Feeding a baby

Reviewed by Dr Stuart Crisp, paediatric specialist registrar

Food will make your baby grow

All children need love, caresses, care, rest and good food so they can feel comfortable and happy. No two children are the same and nor do they have exactly the same needs. They are all individuals, and when a new human being comes into the world, we have to get to know that particular person.

At first, it can be difficult to interpret all the signals a baby is sending out, but little by little it gets easier. Sometimes the signals have to do with being thirsty and hungry, but a baby may want something completely different. It is important to realize that no babies behave exactly as the various books say they should. All babies are different.

When should a baby start eating solid food?

Babies do not need anything other than breast milk or formula milk for the first four months of life. Food other than milk is unnecessary and can be damaging at that age.

If a mother is unsure whether her breastfed child is getting enough milk, she should ask her health visitor to to check whether the baby is growing.

If not, it may be necessary to feed the baby more often. Nursing mothers should use both breasts to stimulate their milk production. A mother may consider that her baby is crying because it is hungry, but babies cry for other reasons than hunger and thirst. The health visitor should be consulted before giving a baby any supplements.

Babies can't be fed by spoon until about the age of five months. Before that time, they are only able to suck and cannot easily move their lips and tongue together.

Feeding a baby aged four to six months

At four to six months a baby can begin to be given a little solid food in addition to breastfeeding or formula milk.

Good foods to start a baby on are porridge made with ground rice, boiled mashed carrots, boiled mashed potatoes, shredded apple, mashed banana, mild blackcurrant juice or apple juice.

When introducing a new type of food to the baby's diet, do it slowly and a little at a time to give their digestive system time to adjust. One teaspoon is enough the first time. This can be increased gradually to three to four tablespoons.

If a baby is very hungry it may not want to try new food, so it is sometimes best to breastfeed before trying the new food. Always let a few days pass after trying one new type of food before you introduce the next.

Vegetables and potatoes must be cleaned thoroughly or peeled before they are boiled. The food has to be boiled long enough for it to mash easily. Adding some of the vegetable water and a teaspoon of cooking oil when mashing the food is a good idea. If the food is too coarse, you can press it through a sieve.

Apples can be boiled and mashed or shredded with a tea spoon. Bananas are easily mashed with a fork.

Ground rice is available in packets especially made for babies with iron already added. It should be prepared according to the recipe on the package. To improve the taste, you can add breast milk or milk powder. Regular full cream milk is not recommended for babies at this stage due to the risk of allergy.

Never add salt to a baby food as even a small amount of salt can disturb the baby's salt balance.

If the baby makes faces or spits out the food when tasting something new, this is not cause for alarm. It doesn't mean the baby doesn't like this new food. It is just the baby's way of showing that it is experiencing a new sensation in its mouth.

Feeding a baby aged six to eight months

At six to eight months, babies are now able to chew properly. At around eight months a baby can move the tongue from side to side and mix the food with saliva. The baby can then begin to chew rye bread and other kinds of food, without the need for them to be mashed or liquidized as much.

Babies can still continue to be breast fed while these new foods are introduced. Porridge and milk are the basic foods.

Porridge made of barley, oats, wheat, rye and millet - iron-enriched if possible - can be fed once or twice a day. The baby can now start learning how to drink from a cup and if there is no milk allergy in the family, full-cream cow's milk can be introduced. If there are any dairy allergies in the family, the baby should not have cow's milk before the age of 12 months.

The baby should not have more than three quarters of a litre of dairy products a day.

Your baby can also have yoghurt and junket. Mashed potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, corn and peas are all good. Mashed apples, pears and bananas mixed with sugar-free blackcurrant juice and apple juice are appropriate fruits for the baby. For oils and fats, you can use cooking oil, butter and margarine.

Feeding a baby aged 8 to 12 months

The child can now eat almost any healthy food (if it does not contain a lot of salt) and can almost eat the same foods as the rest of the family. The baby can also now use a cup and a spoon by him or herself.

There is no longer any need to mash up food as delicately as before. It is fine to mash the food with a fork or to cut it into small pieces, but the child should now get used to chewing and swallowing more coarse food. Stimulating the mouth in this way will also help to develop the child's language skills.

At this age, the child can be given meat, fish, eggs, bread and oranges.

Ready-prepared meals, and packets or tinned foods that contain a lot of salt and sugar should not be given to young children.

The child should continue to drink full-cream milk, not low-fat or non-fat milk, as they need the fat for their continued development.

Sweets and sweet food will ruin a child's teeth, start bad eating habits and put the child at risk of malnutrition. If parents want to improve the taste of their child's porridge, they can use mashed apples or sugar-free blackcurrant juice.

The child needs time to adjust to many different kinds of food and has to get used to eating a variety of good food.

Vitamins

The Health Education Authority recommends that all children between six months and five years of age should receive drops containing vitamins A, C and D. Babies who are good eaters probably don't need these additional vitamins if they are getting a varied diet. Some babies may need the drops from the age of one month if they were born prematurely, or if they receive little summer sunlight.

Inexpensive drops containing vitamins A, C and D should be available at Child Health Centres. They are available free of charge for children under five years old in families on income support, or on Job Seekers' Allowance.

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