Babies turn 6 months: Optimal time to start solids

The article was professionally consulted with Master, Doctor Ngo Thi Oanh - Pediatrician - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital.

For the first 6 months of life, babies need to be exclusively breastfed. After this period, children need to be fed solid foods to supplement nutrients and meet the child's developmental needs. However, not all mothers know when to eat solids, or when to start weaning, what foods should children eat?

Weaning is feeding children with foods other than breast milk, including starch, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, milk, fruits, etc. These are foods intended to supplement nutrients to help children. develop comprehensively, not completely replace breast milk. Breast milk provides many antibacterial factors to help babies increase resistance, reduce the risk of disease. Therefore, in the process of weaning, the mother still needs to breastfeed the baby fully, gradually reduce the amount of milk and gradually increase the amount of food according to the age of the child.

The mistake that mothers make when giving solid foods is choosing the wrong time. Many mothers, seeing that their babies are underweight and stunted, are impatient to feed their babies too soon even though they are not yet 6 months old. At this time, the baby's digestive system and immune system are not fully developed, the absorption capacity is still poor, the digestive system does not have enough amylase enzyme to process and tolerate new food sources such as starch, so it is easy to get sick. digestive disorders. Forcing children to eat early can affect their health and development later in life.
On the contrary, if the mother has entered the seventh month and still has not given the baby suitable solid foods to add more nutrients, the baby's body will not be able to catch the very fast growth rate during this time. Therefore, the best time for mothers to start introducing solid foods is when the baby turns 6 months old.

According to the recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition, when starting weaning, it is necessary to follow the principle: feed your baby from less to more, from dilute to solid, from fine to coarse, from one type to many types. The type of food in a meal is increased when the baby's health and digestive system are normal. When learning to eat, it is necessary to cook liquid powder, from the 9th month, babies can learn to eat crushed porridge and then switch to solid porridge.
Should give children many meals in 1 day. Complementary feeding can initially give children multiple meals: 6 meals, spaced more than 2 hours apart. In these 6 meals, there can be 3 meals of milk and 3 meals of diluted powder. Then gradually reduce to 5 meals, maybe with 2 feeding meals, 3 meals of paste, then proceed to eat only 2 meals of solid powder a day. After eating the powder, you can feed the baby more if the child still wants to suckle.
Children should be allowed to eat with the family so that children will be more interested in eating, and at the same time gradually practice self-service.
From 9 - 11 months, children need to eat all 4 food groups including: starch; meat, eggs; fish, shrimp, crab; vegetables, tubers and oil or fat... In addition, children should eat more fruits to supplement the vitamins necessary for the body.
Food for children needs to be clean and safe, do not let children eat hot, spicy and salty foods.
In addition, if the baby is just learning to eat solid foods, the mother should feed the baby during the day to be able to monitor the baby's stool.
The period of baby eating solid foods is an extremely important period to help children develop comprehensively. Children who do not eat properly are at risk of micro-mineral deficiencies, causing anorexia, growth retardation, malabsorption, etc. If they notice the above signs, parents should supplement their children with supportive products. The supplement contains lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, and B vitamins to help fully meet the nutritional needs of children. At the same time, these essential vitamins also support digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, help improve anorexia, and help children eat well.
Parents can learn more:
Signs of zinc deficiency in children
Micronutrient deficiency and failure to gain weight in children
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