A guide to starting baby foods: photos

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  Is your baby ready?

  It is healthiest for your baby to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of his life. This will ensure he gets all the benefits of breastmilk. It will also give his digestive and immune system the time they need to mature.
  
  After six months, breast milk alone doesn't provide enough nutrients, particularly iron. So you will need to gradually introduce solid foods. Before starting, look for the signs that your baby is ready for solids.
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  What to give when

  The key is to introduce solid foods one at a time, a new food item every fourth or fifth day. This makes it easier to keep track of any food allergies. You can start with single ingredient fruit and vegetable purées and some cereals like rice.
  
  Then move on to more ingredients, flavours and textures. If you need inspiration, try these delicious first food recipes for your baby!
  
  You can introduce gluten, which is mainly found in wheat, between six and seven months under the cover of breastfeeding.
  
  It is fine to use small amounts of cow's milk in cooking from six months onwards. But you should wait until your baby is one year old, before giving it as a main drink.
  
  Read more on which food to introduce when. If allergies run in your family, then it's worth talking to your doctor for advice.
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  Textures

  At six months offer purées. At seven to nine months try mashed or minced food, (not purées) and be sure to include some lumps. Use a fork to mash foods and not a blender so that the texture is more lumpy.
  
  You can also start on finger foods after seven months.
  
  From 10 months on meals should be more adult-like. They should be chopped or minced with textures that encourage your baby to chew.
  
  Never leave your baby unattended while eating lumpy or finger foods. Find out what to do in case your baby chokes!
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  Baby food safety

  Your baby’s immune system is still relatively delicate which makes it easy for him to pick up a stomach infection. Make sure you only use safe drinking water for cooking or washing his food and store any leftovers properly.
  
  There are some foods and ingredients your baby should not have until he's one: salt, sugar, honey, artificial sweeteners, certain fish (that have high mercury levels), low fat foods and caffeine.
  
  Children under five should not be given any whole nuts because of the risk of choking. If you want to give nuts to your baby, powder them or make a paste.
  
  Learn more about baby food safety!
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  Healthy baby food

  Food has the most nutrients when made fresh and from seasonal ingredients. Learn how to recognise fresh fruits and vegetables in the market. Once your baby is familiar with different fruits and vegetable tastes, you can combine the two.
  
  To help your baby grow well, you need to feed him a varied diet. One way of ensuring a good mix of nutrients is to feed him food from all colours of the rainbow. For inspiration, see these slideshows on red, orange, yellow, green, purple and white foods.
  
  The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) also recommends that exclusively breastfed babies and babies that drink less than a litre of formula milk a day get 400 units of vitamin D daily from birth until they are a year old. Iron supplements may also be given to prevent iron deficiency (anaemia).
  
  Be sure to ask your doctor if you any concerns about your child's diet or any supplements he needs.
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  Making tasty food

  Though it is best not to put sugar or salt in your baby’s food, you can still make it tasty. Use garlic (lehsun), ginger (adrak), powdered spices like turmeric (haldi), cumin (jeera) and coriander (dhaniya) or whole spices like cumin (jeera), fennel (saunf), cinnamon (dalchini) or cardamom (elaichi) to flavour food.
  
  It's only natural for your baby to prefer sweet flavours, because breastmilk contains milk sugars. But it is a good idea to get him used to savoury flavours as well. If you do need to sweeten food, use fruit or breastmilk instead of sugar.
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  First soups

  Soups can be a tasty and healthy meal for your baby. You can start with single ingredient soups and then move on to a mix of vegetables, chicken or meat. Clear soups can also be used as a base for mixing baby cereals, making rice dishes or even for kneading flour (atta) once your baby eats chapattis or paranthas.
  
  Our 30 minute lentil (dal) soup is a great meal for baby-led weaning. Our video will take you through how to cook it with perfect results.
  
  If you're looking for more ideas try these delicious soup recipes for weaning.
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  First cereals

  It is a good idea to start with rice cereal because it is nutritious and easy to digest. As your baby gets used to rice mixed with dal, soups and purées, you can try other cereals like suji, ragi, bajra, jowar, and sabudaana.
  
  Cereals like wheat (gehun) or oats (jaae) can be introduced between six and seven months. Take a look at our cereal recipes for weaning.
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  First juices

  You can give your baby fruit and vegetable juices as a drink to accompany a meal. The best is if you make the juice fresh at home so that you are sure there is no sugar, salt, artificial colours or flavours in it. Dilute juice using one part juice to 10 parts of water before offering it to your baby.
  
  Offer your baby juice only after he has learnt the taste of plain water, otherwise he will only want to have juice or flavoured water! Also, never replace water with juice or a sweet drink. If your baby develops the habit of only drinking sweetened or flavoured drinks, he will end up taking in too many calories and not enough fluids. Sugary foods and drinks are harmful for your baby's emerging teeth.
  
  See more on best and worst drinks for babies.
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  First desserts

  It is a good idea to wait for your baby to be happy with savoury solid foods before giving desserts. Otherwise he might just stay too much of a sweet tooth.
  
  A healthy dessert to start with for your baby is stewed or fresh fruit. Don't use honey or sugar to sweeten desserts or puddings for babies. Instead, use fruit purées or a pinch of cinnamon (dalchini).
  
  Take a look at dessert recipes for weaning.
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  Vegetarian or vegan diet

  If your baby is on a vegan or vegetarian diet, you need to make sure he gets all the important nutrients that are scarce in these diets such as Vitamin B6, B12, vitamin D, iron, protein and calcium.
  
  Plan your baby's diet in consultation with your doctor, especially if your baby is a fussy eater. And be sure to give him any supplements your doctor prescribes.
  
  
  यह स्लाइडशो हिंदी में देखें!
  

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