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Baby Feeding » Progressing Weaning |
| Gradually, when your baby has become used to a wide range of tastes and textures, increase the amount of food. Be guided by his appetite. The solid food can then become the main part of the meal, followed by breast/bottle milk as a drink. Eventually, solids can be incorporated into both morning and evening feeds, progressing to three meals a day. |
| Do not worry if your baby's meals seem unbalanced in the course of a day. When trying to balance your baby's food intake, think in terms of weeks rather than days. To save time when preparing foods for your baby, you can make a large quantity and place the pureed food into ice cube trays to freeze. Once they are frozen, put the cubes into sealed bags or containers and store them in the freezer until you are ready to use them. To thaw, take a couple of cubes and place them in a cup inside a bowl of warm water. This way you can mix foods together easily and provide greater variety to your baby's diet. |
| The following schedule is an approximate guide. Your baby may progress at a different rate, which should not worry you, as milk will continue to be the mainstay of his diet until he is one year old. |
4-6 months |
| Gradually introduce tiny amounts of a variety of simple foods such as banana, papaya, lightly stewed apple or pear, mango, potato or pumpkin which has been steamed, mashed or pureed. You may want to start with one of the commercial rice cereals designed for infants. Rice cereal is generally given because it's free of gluten. Rice congee is a popular choice as a first food amongst Asian families. Polished rice cereal is boiled with extra water to make a soft gruel and can be served on its own. |
6-9 months |
| Your baby starts to feed himself. He also starts to chew. Begin offering finger foods and more coarsely textured food, which is minced and mashed rather than pureed. Provide small servings, mixing different colours and textures. Toasted bread, boiled rice and pasta, vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and tomato, lentils, and meats can be offered. As his teeth come through, offer a choice of hard foods like raw carrots or apple. |
9-12 months |
| You can include your baby in family meals. He can now have all varieties of breads, grains and cereals, and eggs. You can also begin introducing curries and other mildly spiced foods into his diet and noodles can be eaten if they are broken into shorter lengths. |
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