Feeding Advice
- Continue breastfeeding on demand.
- If you are breastfeeding or formula feeding, let your baby decide how much to drink.
- The amount of milk they drink will decrease as they eat more solid foods.
- Ask about Vitamin D supplementation.
Introducing food with a spoon
- After your baby does well with single grain (rice, barley or oats) iron-fortified cereal, try soft vegetables.
- Offer new foods and veggies first when your child is most hungry. Offer one new food with familiar foods.
- They may like something different from you. Be sure to offer lots of different fruits and vegetables.
- Stay positive. Don’t be surprised if you have to offer a new food several times.
- This is your chance to give baby new experiences. Let them explore with their hands, tongue, nose and eyes.
Self-feeding with finger foods
- Mealtimes: Offer new colors, flavors, textures and smells. Give small tastes.
- Enjoy family meals. Place your baby in a booster seat or high chair at the table. Let babies feed themselves as much as possible.
- Never bribe, reward or comfort your baby with food.
- They will let you know when they are done – tugging at their bib, turning their head or pushing away the plate or spoon.
What should baby be drinking?
- At one year, offer milk at meals and water in between meals. Juice decreases your baby’s appetite. Juice is not necessary. If your doctor recommends it, give less than 3 ounces a day of 100% juice.
- Around 9 to12 months, trade the bottle for a cup. By one year, offer all drinks in a cup.
- Soft drinks, fruit punch, sports drinks or other sweetened drinks are not good for your baby.
For additional information, check out the the 6-12 Month PMP Handout. (I think for the purpose of the site it would be better to have the PDFs hosted on the site rather than linking to Dropbox like I did here.. just did it for example.)