When is the right time to add complementary food to children?

When the baby reaches a certain age, the mother can choose to wean the baby. Don’t think that this is very bad for the baby. In fact, weaning has many benefits for the baby, but the process is very painful for the baby. In order to successfully wean their children, parents must be ruthless and not hesitate for even a moment. So, when is the right time to add complementary food to children?

The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life for optimal growth, development and health. After 6 months, to meet their evolving nutritional needs, infants should be fed nutritionally adequate, safe complementary foods along with breast milk until 2 years of age or beyond.

Adding complementary foods too early can easily cause allergies, diarrhea and other problems, while adding them too late cannot replenish enough nutrition in time. Moreover, every baby grows and develops at a different rate. Parents should decide the time to add complementary foods based on the baby's specific situation.

1. Meet the weight target

You can start adding complementary foods only when your baby's weight reaches twice his birth weight and is at least 6 kg.

2. Development and maturity

When the baby can control his head and upper body, can straighten his chest and head, can sit up half-leaning or with support, and can do some movements such as turning his head, leaning forward, and leaning back to express his ideas, then you can start adding complementary foods.

3. The desire to eat

When mom and dad are eating, the baby shows obvious interest, for example, trying to grab chopsticks or food. This behavior shows that the baby already has the desire to eat complementary foods.

4. The tongue-protrusion reflex disappears

Babies use their tongue to push food out of their mouths. This is called the tongue-sticking reflex. It is an instinctive self-protection that disappears around 4 months old.

5. Baby's appetite increases

If a baby often cries because of hunger at night, has a sudden increase in appetite, and becomes hungry shortly after feeding, it indicates that the baby has entered a period of accelerated growth and needs to add complementary foods.

6 months

At the beginning, you can mix rice noodles with breast milk or prepared milk powder. Don’t make it too thick at the beginning, and then gradually add fruit puree and vegetable puree such as apples, pears, and bananas. The earliest fruit purees were made from apples and pears. The skins and cores were removed, boiled in a pot until soft, and then pureed in a juicer. You can choose some root vegetables, boil them in water, mash them into a paste and mix them with rice noodles.

The stomach of a 6-month-old baby is still very fragile and prone to allergies. When you first start adding complementary foods, try not to choose allergenic foods such as egg yolks. Baby Royal Food Organic Nutritional Rice Cereals are 100% gluten-free and less allergenic.

7 to 9 months

The baby's rice cereal, vegetable puree and fruit puree can also be thicker, and can even have some small fruit particles. The variety should also be increased as much as possible. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, apples and pears can all be tried. Some fruits can be eaten raw, such as bananas, papayas and peaches.

9 to 12 months

During this stage, babies can increase their intake of small amounts of pork, lamb, beef, beans and other foods. At this age, babies can learn to eat with their hands. You can increase the amount of food they eat with their hands. For example, you can make small cakes with rice flour and minced meat.

1 to 1.5 years old

You can start eating whole eggs and basically all common foods: fish, seafood, whole pieces of broccoli and cauliflower, various melons, mangoes, kiwis, apricots, grapefruit, tomatoes, noodles, etc. When adding new foods, mothers should pay attention to whether the baby has allergic reactions.

1 and a half years old or older

The baby starts to grow molars at this time. Some babies will have different degrees of discomfort during the teething period and may not like to eat for a period of time, but this will generally pass quickly. When the baby does not like to eat, make sure to make sure he drinks enough milk and water.

Babies at this age have begun to have their own ideas, often say "no" to food, and some begin to become picky eaters. Mothers can spend some time making some fancy complementary foods to increase the baby's appetite and help the baby develop good eating habits as soon as possible.