Stay at Home Mom: Weaning food for babies

6 Months

I started weaning my baby at around 5 and 1/2 months so that he would get slowly used to it by the time he was 6 which is the correct age for introducing semi-solid food. And his paediatrician advised it too. The 1^st cereal that I gave him was Rice “Cerelac” since it’s simple to digest and gives the 1^st flavour of solid food. Initially I would make only 1 portion (1 spoon) of it once a day (milk being the addition for the rest of his requirements) and gradually increased to 2 (Lunch and Dinner 2 spoons each) by the time he completed 6 months.

7 & 8 Months

When he turned 7 months, his pediatric suggested giving him 3 portions of solid food (Breakfast, lunch and dinner) .I decided to include natural food and limited packaged to dinner times only.

For Breakfast and Lunch, I introduced rice and dal powder (1 tablespoon, pressure cooked with veggies (1 or 2 varieties to start off with) to provide necessary nutrients. I would add a pinch of salt (optional) too. Ghee/butter can be added for flavor and to supplement some fat to the diet. I would serve ½ of this portion in breakfast and the remaining in lunch. I also included ½ a piece of an apple (boiled and mashed) in between his meals.

You can make the rice powder by mixing rice and dal in equal proportions .Make sure to wash them thoroughly first and then dry them under the sun. You can store this mixture in a clean, dry jar and use it whenever necessary...

He did not seem to like the change in his diet pattern in the beginning and made a terribly fussy face since the only supply he had till now was either breast milk or formula milk and cerelac which was more like sweetened rice and seemed better to the taste budsJ.

Thank God, he adjusted to it in 2 days...

I made a mistake which I must commit here...Assuming that his digestive system is strong enough, I gave him 3 varieties of vegetables too soon thinking that it would be aid in his growth.

Result: He pooped about 5 times that day passing semi liquid stools...Hence the moral of the story is to restrict varieties to 1 or 2, continue for a couple of days and then add another if required and only after observing his entire system(4 days in general). This is true for any type of new food for infants.

His diet plan at 8 months comprise of the foll.

· Breakfast: Ragi (Finger Millet) porridge with or without puréed veggies/Daliya (Broken Wheat) porridge. Occasionally, I add some fruits to it like boiled apple/mashed banana and almond powder. I make it a point to add ghee/butter as well.

· Lunch (Rice with veggies...same as above with a dash of turmeric powder and salt)

· Dinner (Rice and veggies cerelac)

· In betweens : Teething biscuit and milk