How much baby food is enough?

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"How much weaning is enough" is a lot of concern to parents, especially young mothers, who have not had much experience in caring and nurturing young children.

1. Time for children to eat solids

Babies can start solids when they can hold their head steady when held in a sitting or prone position while still holding their head up and supporting their arms. However, the most appropriate time for babies to start solids is when they are 6 months old. Infants should not be introduced to early solid foods before about 4 to 6 months of age, because babies need to enjoy maximum nutrition from breast milk to ensure enough energy for development.
Besides, feeding babies solid foods can limit choking, choking and choking situations when children learn to get used to food. In addition, at the age of 4 months, children still have reflexes to push the tongue against objects when touching their lips, leading to difficulties for children when learning to eat. Moreover, after 4 months of age, the baby's digestive system has just begun to be relatively complete to digest food brought in from the outside.
Even so, it is not recommended to feed babies beyond 6 months of age, because babies can be at risk of growth retardation because breast milk or formula is not guaranteed to be enough for babies to develop.

2. How much solid food is enough for children?

In principle, when learning to eat, children need to eat from thin to thick, from little to a lot. In the first weaning meals, your baby may only eat 1-2 teaspoons of food. However, if children are eager for new foods, parents can gradually increase the amount of food in the meal, until the baby eats about 50-100 ml at a time.
In the first years of a child's life, in addition to increasing the amount of food for each meal, the number of meals is also gradually increased over time, ensuring that the process of weaning is full of nutrients for the development of both children and adults. physically and mentally for children.
The first time when the baby starts weaning can start with one meal a day and increase it by one every 2 months until the baby eats 3 meals a day. So how much is enough solid food for a 6 month old baby? With 6 months baby should eat one meal a day and when the baby is 8 months, the number of meals will increase to 2 meals a day, until the baby is 10 months old can increase to 3 meals a day.

Some suggestions on weaning foods that can be done for children:
For babies from 6-7 months old: You can eat thin, viscous and then solid powder or pureed/mashed foods with a content of about 100 - 200 ml of food/meal and breastfeeding all day. For babies from 8 to 9 months old: Babies can eat solid powder, crushed or chopped food with a content of about 200ml and eat 2 meals with breastfeeding all day. For children from 10 to 12 months old, eat solid powder, finely chopped food, cut into pieces so that the child can grasp it by themselves with the amount of 200-250 ml and eat 3 meals with breast-feeding all day. When children are 12-24 months old, they can eat porridge, finely chopped food with the content of 250-300 ml and give them 3 meals with breastfeeding all day. After the child is 24 months old, they can eat meals with the family. Reference menu for children to eat weaning:
Weaning menu for children from 6 to 8 months old includes: 20 grams of plain rice flour, 15 grams of peeled and pounded fresh shrimp, 10 grams of eggs (maybe one yolk) chicken eggs or 4 quail egg yolks), lean meat 10g, fish and fruit with bones removed 10g, chicken liver/pork minced/crushed 10g, chopped greens 2 teaspoons (~10g), fat/ cooking oil 1 teaspoon (~ 5 grams), water 1 small bowl. The menu for children from 9-11 months old includes: 25g plain rice flour, 15g shelled and pounded shrimp, 30g field crab, 15g lean meat, 15g boneless fish and fruit, chicken liver/pork minced/crushed 15g, crushed greens 2 teaspoons (~10g), fat/oil 1 teaspoon (~5g), water 1 small bowl. The menu for children from 12 to 23 months old includes: 40 grams of plain rice, 25 grams of shelled fresh shrimp, 30 grams of 1 chicken egg, 25 grams of pork/chicken/beef, 25 grams of boiled carp grams, amount of 25 grams, chopped green vegetables 2-3 teaspoons (~ 10 -15 grams), fat/oil 1.5-2 teaspoons (~ 7.5-10 grams) and enough water.

3. Some notes when giving solid foods to babies

3.1. Foods to avoid for children under 12 months For children who are weaned, there are a number of principles that need to be followed when using food. Therefore, children who are just getting used to the process of weaning should not use foods that are too hard or in the form of seeds or round fruits because it will make it difficult for children to eat, leading to the risk of choking, choking, or choking. The food given to the child should not be too diluted, which will cause the child to lose the chewing reflex.

For children under 1 year of age, honey should not be given to children because it may increase the risk of botulism poisoning. Besides, it is not recommended to use spices as well as bone broth for children. Because bone broth does not provide enough calcium needs for children. Not only that, the nutritional components such as fat in bone broth can cause children to have bloating and gas, because the child's digestive system is not yet complete, so it is not able to absorb these substances.
Only giving milk to children without adding nutrients from food may put children at risk of iron deficiency and the nutritional composition of children's diets is not balanced.
3.2. How to start introducing solids The first stage of solids can be quite important, so it's important to gradually get used to the taste and consistency of new foods. At this stage, we do not care about the amount of food the child eats, but we need to observe and monitor the child's reactions when using new foods to be able to detect the allergy quickly. food .
In case the child has signs of atopic dermatitis, eczema or family history of food allergies, including symptoms such as urticaria, allergic rhinitis, asthma, it is recommended to introduce solid foods from 4 months. age, including potentially allergenic foods to help children get used to it and reduce the risk of food allergies later in life.
Implementation of weaning includes the steps of smelling - tasting and eating small to large amounts of food. In addition, parents can use brightly colored foods to attract children's attention to encourage children to better accept these foods.

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