Baby Foods

Moving from feeding your child breast milk or formula to solid foods should be a gradual process.

There are no hard and fast rules that apply as every child is different and they all progress at different stages of their life. Don't compare your child to others unless you are concerned that there are some factors that might be affecting healthy development.

If you have specific dietary beliefs that you would like your child to follow, such as a vegetarian diet then you will need to ensure that your child is getting balanced nutrition and it might be wise to delay weaning off breast milk totally until the diet consists of sufficient foods to maintain a good balance of nutrients.

The first stage of weaning off breast milk/formula is to start by replacing one of the baby's milk feeds with pureed solid food. Once accustomed to this food it is time to replace more and more milk feeds with the solid foods and introduce more variations into the diet.

The types of foods that you choose to feed your child will have a bearing on their future eating habits so be sure to make good healthy choices and persevere with foods that have high nutrition value rather than food that appears to be easier to feed to your child.

Over a period of 3 or 4 months you will be able to transition from pureed solid food to chopped portions as your child learns to chew. You will be feeding less and less milk or formula but it is still possible that you will need to continue with this option for a while to ensure that the child is content and not hungry.

You should see some healthy weight gain during this time and if not seek professional advice to make sure that all the necessary nutritional needs are being met in the food that you are giving your child.

Related Categories:

• Bottle Feeding
• Breastfeeding