should be 1-2 weeks. You should start with monocomponent vegetable purees, since if you introduce fruit ones into complementary foods first, the baby may subsequently refuse not so tasty vegetables. Purees should be thoroughly ground, and fruits and vegetables should be boiled or steamed. In addition to purees, the baby should be given egg yolk. It should be kneaded and a little breast milk or formula added.

Foods allowed for consumption at 5 months: zucchini, pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, apple, pear, egg yolk (Not white! It is not recommended to be given to children under one year old). If mom prepares puree herself, she should not add salt, sugar, or spices to it. Of course, it may seem that the child will find it bland and completely tasteless. However, this is not true: the baby does not know the aroma of spices, the sweetness of sugar and the taste of salt, so he will take any vegetable puree for granted. If mom buys ready-made puree in a store, you need to make sure that the list of ingredients does not contain the seasonings described above.

Be healthy, grow big!

Feeding a baby at 5 months is a preparatory stage for his subsequent weaning. No matter how long the mother feeds the baby with breast milk, every month more and more new products will be introduced into his diet. Starting to feed your child from five months, instill in him a love of healthy and tasty food and proper nutrition. Subsequently, this will play an important role in his diet and gastronomic preferences.

agushkin.ru

We begin introducing complementary foods to an infant at 5 months.

As a rule, babies who are breastfed and receive an age-appropriate amount of breast milk do not require additional complementary feeding. As for children who are fed artificially adapted formulas, complementary feeding at 5 months may be quite justified for them. However, in order not to injure the gastrointestinal tract of an already grown child, all new products should be treated with extreme caution, introduce them gradually and carefully study his reaction to all innovations.

If you can do without complementary feeding, then the best option would be to wait until the child reaches 6 months of age, because this period, according to leading pediatricians, is the most optimal from the point of view of the physiological characteristics of infant development in order to begin to eat more adult foods, for example, porridge or puree.

First food at 5 months

Breastfed babies receive with mother's milk all the necessary components for their normal growth and development. As for modern artificial formulas, they are also balanced and fully capable of meeting the child’s need for vitamins and microelements.

However, as the baby grows and matures, the needs of his body constantly increase, and also the lactation process may be unsatisfactory for a nursing mother and the amount of milk required will be insufficient.

In addition, the indications for introducing other foods and dishes into the child’s menu are the following:

a child being bottle-fed;
some problems with the baby’s development, poor weight gain, etc.;
the irreplaceable need of the child’s body for nutrients that are necessary for physical activity and growth;
gradually accustoming the baby to denser foods, developing chewing skills, and developing the child’s own taste preferences;
stimulating the baby’s gastrointestinal tract to function normally, without constipation and other bowel disorders.

The menu of a 5-month-old baby should consist of breast milk (with natural feeding), adapted artificial formula (with artificial feeding) and complementary foods. In terms of volume, the amount of food consumed per day should be about 1 kilogram. Eating occurs mainly 5 times a day.

The best option is to offer complementary foods during the second or third feeding, so as not to overload the digestive system too early in the morning and late in the evening.

At 5 months of age, you can begin to introduce the following new dishes into the baby’s menu:

juices and purees;
porridge;
cottage cheese.

The best option for complementary feeding at 5 months may be vegetable purees rich in nutrients. They help regulate the child’s gastrointestinal tract. To prepare vegetable puree, it is best to use cabbage (except white cabbage), zucchini or carrots.

In addition to the traditional vegetable and fruit juices and purees for complementary feeding, porridges, for example, buckwheat, rice, and corn, may appear on the menu at 5 months. As for oatmeal and semolina porridges, it is better to leave acquaintance with them for later. It is these porridges that contain the largest amount of vitamins, microelements and fiber that are useful for a growing body.

It is NOT recommended to cook porridge with milk; it is better to use plain water. There are two ways to prepare porridge. With the first one, dry cereal is first ground in a coffee grinder and then boiled. As for the other cooking method, first the porridge is cooked in the traditional form, and then the finished product is rubbed through a sieve or crushed with a blender. In both the first and second cases, a fairly homogeneous mass is obtained, which allows the child to eat it comfortably. You can sweeten the porridge by adding a little sweet fruit puree, since it is too early for a baby to become familiar with sugar at 5 months. The porridge will also taste better if you put a piece of high-quality butter in it.

A new menu item for a 5-month-old child may be cottage cheese, rich in calcium. It can be mixed with puree or milk. The daily dose for this age is about 20 grams.

Also, you should always have a supply of ready-made baby food on hand in the refrigerator. Today its diversity is quite large. These can be juices or various one-component homogenized purees in jars. If the mother does not have time to prepare complementary foods for the baby or he refuses it for certain reasons, you can always use the finished product. As a rule, children eat them with pleasure.

Complementary feeding chart at 5 months

How to organize complementary feeding?

Many parents are wondering how to properly organize complementary feeding for a child at 5 months so that it is as safe and beneficial for him as possible. For the correct introduction of complementary foods, there are special tables and diagrams developed by specialists taking into account the age indicators of the child’s development.

The amount of the first adult meal should not exceed half a teaspoon. If for several days the baby does not show any abnormalities in his condition and there are no manifestations of an allergic reaction, the norm can be adjusted to the optimal one, corresponding to the age of the child (here we talked about the norm eaten by a newborn). Getting used to each individual dish should take about a week, and only after that you can move on to getting acquainted with a new product or dish.

Of course, at 5 months a child cannot yet sit at the table to eat or use cutlery on his own. Therefore, the optimal way of feeding can be considered to be sitting the baby on the mother’s lap and feeding him from a spoon with your own hands, while holding him with your free hand. For such feedings, there are also special children's tables where the child can be seated for a short time.

If a child begins to be capricious and does not like a particular dish, the mother should not indulge this. Using all sorts of tricks and tactics, it is necessary to feed the child a variety of foods, while praising him for every spoonful he eats. It is also very effective when a mother shows by her own example how she eats the same dish with her child, and how delicious it is. We should not forget that during this period the baby develops culinary preferences, so you should not completely ignore his food preferences.

It is best to organize additional feeding of the child before breastfeeding or formula feeding. Most often, during the first test, the baby may push some of the puree out of his mouth with his tongue. This happens because he has encountered a new taste and has not yet gotten used to it. After several such attempts by the little one to eat a new dish, you can offer him his usual food.