Weaning

  

Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or another mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk. The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk.

Introducing your baby to solid foods, sometimes called complementary feeding should start when your baby is around 6 months old. At the beginning, how much your baby eats is less important than getting them used to the idea of eating.

There are 3 stages to weaning: Stage 1 begins at 6 months, upon weaning with a smooth mash or puree for the first few tastes. Followed by stage 2 once your baby has learnt to accept smooth foods, you are ready to move on to mashed food with soft lumps and offer soft finger foods with all meals.

First Meal: The first meal to introduce is the mid morning meal. Offer your baby their milk at 11 am and then give them their solid food between 12 and 12:30 pm. Make sure they are not too hungry as this is just a taste.

Introduction

When to start solids (weaning) for your baby?

There are no perfect answer for this question. Everybody is different, as you all you know, many mom are confused  about when to wean and which food are suitable, some mothers confuse the 'weaning" with "stopping the breastfeeding."

According to W.H.O the right age of weaning is around 6 months. Till 6 months babies get enough nutrition from breast milk. However introducing solid foods before four months isn't recommended, as your baby can't digest the food properly.

Look out for following signs that your baby is ready to start solids.

• Your baby is growing very quickly and weight gain has slowed down.
• Your baby is always hungry, and thinks of breastfeeding all the time!
• Your baby can't get enough milk.

Follow the golden weaning rules :

1 .  Get the order right- always start with carbohydrates first and then protein. For vegetarians it is pulse and legumes unlike non-vegetarians who can introduce (chicken, fish and meat) and fats are the last foods to be introduced to the babies. Never introduce egg white or cow's milk into their diet until the age of one year.

2 . Start weaning with either fruits or vegetables either pureed  or rice or ragi cooked using plain boiled water. After a week or so  move to vegetables such as carrot or sweet potato  or vice versa if you have started with the cereals first.

3 . Don't mix flavors - start your baby on single rather than mixed food. Mixing flavors at this stage  can blur a child's sense of taste. You can use a part of the vegetables you cook for your self , just puree them individually for the first couple of months  of weaning. Then as soon as your baby is old enough to hold food, cut it into soft pieces  they can pick up.  It is important for you to use  the vegetables you are familiar with, rather than the one you read about on the net. It is also important to progress on consistency  as the baby gets older rather than feeding pureed foods up to the age of one year.

4 . Encourage D.I.Y feeding. The aim is to get your baby  to feed himself as soon as  he can pick up  and hold food. If a child chooses his own pieces of food  he is more likely to eat  it than if you hand it to your baby.

5 . Increase their water intake. When babies start on solids , they need more water. Avoid any other drink apart  from milk, fruit juices is another good sources of water.

6 . Know when they've had enough, if you are using a spoon, and after eating well your baby turns his face away or looks down, then stop feeding. It is a sign that  you are overfeeding him.

7 . Eat with them, put your baby in a highchair as soon as he can sit up unaided and have him eat with you. Eating with a family  will encourage your child  to try a wider range of food items.

8 . Salt : Never add any salt to the foods you give to your baby  because their kidneys can't cope with it.

9 . Sugar : Sugary foods and drinks  are not recommend for babies under a year, as they can encourage a sweet tooth and lead to decay, when teeth come through.

Solid foods help babies to practice lip, tongue and jaw movements. Eating together is also an important social activity. It is thought that babies can learn skills like eating from watching others. Weaning also provides a great opportunity for all members of your family to become involved in feeding your baby.

Baby feeding timeline

First foods (4-6 months)

• By around 6 months (but not before 4 months) your baby will be ready to eat solid foods.
• First food should be iron-enriched baby rice cereal, followed by blender type of fruit and vegetables.
• Introduce one food at a time, no more than every four to five days to check your baby is not allergic.
• Texture should be pureed.

6-9 months

• After 6 months you can introduce well cooked meats (beef, chicken,fish) -be sure to remove bones and gristle.
• If your child stats solid food for the first time  after six months  ensure you begin with rice cereal and pureed foods before increasing the texture.
• Continue to introduce a variety of new foods and texture to ensure your baby receives a good balance of nutrients.
• Texture should be MASHED or FINELY CHOPPED

9-12 months

• You can now introduce wheat products (such as pasts, bread,oats), cheese and egg (unless there is a family history of food allergy)
• Your baby is now ready  for finger foods to encourage them to learn to self feed.
• Texture should be ROUGHLY MASHED or FINELY CHOPPED- be sureall foods are cooked or soft to avoid choking.

12 + months

• You can now introduce cow's milk and more solid foods - remember to ensure the pieces are not too hard or too big to avoid choking.
• Your baby will now enjoy self feeding many foods (be sure  not to leave your child alone, to prevent choking.
• Texture should include FINGER FOODS and other foods the family is eating.

Introducing Semi-Solid and Solid Foods

      

0-6 Months

When solids should be added to a child's diet and why ? It is recommended that all infants be exclusively breastfed for 6 months and that adequate complimentary food  be added after that. If there is a history of allergy in the family, exclusive breastfeeding must be the the norm till the child completes 6 months.

In case of breastfed babies, the addition of other liquids too early interferes with breastfeeding. Early introduction of all foods increases the risk of allergic disorders. Unnecessary load on kidneys, indigestion, obesity, and later possibility of hypertension and coronary artery disease. Less frequent suckling also increases the possibility of the women becoming pregnant again.

Before six months, most babies have the tongue-thrust reflex; They push out  with the tongue anything other than liquids. In such babies, it is better to weight till they complete 6 months before offering complementary good.

       

                     "But in any case do not delay  the addition of solids beyond 9 months."

Give only one food at a time.Wait for a week before you introduce  another food, so that you know  whether or not child is allergic  to it.  If you had given a food to which the child might be allergic  look for the appearance of a rash, cold, wheezing restlessness, crying, vomiting or diarrhea. Stop the food if any of these symptoms present.  If the reaction is not severe  or is doubtful, try the same food after a month. If the reaction is severe, avoid it until the child completes 1 year and consult your doctor before trying it again.

6-8 Months

     

Can start with over ripe banana, the skin of which has black dots. Cut it into small pieces, and mesh it up with a spoon or fork. Avoid the mixer. Let the baby sit on a lap and give her a tiny bit after a breast feed. Most mother's give it with spoon, or can be given with fingers and then shift to spoon.Hands should be properly washed. Most babies love bananas. Some prefer if a little milk  (preferably breast milk) is added to. Give her this once or twice a day,

          

• You ban try interchange a banana with an apple, or give apple once and banana next time. Peel an apple and cut it into a small bits. Boil and mesh them with a spoon or fork.

             

   Other seasonal fruits like pears (boiled and meshed, papaya, mango and chikoo can also be given.

• After the fruits you can introduce rice preparations. Meshed boiled rice (in extra water), mixed with milk, can be tried. If you are breast feeding you can add milk to the rice. Alternatively, phirni made from rice powder and milk can be given.
• Suji kheer or rava kheer (semolina pudding) can also be given.
• Porridge made from Ragi (called nachani in Maharastra) between two breast feeds. 

Ragi Porridge

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  Start with 1-2 teaspoonful twice a day. Keep increasing the amount every third or forth day so that accepted by the child.
• Mix by roasting grinding and mixing equal parts of rice, wheat, ragi and moong dal. The mix powder can be stored in an air tight container.. This ready powder can be used for making thin pudding / kheer with milk and sugar or thin porridge with ghee and sugar or salt.
• Avoid ready made cereals for the baby. They are quite hygienically prepared and convenient to use , but whole food made at home  are more nutritious and, of course, less expensive. As ready made cereals are processed and so are less nutritious.You may be told that they are fortified with iron. This iron is poorly absorbed and may not be of much benefit to  the child.. More over the smooth consistency  of these commercial preparations may make the child get so used to them that she may not like to accept any food offered later.
• Bone marrow and tender portion of meat can also be given after  the age of 6 months, but vegetarian must note that a vegetarian diet can meet  all the requirement of a child.

         

You may be wrongly advised to give rice water, dal water and soup at this time, because these hardly give a child any nutrition.They may instead fill up her stomach and quench her thirst, and consequently may lead to less suxkling at the breast with reduce milk production.

8 Months +

       

Meshed and cooked vegetables with cooking oil or ghee can also be given. Dark green leafy vegetables, carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, beans, peas, dudhi or ghia, marrow and beat can be tried. Begin with 1-2 tsf and increase progressively. As vegetables are not fully digested by the baby, small bits may be passed along with  the stool. This is normal. Also a child having beat  may have red colored stools or urine.

Beat and carrot  should not be stored .They should be served fresh, because storage increases the amount of nitrates in these vegetables. These nitrates can cause anemia in small children. Raw vegetables can be added after a child is year old.

Allergy to citrus fruits is not uncommon and so such fruits should be tried after the age of 1 year in allergy prone children.

When the child is around 9 months, the food need not be meshed too fine. She can be give food cooked for the family like chapati or paratha dipped in dal, rice and dal, dhokla, dosa, idli, curd rice, upma, pongal, missi roti etc. Milk preparations like curds, buttermilk and paneer (cottage cheese) can also be tried. These preparations are more easily digested than artificial milk. Also allergy to these foods is less common than with artificial milk.

Tips

Children who do not eat enough at a time  should be offered food  or fruits every 2-3 hours.

To reduce bulk, oil or ghee should be added to the food. Children do need fat. However, taste for fried foods should not be inculcated from an early age.

Staple foods (rice,wheat, maize, etc) though required, are all starchy. Starchy foods are bulky. As the child's stomach is small, she fails to eat enough of the bulky, starchy stuff to get all the calories she needs. Adding fat like oil or ghee, protein rich foods like pulses, beans, milk and milk products, meat, sweetening agents such as jaggery or sugar can solve this problem.

Another good way of reducing bulk and increasing the energy  density of food is by adding Amylase-Rich- Food (A.R.F). To make A.R.F,  about 100 gms of any locally available cereal or grain (wheat, ragi or bajra) is steeped overnight in 2-3 times its volume of water, the excess water is drained, and the moist, swollen seeds are germinated in a moist dark environment for 24 to 48 hours till they sprout. The grains are then sun dried for 5-8 hours and lightly toasted on a flat pan to remove any surface moisture. These sprouts are removed by hand  abrasion and the grains are milled or powdered. This flour (A.R.F.) is stored in a air tight bottle or plastic container. It makes a nutritious gruel. It need be made once a month.

Addition of vegetables and fruits provides the required minerals and vitamins.

Water can be given to the child once she start taking food other than breast milk and fruits. It should be offered from an ordinary glass. Children learn to sip  from a glass quite easily.

    

A child should be given her food  an hour or two before the family. Let her then also  join the family to participate and be given some food that is not too spicy or too rich in fat, sugar and salt.

After the 9 months encourage the child to feed by herself.

         

Do not upset if she makes a mess. You may help her, but she should get a feeling that she is managing by herself. To begin with offer get food which she can pick  up with her finger, like a thin piece of toast or biscuit (preferably whole wheat) cooked peas, scrambled egg, dhokla, idli, , shreekhand,(sweeten curd cheese), Porridge, pumpkin and small piece of fruits like bananas, chikoos and papayas.

The child may choke a little while learning to eat. Do not be scared, but be with her while she eats. In case she gets into trouble.Let her start getting used to a spoon,Let her dip a teaspoon into a preparation like shreekhand. A bit will stick to the spoon and give her a joy of getting  something into her mouth on her own.

A child who is eating well at 6 or 7 months may suddenly become disinterested in eating. Do not panic. Try some new preparations. But never force a child to eat more than  she wants. Respect her appetite. Even if half a spoon is left in the bowl, stop feeding her if she shows any signs of not wanting to eat any more ( keeping her mouth shut , turning her head to the side or pushing the food out).

Food That may be Avoided in First Year Of life

Food that are more  likely to give  rise to allergic  reactions may be avoided till the child completes one year.. These are : artificial milk,  (cow, buffalo or powder milk), eggs, fish, and citrus fruits like orange and sweet lime.

In families with strong history of allergy, besides avoid foods, even peanuts, other nuts, chocolate, wheat, corn, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and all types of berries should be avoided.If any member of the family reacts adversely to a particular food avoid that as well.

Also avoid fried foods and food that contain added sugar or artificial sweeteners. or high in salts. Honey is also restricted  below the age of one year, because it may contain certain infective agents. 

Should Other Foods Be Given Before Or After A Milk Feed ?

After 6 months other foods must be offered after breast feed. Between 6 months and 1 year,the other food  can be given after or between two milk feeds. Let the baby decide when she wants to have them. Do not cut down drastically on breastfeeding. 

Amount Of Food To Be Given  To Infants

A child of one year  needs about a 1,000 calories of energy-  almost half of what an adults take. So it is advisable  to have some idea about how much of different foods a child can be offered.

Recipes for Infants by  National Institute Of Nutrition (N.I.N) India

The cereals and millet commonly used in India are rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize etc. Cereals are relatively poor sources of protein. Pulses are about richest sources of proteins. These recipes  give about 300 calories each. As the infant grows the quantity can be increased by about 50 % to meet the nutritional needs of the infant in full.

Recipes

Wheat Gram Porridge

Ingredients

Roasted Wheat Flour                                     25 g (1 1/2 tbsp)

Powdered, Roasted Bengal Gram                  15 g (1 tbsp)

Powdered Roasted Ground Nuts                   10 g (3/4 tbsp)

Sugar or jaggery                                            30 g (2 tbsp)

Spinach (or any leafy vegetables)                  30 g

Method  of Preparation

Roast groundnut, wheat and Bengal gram and powder them. Mix the wheat, Bengal gram and groundnut powders and prepare a batter by addition of jaggery, dissolved in a suitable amount of water and made into a thin syrup. Boil spinach in water till soft, mash and strain through a clean cloth.  Add the vegetable juice to the batter and cook for a few minutes with continuous stirring till semi-solid.

Rice Porridge

Ingredients

Rice                                                                              30 g

Powdered, Roasted Groundnut                                       15 g

Powdered Roasted Greengram or redgram dal             10 g  (moong / masoor dal)

Sugar / jaggery                                                               30 g

Spinach (or any leafy vegetable)                                    30 g

Method of Preparation

Cook the rice. Add to the cooked rice the pulse  and groundnut powder. Boil leafy vegetables in water till soft, mash strain through a clean cloth and add the juice to the above mixture. Add sugar or jaggery and cook for a few minutes.

                                  "Syrups in children are avoided to prevent carries."

Protein Rich Supplement that may be added to the family diet

It is suggested that parents should give the child foods prepared for the whole family.To increase the nutritional value add about  3-4 t.s.f of groundnut powder to the daily diet of the infant. Addition of little jaggery (or sugar) helps the child  to relish the dish and also provides extra calories.

Ready To Use Infant Winning Foods

The following recipes can be prepared in bulk and kept ready at hand for feeding infants.

Bajra Infant Food

      

Bajra (dehusked, roasted)                                               45 g (3 tbsp)

Roasted Green gram (or any other dal)                           20 g (1 1/2 tabs)

Roasted groundnuts                                                         10 g (3/4 tbsp)

Roasted decorticated till (gingelly) seeds                        5 g (1 tbsp)

Sugar                                                                                30 g (2 tbsp)

Powder all he roasted ingredients individually; mix them in the proportions suggested, and store in air tight containers.

Ragi (nachni) Infant Food

       

     

Use 45 g of ragi prepared instead of bajra in the above formula.

Soak ragi in water overnight. Drain the water, spread the grains on a plate and allow to germinate by covering with a damp cloth for one day. Dry the germinated ragi  in sun and roast till  it develops a malted flavor. Powder and store in an airtight tin.

Method of Feeding

When required take suitable amounts (say 60-70 g or 3 tbsp) of any one  of the above ready to use infant weaning food and mix with a small amount of hot water. Add more sugar or jaggery, if required, before feeding.

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