Baby food is the introduction of solid foods to young children or infants in addition to breast milk or formula. Parents gradually introduce various foods to their infants, which are usually chopped or mashed.
Eating other foods will help babies get all the nutrients their bodies need. Because the body is constantly using up stored nutrients, those nutrients start to run out when babies are 6 months old. Therefore, they need to eat other foods along with cow’s milk, which becomes their main food when babies are 1 year old. Also, training babies to chew or bite food helps develop the muscles that are necessary for speech development.
When should I give baby food?
Generally, parents should start feeding their babies with breast milk or formula milk when they are 6 months old. Teaching them to eat other foods at this age will help ensure the safety of their babies’ health because their immune system is stronger. This reduces the chances of babies choking on food, having food allergies, or getting infections from eating certain foods, especially those whose family members have celiac disease, which can cause such symptoms if they receive gluten from eating grains. However, there are also ways to observe symptoms or signs that show that babies need to eat food, as follows:
- The baby’s head is straight.
- Sit up with support or assistance from someone. The mother may place the baby on her lap while feeding him/her. Once the baby can sit up on his/her own, he/she may place him/her in a chair.
- Begins to learn to chew. Babies can put food in their mouth and swallow. Parents will notice that the baby drools less or that 1-2 teeth have appeared.
- Babies can start eating semi-solid foods when their birth weight doubles, with weight doubled by around 6 months.
- Babies look at or try to pick up food in the same way adults do.
- The baby looks at the food and puts it in his mouth.
However, infants may display certain behaviors that mislead the baby into thinking it’s okay to start eating solid foods, such as biting their own hands or fists, ufabet http://ufabet999.app waking up in the middle of the night after falling asleep, or wanting more milk.