Very often, young parents are concerned about the question of how many months you can feed your child. Some people think that a drop of juice will not harm a three-month-old baby, while others, on the contrary, are afraid to give something other than mother’s milk closer to a year. So when to start feeding your baby?
Common misconceptions regarding timing of complementary foods
How to make sure that the child is already ready for the introduction of new products, since how many months can a child be fed? Sometimes you can hear such an opinion that you can give juices, mashed potatoes, etc. to the baby when the first tooth comes out. However, this is a very controversial indicator. It happens that a child is born already with a tooth, and sometimes it appears only by the year. This does not mean that you need to feed from the diapers or, conversely, only by the year.
In babies, saliva begins to flow actively in three months. Some believe that this is a clear sign of the child’s readiness for feeding. But at three months old he is not ready to eat anything other than mom’s milk or (in his absence for any reason) special mixtures.
When the child is ready for feeding, he appears, as they say, interest in food. He practically uncontrollably climbs into his mother’s plate. As soon as the baby sees that an adult is eating, drinking, or even just putting food on a plate, he also wants to participate in the process. Children tend to imitate and pull food in their mouths. At the same time, crumbs cannot be distracted by any toys and rattles. Perhaps the baby will not even take the chest, but climb into the plate. So, interest in food is one of the most striking indicators of a child’s readiness for feeding. But how many months can you feed your baby? Most children begin to feel the need for complementary foods no earlier than they turn six months old. Many babies have an interest in food by about six months. Perhaps later.
The basic scheme of the introduction of complementary foods
There are two types of introducing new foods to your baby’s diet.
Pedagogical feeding. Its goal is not so much to feed the child as to teach how to chew and swallow, introduce new tastes, adapt to a new type of nutrition. Of course, the introduction of pedagogical feeding cannot go against the background of the abolition of breastfeeding. It should be done in parallel with breastfeeding. Only after a year, and sometimes later, does this type of complementary foods begin to become energetic. The baby can already eat a sufficient amount of food, and breast milk serves him only for drinking.
- The second scheme is more familiar and common. This is energetic or, in other words, pediatric complementary foods. It lies in the fact that new products are introduced into the diet of crumbs in return for a portion of breast milk. Gradually, breastfeeding fades into the background, replaced by cereals, mashed potatoes.
What is the best way to start your kid’s acquaintance with new products?
Many grandmothers, when asked how much to feed their baby, answer: "The sooner the better." Some of them are certainly trying to pour a drop of juice into their mouth for a month now. From the point of view of a huge number of doctors, there is no particular benefit in juices for babies. Fruit purees, for example, are no less useful, and sometimes more. This happens if only because the big problem of children of the 1st year of life is a tendency to constipation, and fruit purees help this trouble. If parents still choose juice for the first feeding, then it is best to start with apple. You need to cook it yourself and to begin with give only a small drop. Of course, parents themselves must decide how many months they can feed their child. And yet it is better if the baby will receive only breast milk until six months (or maybe longer) . And mom herself can just eat an apple, or rather a few (for herself and for the crumbs).