Complementary Food for babies :
Aadhu was EBF till she completed 6 months. Started introducing porridges,fruit purees, veggie mash,mild soups from 7th month. I took it really slow and even now I am introducing different food,textures at a pace depending on how she is liking it,willing to eat etc.
I did not add salt,sugar,jaggery,cow’s milk in any of my porridge until Aadhu completed 11 months. She is almost nearing 1 so started adding very small amount of jaggery (for Finger Millet porridge), cow’s milk in her smoothies & porridges in the recent days. Again this is my personal choice. However if you want to avoid them completely then skip it.
When introducing complimentary food remember the following :
- Breastmilk or Formula has to be the main source of nutrition for babies
- Do not add breastmilk or formula milk while making porridges. It might mask the original taste of porridge and it will be difficult for us to try different foods later
- It might take few days for them to get used to drinking porridges/purees from spoon. Some kids learn it quickly. They spit, try to blow bubbles and do all kinds of naughty stunts but will learn quickly. So don’t get frustrated when they reject initially
- You can teach them to lick from spoon, suck from spoon & swallow it etc. I showed her how to drink & after seeing my actions she started to understand how to sip from spoon and learnt
- You might notice change in color of poop, the number of times they poop etc. It will get regularized in few weeks time
- Start with a watery consistency & slowly start thickening the porridge and feed them after few weeks
- When adding nuts like Almond,Cashewnuts or Peanuts to any of the porridges, prepare a smaller batch of these powders and then check if your baby is liking it. Later go ahead and prepare in large quantity
- Always use a dry spoon to take porridge powder from storage container
- I generally wash all the bowls,spoons in warm water before and after feeding her
- Also I feed all the porridges when it is mildly warm
- Smoothies,Juices,Yogurt in room temperature
- Started giving her warm water from 7month
I have written some basic tips on how to feed you babies without high chair & my feeding schedule here.
These are the healthy porridges I have been feeding her and in my personal experience there werent any discomfort like indigestion, allergies or constipation *touchwood*. I started giving her Dalia/Broken Wheat porridge only after 10 months. Rest all were introduced when she was 7m old.
- ParBoiled Rice Porridge
- Oats Porridge
- MultiGrain Porridge/Sathu Maavu Kanji
- Sprouted Ragi Flour Porridge
- Semolina Porridge
- Poha Porridge
- Dalia/Broken Wheat Porridge
