What To Feed Them - 3 Mths To 1 Year

[torrenova]

Our daughter is now 4 months old and was on breast milk supplemented with Dumex level 1 and now unfortunately is only on formula as she will not take it from her mother. She seems to love the Dumex and is growing very healthily but I just want to get some ideas for the next steps.

The Dumex website in Thai is all in Thai but the Singapore one has the Level 2 product as being for 6 months to 1 year. I wondered what difference there is and what different things a baby needs at 6 months ? They have products 3 (1-3 years) and 4 (4-10 years) which I don't think will figure on the horizon. I mean, who feeds a 10 year old baby milk ?

She is enjoying some banana and a little watered down apple juice but I wondered what else she could eat now at 4 months and then along the steps to 1 year old. I know very little.

What about moving to real milk ? What age ? why ? etc.

When can they eat meat, fish, more fruit etc.

All advice greatfully received.

[Somtamnication]

Let me tell what about ours..

Son is now 19 months.

He refused bottles from day one so he was breast fed until he came down with hand foot and mouth disease at 16 months. After 5 days of not sucking, he suddenly stopped the breast feeding.

Rewinding back to 6 months of age. We started him on the bottled food at about 6 months. He did not like it. Then mom gradually made soup and very soft rice and fish etc. You can buy the hand held manual blender and make fruit juices etc. The baby loved it.

After 8 months, we started to not blend the rice so much, teeth coming out etc.

Tickle their tongue with fruit.

The negatives is that at 19, he does not like any powdered milk. So we have to resort to that sweet uht stuff with fruit juice. I am not happy about it but some calcium is better than anything. I am not as concerned of him not drinking the powder stuff and all vitamins as he has a very healthy daily diet of fish, fruits and vegetables. I will supplement it with some calcium for babies, if I ever find any in Phuket.

Take it as an adventure. It is fun watching them discover tangy fruit and complaining about it then wanting a second helping.

Relax! Experiment daily with the baby and have fun.

Moving to real milk for your baby is a bit tough to give you advice on. It is not fortified with anything else, like the powder stuff or their equivalent in the watered milk boxes.

Anyway, go to Central and look for the hand held manual grinder and experiment.

[leisurely]

I think current UK advice is not to start a baby on solids until 6 months. Ours started on baby rice (foul) and progressed to pureed fruit with a small amount of protein - meat/fish/cheese. Anabel Karmel has an excellent book on baby food with recipes etc. This is aimed at a western market though. i would say that as long as you try to keep your child's diet additive (and salt or namh plah) free as far as possible, you can't really go wrong.

They can start FULL FAT cows milk at a year old.

[nikisue]

Although in the UK they do say start your baby on solids at 6 months in Thailand it is 4 (before in uk 4 as well). So to compromise I waited until my daughter was 5 months. But you will see that your baby will get an interest in food when ready to eat. I would be careful of giving fruit before vegetables. The reason for this is because the baby can get a taste for sweet food, and is harder to introduce vegetables. There are so many things you can try, just puree it. Sweet potato is always a favourite. I remember my daughter loved broccoli (and still does) carrots. Almost anything can be pureed. A suggestion that was given to me was to get an ice cube holder make up a batch of prured veg and fruit and can then store it in the fridge/freezer. There is a time limit they recommend for storing baby food, can't remember now, but have many website about it. But it is easy. then to feed the baby, usually about 1 cube going on to 2 cubes per meal. My daughter stopped breast feeding at 3 months and went onto formula. Once eating solids just cut down a bit on the milk. My daughter had formula until 1years and now has full fat milk. Baby rice is a good thing to feed your baby as well. They have lots of kinds in most shops. The one which most Thai women recommended to me was (not sure about spelling, but phoneticaly) sirilac. Nestles do lots of baby rice with added vegetables/fish etc...

My daughter is now 20 months and eats what I eat. Since she's been eating just be careful with making sure they are small bits (no or few teeth). Fish is a big favourtie with my daughter. She has eaten it since around 6 months. Just use your fingers to feed the baby so no bones.

[maccaroni man]

Although in the UK they do say start your baby on solids at 6 months in Thailand it is 4 (before in uk 4 as well). So to compromise I waited until my daughter was 5 months. But you will see that your baby will get an interest in food when ready to eat. I would be careful of giving fruit before vegetables. The reason for this is because the baby can get a taste for sweet food, and is harder to introduce vegetables. There are so many things you can try, just puree it. Sweet potato is always a favourite. I remember my daughter loved broccoli (and still does) carrots. Almost anything can be pureed. A suggestion that was given to me was to get an ice cube holder make up a batch of prured veg and fruit and can then store it in the fridge/freezer. There is a time limit they recommend for storing baby food, can't remember now, but have many website about it. But it is easy. then to feed the baby, usually about 1 cube going on to 2 cubes per meal. My daughter stopped breast feeding at 3 months and went onto formula. Once eating solids just cut down a bit on the milk. My daughter had formula until 1years and now has full fat milk. Baby rice is a good thing to feed your baby as well. They have lots of kinds in most shops. The one which most Thai women recommended to me was (not sure about spelling, but phoneticaly) sirilac. Nestles do lots of baby rice with added vegetables/fish etc...

My daughter is now 20 months and eats what I eat. Since she's been eating just be careful with making sure they are small bits (no or few teeth). Fish is a big favourtie with my daughter. She has eaten it since around 6 months. Just use your fingers to feed the baby so no bones.

some easy menu suggestions: rice soup, steamed and blended vegies, i.e. pumpkin, carrot, blended fruits apples, papaya, boiled egg mashed.

[leisurely]

Not so sure about the eggs. I think that you are supposed to withold them until the child is a year. Possibly to do with an allergy? Mind you, if everyone followed every tiny bit of advice offered nobody would eat anything because it is 'bad for you'.

[seonai]

OP see also the other thread in here called 'What to feed my 14 month old' - Boo has put in some excellent recipies