Weaning is no longer a battle when parents understand your baby

Weaning is the stage when babies begin to eat solids, even though they are completely dependent on breast milk before. Choosing the right time and right foods to practice solids for your baby is very important to establishing healthy eating habits for your baby.

This article introduces parents to tips for successful weaning, including: appropriate time to eat, foods to choose and avoid, points to note during this period. .

Should parents understand when babies are ready for solids?

During the starting phase of solids, babies are still breastfed and receive nutrition from breast milk or formula . Most health experts recommend that babies start from 6 months of age.

This is a generally recommended time as babies at this age will begin to need additional nutrients not found in breast milk. Solid foods provide these nutrients to the fullest extent.

Besides, by the time the baby is 6 months old, the baby's digestive system has developed more completely, capable of fully absorbing protein from meat, fish, eggs, and milk. The gut also begins to secrete amylase , an enzyme that digestes starch.

Watch your baby for signs that he or she is ready for solids. Common signs:

♦ The baby gets hungry faster, takes more meals

♦ Your baby can keep a balanced sitting posture

♦ Can keep head and neck steady

♦ Can keep food in her mouth and know how to chew

♦ Know how to take food yourself and put it in your mouth

♦ Be curious when adults eat meals and want to participate in mealtimes.

Very rarely, babies are ready for solids before the 6-month mark because at this point their bodies are not yet developed enough to adapt to eating solid foods. In addition, children under 6 months of age are in need of nutrients from breast milk. So, if you see your baby shows signs of being ready for solids but is less than 6 months old, consult your pediatrician for advice.

Parents should understand how to breastfeed babies

Weaning is often divided into two main approaches: traditional and baby self-control. Each baby has a different personality and food absorption mechanism, so there isn't any right or wrong about how the baby starts weaning. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each method can help you make the best decision for your baby.

You can also combine these methods together to find out what works best.

Baby actively eats solids

In this method, children are encouraged to eat by themselves from the beginning. You can prepare food so that your baby can easily hold, pick and eat. Self-initiative weaning will help your baby discover new foods at their own pace.

Advantages:

♦ Encourage the development of baby chewing and swallowing reflexes.

♦ Babies decide when to be full and stop eating, so they are less likely to be overweight.

♦ There is no need to make you waste time preparing food too sophisticated for your baby because family meals are often suitable for babies to actively eat snacks.

♦ Your whole family can eat together. Baby can easily integrate with the whole family's taste in the future.

Defect:

♦ May make you worry about choking . However, if you process foods properly, as well as observe your baby while eating, there is no danger of choking.

♦ It is difficult to know how much food your baby eats, this can cause your baby to lose weight in the first place.

♦ The dining table can be messy like the battlefield.

♦ Meal lasts quite a long time because babies can be engrossed in discovering things around, making it almost impossible for them to eat much in the first days.

Traditional weaning food

This is the preferred way by most Vietnamese families for many years. In this method, you feed your baby and gradually incorporate solid foods into your baby's meals. Your baby will start with finely pureed foods before moving on to grounded or chopped foods. When the baby teething , the mother can feed him porridge with minced meat, fish and vegetables.

Advantages:

♦ Easy for parents to see how much baby has eaten

♦ Meal is neat

♦ Baby's digestive system works easily thanks to pureed food

♦ It does not take much time if the baby is easy to eat and cooperate.

Defect:

♦ Spend a lot of time preparing separate meals for babies (baby's ingredients and tastes are different from adults, food must be pureed ...).

♦ Mixed foods make it difficult for children to distinguish the taste of each ingredient, making it difficult for them to integrate into family meals when they grow up.

♦ May inadvertently cause children to overeat because of families' thinking of force-feeding. This condition will make the baby obese in the future.

♦ If your baby is too familiar with pureed foods, it can be difficult for your baby to learn to eat other textured foods. The baby's chewing and swallowing reflexes are also underdeveloped.

♦ It can be difficult to identify an allergy because your baby is eating a variety of foods at the same time.

Parents should understand the baby's first taste

The first taste is very important for your baby to develop eating habits, so let your baby come in contact with many different flavors. When offering new foods, keep in mind that the amount your baby eats is less important than the number of foods he has tried.

Parents try to turn this into a positive experience for your baby by allowing your baby to play, touch and taste new foods. About 1 hour after breastfeeding and when your baby is not too tired is a good time to try food. Mixing food with a little breastmilk or formula can help your baby accept the new food more quickly.

Foods suitable for weaning babies include:

♦ Vegetables for baby should be cooked softly: Broccoli, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, peas. Then puree, crush or cut into size suitable for active weaning.

♦ Soft fruits to eat : Banana, mango, blueberry, raspberry, avocado, pear or apple, purple plum, peach. Processed by puree, crushed or chopped with a size suitable for active weaning.

♦ Cereals: oatmeal, rice, quinoa, millet. Cook, mash or puree to give your baby the texture that's right for your baby, then mix with a small amount of breastmilk or formula.

♦ Baby weaning powders with flavors of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish ... sold at supermarkets, grocery stores ...

However, if you have time, you should prioritize cooking for your baby to get used to the taste of natural food, as well as to ensure nutrition for the baby.

Start with a few small scoops or try it once a day for about a week to assess whether your baby wants to eat more or less. You can offer new foods every day for 10 days or so.

It is also a good idea to combine foods together. For example, try mixing baby cereal flour with pears, bananas, or butter. You can also offer your child some water with meals to help him get used to solids.