Text: Ann Richardson. Photography: Gallo Images/Getty Images. Elite Photo Agency/Shutterstock. Article from the April 2013 issue of Living and Loving Magazine.
From breast, to bottle, to bowl – Sister Ann Richardson guides you through the weaning process.
For the first few months, your baby will only need breast milk or formula to meet all her nutritional needs, satisfy her hunger and ensure adequate growth and development. But when and how should you begin to introduce other foods? Sister Ann Richardson will guide you through the process.
Traditionally, parents have been advised to avoid giving their children solid food until they are at least six months of age and, preferably, breastfeed exclusively until then to prevent allergies. Recent research has shown that introducing solids appropriately anytime from four months does not, in fact, contribute to allergies. Based on this research, the American Academy of Paediatrics (a world leader in paediatric guidelines and protocols) revised their weaning guidelines in 2008 to recommend that parents introduce age-appropriate solid foods between four and six months while continuing to breastfeed and, preferably, avoiding formula. There are no rules about introducing solids to your baby after the age of four months – it’s best to be guided by her feeding pattern, sleeping pattern and body mass.
Do all babies need solid food at four months of age?
Not necessarily. If your baby is healthy, growing, content and happy and is sleeping for one long stretch of around six to eight hours at night, there is no need to start solid food until you see a marked shift in her feeding and sleeping patterns.
How do I know when my baby is ready for solid food?
Baby not ready for solids.
- Younger than four months of age
- Growing well
- Healthy
- Content during the day between breast or formula milk feeds
- Stretching between one night feed for six to eight hours.
Baby ready for solids.
- Waking more frequently for night feeds
- No longer content during the day in between breast or formula milk feeds
- Older than four months of age
- 7kg body mass (not always)
- Failure to thrive on breast or formula milk feeds alone.
Does solid food replace milk feeds?
In the early days, solid food never takes the place of breast milk or formula feeds. Solid food is always given in addition to your baby’s milk feeds, and the volume of milk offered at each feed will remain the same. However, a normal pattern is that older babies rely less on milk feeds for nutrition, so it’s normal for a six-month, or older, baby who is eating well to drop a breast milk or formula feed during the day. Offer a breast milk or formula feed at around 6am every morning to establish a routine.
Step 1
Let’s do it!
Step One: Ideally, your baby’s first food should be what your culture decrees. Any puréed single-grain cereal or porridge, vegetable or fruit is acceptable as a starter food. Adapt this step by step guide to accommodate your cultural practice. For the purposes of this article, we are going to begin solids with a single-grain rice cereal.
How to
Take one heaped teaspoon of dry single-grain (rice, maize or millet) cereal or porridge and mix with either expressed breast milk (EBM), formula, or boiled and cooled water to make a sloppy mixture.- Offer it to your baby between 4pm and 5pm, gradually increasing the amount and consistency of the cereal according to her demands. This one meal a day may be all that she needs to begin with.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 10am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 5pm: Cereal/ porridge with breast milk or formula added
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
Six to eight hour stretch
- 12 – 2am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
- Mix the cereal in an egg cup or in the lid of the bottle.
- Use a small, soft spoon to feed.
- Utensils needn’t be sterilised, but must be thoroughly washed in hot, soapy water.
Step 2
When your baby becomes unsettled between her morning feeds, or is still feeding frequently during the night, it’s time to introduce breakfast.
How to
- At about 8pm, offer the same amount of cereal as she’s having at the evening meal.
- If she’s older than five months of age, begin this step anyway – regardless of her hunger status.
- Continue with step two for five days before moving to step three.
- If your baby is older than six months, move to step 3 after two days.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am : Breast milk or formula feed
- 8am: Cereal/porridge with breast milk or formula added
- 10am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 5pm: Cereal/porridge with breast milk or formula added
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula milk feed
Six to eight hour stretch
- 12 – 2am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
- Offer solids when your baby is in a good mood.
- Don’t force-feed – she’ll eat when she’s hungry.
- Increase the volume of food offered according to her needs – she’ll let you know if she wants more.
Step 3
Substitute the evening cereal with steamed and purged vegetables.
How to
- Begin with any yellow, white or orange vegetable like butternut, pumpkin, squash, carrots, sweet potato, parsnips or marrow.
- Give the same quantity as the cereal. You can then introduce green vegetables like peas, spinach, broccoli and beans.
- Once you know which vegetables your baby prefers, you can mix all the vegetables together.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 8am: Cereal/porridge with breast milk or formula added
- 10am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 5pm: Steamed and puréed vegetables
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
Six to eight hour stretch
- 12 – 2am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
- To help your baby adjust to the texture and flavour of vegetables, combine them with a bit of cereal and milk as it’s a taste she knows. Gradually reduce the amount of cereal until she’s eating veggies only.
- Never add salt, sugar or flavourants to food.
Step 4
When your baby becomes hungry around lunch time, introduce some puréed fresh, raw fruit like banana, papino, melon, peach, nectarine, mango, berries and avocado. Apples would need to be steamed before using.
How to
- Offer the same quantity for lunch has you have been for breakfast and supper.
- If your baby is showing no signs of being hungry at lunch time, you can introduce fruit to her now. You can also include it into her other meals by mixing it in with her cereal or offering it to her as an extra taste after supper.
- Between the age of five and six months, introduce a lunchtime meal regardless of how hungry she seems. This means she will now be having three meals a day.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 8am: Cereal/porridge with breast milk or formula added
- 10am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 12:00pm: Puréed fruit
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 5pm: Puréed vegetables
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
Six to eight hour stretch
- 12 – 2am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 4 – 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips
- Respect her moods and feelings – sometimes she may not feel like eating.
- Offer variety on a daily basis to keep her interested.
- She may sleep through some mealtimes on occasion – this is no cause for concern.
Step 5
When your baby has been on three meals a day for a week, or from the age of five months, introduce one tablespoon of full-cream yoghurt to any one meal of the day.
How to
- Mix the yoghurt into her cereal/porridge, or add to puréed fruit, or offer as an extra taste after puréed vegetables.
- Don’t give your baby more than 100ml of yoghurt per day, and never as a single meal on its own.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 8am: Cereal/porridge/ puréed fruit/yoghurt
- 10am: May drop breast milk or formula feed – don’t force it. May enjoy 20 – 50ml of boiled and cooled water or Rooibos tea if thirsty
- 12pm: Puréed fruit/yoghurt
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 5pm: Puréed vegetables/ fruit/yoghurt
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
Eight hour stretch
- 2 – 4am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
- On a hot day, your little one may be thirsty in between milk feeds or meals. If so, you can place some soft, ripe fruit in a mesh feeding bag and allow her to suck the juice from the bag.
- Time the solid food around a milk feed. That means about 1 – 2 before and after a milk feed.
Step 6
Introduce finger foods to your baby as a fun way for her to experience tactile stimulation with her hands and mouth. Your baby will be reaching for objects and placing them in her mouth around five months, so encourage her to begin to explore food too. Apart from the obvious pleasure she will derive from these experiences, finger foods also encourage valuable hand-eye coordination skills and desensitise the taste and touch receptors in her mouth to allow her to enjoy varying flavours and textures.
How to
- Offer her a full range of tastes and textures – from sweet to sour, hot to cold, hard to soft, crumbly or slimy.
- Offer variety – slices of raw fruit, steamed or raw vegetables, rice cakes, teething biscuits, toast fingers, soft cheese, dried mango and plain biltong sticks.
- Hand her a piece of finger food after each meal when she’s happy and content. Don’t expect her to eat and swallow the finger food at first – for now, it’s all about exploration and fun.
- With time, finger foods become a handy mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.
Suggested Daily Schedule
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 8am: Cereal or porridge/ puréed fruit/yoghurt, finger food (finger of toast or a piece of raw fruit)
- 10am: May drop breast milk or formula feed – don’t force it
May enjoy 20 – 50ml of boiled and cooled water or Rooibos tea if thirsty.
Finger Foods
- 12pm: Puréed fruit/yoghurt, finger food (piece of raw fruit, cucumber)
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 3 – 4pm: May enjoy 20 – 50ml of boiled and cooled water or Rooibos tea if thirsty. If fussing, offer her finger food as a distraction
- 5 – 6pm: Puréed vegetables/ puréed fruit/yoghurt
- 6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
Eight hour stretch
- 2 – 4am: Breast milk or formula feed
- 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
- Never offer hard, breakable finger food to your baby if she has teeth (like raw apple or carrot). The bits she will bite off may pose a choking hazard. Cut grapes and baby tomatoes in half.
- Your baby’s gag reflex is there to protect her. Occasional coughing and gagging when eating lumpy textures is normal.
Step 7
Current evidence indicates that babies should be exposed to all foodstuffs by the age of seven months to prevent food allergies from developing, and the AAP (American Academy of Paediatrics) supports this. So, when your baby is six months of age, it’s time to introduce protein foods into her diet. Protein is an important nutrient as it builds healthy bones and tissue and encourages growth.
How to:
Unless she presents with a known food allergy, there’s nothing your baby can’t eat at this age.
Good sources of protein include dairy, ground nuts and seeds, nut butters and cooked and puréed meat, poultry, eggs, beans, pulses, grains and fish.
Suggested Daily Schedule – Step Seven
6am: Breast milk or formula feed- 8am: Select one of the following:
- Cereal/porridge – can move to multigrain varieties like wheat and oats. Add a portion of protein food to this meal like nut butters, yoghurt, cooked egg, soft cheese, nuts and seeds
- Boiled or scrambled egg/ French toast cut into strips
- Mashed fruit with yoghurt and ground nuts and seeds.
After breakfast, offer a finger of buttered brown bread, or toast, or a piece of soft fruit as a finger food.
- 10am: Your baby may refuse a milk feed, if so, offer some boiled and cooled water or rooibos tea from a bottle or sippy cup
Finger food
- 12pm: One of the following options:
- Mashed fruit and yoghurt and ground nuts and seeds
- Puréed cooked meat, fish, poultry or beans with mashed vegetables
- Mashed fruit, avocado and yoghurt or soft cheese
- Puréed spaghetti bolognaise, cottage pie or lasagne
- Tinned sardines, salmon or tuna mashed with brown bread After lunch offer a piece of soft fruit or vegetable as a finger food.
- 2pm: Breast milk or formula feed
- 3 – 4pm: Cooled, boiled water or Rooibos tea if thirsty and finger food (mini brown bread sandwich with butter, liver spread or fishpaste)
- 5 – 6pm: One of the above lunch options
After dinner, offer a piece of soft fruit or vegetable as a finger food.
6 – 7pm: Breast milk or formula feed
10 to 12 hour stretch
4 – 6am: Breast milk or formula feed.
Handy tips:
To save time, cook the family’s food without adding extra salt, sugar or preservatives so that there is always left over food available for your baby’s next meal. Bake your own mini finger biscuits, reduce the amount of sugar required and add peanut butter for flavour.
Take Note:
If your baby has been diagnosed with atopic eczema, avoid dairy in her diet until the age of one, and avoid formula milk if possible.
Cow’s milk isn’t suitable for your baby under the age of one. It has a high quantity of protein, sodium (salt) and potassium – which place strain on her kidneys. Cow’s milk also lacks vitamins and minerals necessary for her growth and development.
Raw honey should be avoided in the first year as it may contain botulism spores, which can make your baby ill.
As your baby reaches her first birthday, she should be eating a variety of foods from all the food groups, and may only be having a breast milk or formula feed two or three times a day. Her food should no longer be puréed, but gently mashed to a smooth/lumpy consistency. She should be enjoying a variety of finger foods too.
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