Introduce Complementary Food: Well-Planned Is Already Half-Fed

The baby is well supplied with breast milk for the first four to six months, after which you should slowly introduce complementary food. The best way to do this is to follow a step-by-step plan.

Tips and schedule: Introduce complementary foods

In the first months of life, feeding the baby is simple: breast milk or formula milk contains everything the little one needs. At the earliest, from the end of the 4th month, the baby should be introduced so that the baby is full. Many parents are unsure exactly at what age their child is ready for the first porridge, the rule of thumb “from the 5th month” does not apply to every toddler after all. You can read about the signs you can use to recognize the willingness of the offspring to start solid food in the article Nutrition for babies. If the child is ready, you can offer the first baby food. It is best to choose the lunchtime meal and baby porridge recipes with easily digestible vegetables such as carrots, pumpkin, parsnips or zucchini, supplemented with one or two teaspoons of high-quality rapeseed oil. Set up a weekly schedule with one variety at a time – this way the child receives important nutrients and is not influenced early on by the “sweet” taste, as is the case with fruit puree. The amount is very small at the beginning and is slowly increased to around 100 grams. The rest of the diet continues to consist of milk meals.

Introduce complementary foods in the right order

You can add potatoes to your complementary food recipes after a week, and a little meat after two weeks. Then it is best to test other types of vegetables and meat for their tolerance, including boneless fish. From the 5th week of supplementary food, you can replace another milk meal with porridge, preferably as an evening meal. A carbohydrate- and protein-rich whole milk cereal porridge, for example, is suitable as a supplement to the lunchtime vegetables. Do not add sugar or other sweeteners to the porridge! It is best to ask your pediatrician whether iodine supplementation makes sense. When it comes to the type of grain, oats, spelled or millet are good choices.

Introduce beverages with complementary food

About four weeks after introducing the milk-grain porridge, the third porridge meal is a grain-fruit porridge, which is best fed in the afternoon. Mix this porridge with water, not milk. An example is our recipe for banana porridge with wheat flakes. In addition to the three complementary meals, you can continue to breastfeed or give the baby ready-made milk. Cow’s milk and cow’s milk products are only recommended after the first year of life. Until then, cover your fluid requirements with water, unsweetened tea, and heavily diluted fruit juices. After the first birthday, the phase in which you introduce solid food is complete. This is followed by “real” meals such as crust-free bread with cheese, sausage, and vegetable spreads.

Creative tip for the children’s room: make your own dream catcher. The pretty accessory will quietly accompany childhood nights.