When adding complementary food to the baby, the mother must adhere to the following principles, so that the baby can receive complementary food more smoothly and is more beneficial to the baby's health.
1. Add complementary food step by step.
When adding complementary food to the baby, the mother must not add several complementary foods to the baby at one time, which will easily cause the baby to have adverse reactions. It is suggested that when adding complementary food to the baby, the mother must let the baby have a step-by-step acceptance process for different kinds and tastes of food. The mother should not add more than two kinds of food to her baby within 1~2 days. After adding complementary food to her baby, observe whether the baby has any adverse reactions and normal defecation within 3~5 days. If everything is normal, try to let the baby try to accept new complementary food.
When adding complementary food to the baby, the mother should add it in the order of "starch (grain) → vegetables → fruits → meat".
2. Add complementary food gradually.
When trying a new food for the first time, it's best to start with a small amount of tip, and observe whether the baby has an uncomfortable reaction, and then slowly increase the amount. For example, when adding egg yolk, start with 1/4 or even a small amount of egg yolk. If the baby can tolerate it, keep the amount of 1/4 for a few days and then increase it to 1/3, and then gradually increase it to 1/2, 3/4 until the whole egg yolk.
3. The concentration of complementary food is from thin to thick.
At first, the rice flour can be mixed into a very thin paste by breast milk, formula milk, rice soup or water to feed the baby, and after confirming that the baby can swallow it smoothly, without vomiting or choking, it will gradually transition from a liquid or semi-liquid with more water to a muddy paste food with less water.
4. The texture of complementary food is from fine to coarse.
Don't try rice porridge or minced meat in the initial stage of adding complementary food. No matter your baby's throat or belly, you can't tolerate these coarse food, and your baby will be afraid of complementary food because of swallowing difficulties. The correct sequence of complementary food addition should be soup → slurry → thick slurry → minced → minced → slightly larger soft particles → slightly harder particles → lumps, etc. Initially, a thin paste can be prepared to feed the baby.
5. Add complementary food with less salt as the principle.
Babies within 4 months should not eat salt because their kidney function is not perfect. Baby's sodium intake mainly comes from breast milk or formula milk, commercially available baby food and home-made food. Generally speaking, the first two can meet the baby's need for sodium. If the salt used in home-made food is not well controlled, the baby's intake of sodium will increase significantly, which will increase the burden on the kidneys. Therefore, salt should not be added to homemade complementary foods such as vegetable puree, fruit puree and egg yolk. When the 6-month-old baby starts to eat vegetable porridge or rotten noodles, consider adding a little salt to taste a little salty. In addition, in the order of addition, vegetables should be added first, and then fruits should be added, because babies like sweet taste, and babies who taste the sweetness of fruits first may refuse vegetables.
6. Stop immediately if you feel unwell.
When mothers add complementary food to their baby, if the baby has diarrhea, allergies or more mucus in the stool, they should immediately stop feeding the baby complementary food and add complementary food to the baby after the baby's body returns to normal. It should be noted that foods that make your baby allergic can't be added.
In short, when adding complementary food to your baby, don't completely copy the experience of others or the method of copying books. You should master it flexibly according to the specific situation and adjust the quantity and variety of complementary food in time. This is the most noteworthy point for parents when adding complementary food. For example, don't add complementary food that you have never eaten when your baby is sick; In the process of adding complementary food, if the baby has diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia, etc., you should temporarily stop adding it until the baby's digestive function recovers, and then start again, but the number and types are less than the original, and then gradually increase.