Feeding Your Baby

0 to 6 Months: Drinking Only
6 Months: Time to Offer Pureed Food
7 to 8 Months: Time to Thicken Up
9 to 12 Months: Time to Chew
When to introduce solid foods
What foods to offer
How much food they need
Making homemade baby food

0 to 6 Months: Drinking Only

• Breast Milk
• Or iron-fortified infant formula

6 Months: Time to Offer Pureed Food

When your baby can...sit up in high chair, hold head up, follow food with eyes

• Do NOT give honey until 12 months.
• Offer foods high in iron, daily.
• One teaspoon or less of a new food. Gradually give more if your baby does not have a reaction. Give once a day in the morning. Progress to twice a day.
• Pureed: Try one food at a time in no particular order.
• Start pureed fruit and cooked vegetables like: carrot, sweet potato, squash, beans, and canned fruits.
• Cereal: Start with a watery, semi solid consistency. Gradually use less liquid.
• Start iron-fortified single grain cereals like: rice. Then others like: barley, oatmeal.
• Breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula.
• Start pureed meat and alternatives such as: chicken, beef, lentils, and egg yolk.

7 to 8 Months: Time to Thicken Up

When your baby can...bite off food, pick up food with fingers, drink from cup but may spill

• Serve food that is lumpy, pureed, mashed, soft, and in small pieces.
• Give finger food - Do NOT give foods that are hard, small and round like whole grapes, wieners, nuts, seeds, chips, candies, popcorn, raw hard vegetables or smooth sticky foods like peanut butter.
• Serve water in a sippy cup.
• Breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula.
• Try sharper tasting vegetables like: cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli.
• Mixed cereals - once all single grains have been tried.
• Offer lumpy, pureed or mashed meats and alternatives such as: pork, fish, chickpeas, tofu, and egg yolk.

9 to 12 Months: Time to Chew

When your baby can...chew, pick up small pieces of food, control food in mouth

• Serve food that is mashed, grated, and finely chopped.
• Serve water and milk in a sippy cup, finger food and small amounts of family foods.
• Breast milk.
• Whole milk in a cup, full fat yogurt and cottage cheese (at least 2% M.F.), cheese.
• Cut up soft foods like: canned fruits, melon, mango, banana, cooked sweet potato, and broccoli.
• Limit juice to 2 oz (60 mL) daily.
• Gradually offer: rice, pasta – cut in small pieces, ¼ slice dry toast, couscous, and thick bread sticks.
• Try: Meat sauces, mashed baked beans, chopped meatloaf, whole egg (at 12 months).
• Make your own baby food!

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When to introduce solid foods

When should I introduce solid foods to my baby?

• Health Canada recommends introducing solid foods, with particular attention to iron-rich foods, at six months.

Does this mean I start feeding my baby solid foods at exactly six months after his/her birth date?

• Six months is a recommendation and is about the time most babies are ready to try solid foods. Observe your baby. Begin to feed him/her based on what he/she can do, not on how old he/she is.

What are some signs that my baby is ready to eat solid foods?

Look at what your baby can do. Around 6 months when your baby can do the following, he/she is ready to try solid foods.

• Sits up in the high chair
• Holds his/her head up and has control of the head and neck muscles
• Follows food with his/her eyes
• Opens wide when he/she sees food coming
• Moves food to the back of the mouth with the tongue
• Swallows food instead of pushing it out

Does this mean that if my baby is showing these signs of readiness at five and a half months I can start to feed him/her then?

• Yes. If your baby shows these signs, begin to feed him/her solid foods then.
• Another baby may not show these signs until six and a half months and can be fed solids at that time.
• Each baby develops at a different rate. Go with what your baby can do.

Is there any advantage to feeding my baby solid foods earlier, like at four months?

• No. There is no advantage to feeding your baby earlier. Solid foods are hard on a baby’s kidneys and may cause a baby to choke.
• Babies fed too early:
• Will not be able to absorb the nutrients in the food because the digestive tract is immature
• Will not get enough breast milk or formula needed for growth
• May not be able to swallow food from a spoon
• May have an increased chance of developing a food allergy

Is there any advantage to feeding my baby solid foods later, for example at eight months?

• No. There is no advantage to waiting until your baby is older.
• Babies whose feeding is delayed:
• May not get all the nutrients needed for proper growth
• Are at risk of becoming anemic, which in turn can affect brain development
• May have difficulty in accepting and trying new foods and textures
• May have difficulty chewing solid foods

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What foods to offer

What foods should I feed my baby?

Contrary to popular belief, there is no “correct” order in which foods have to be introduced. Health Canada recommends that when introducing solid foods, foods rich in iron should be introduced first. Some foods that are rich in iron that a baby could begin with are:

• Iron-fortified infant cereal for example rice, barley, oatmeal
• Cooked, pureed meats for example chicken, turkey
• Cooked, pureed lentils, kidney beans, black beans
• Cooked egg yolk

Because vitamin C helps the body use iron in foods we eat, it is best to include foods rich in vitamin C at the start as well. Foods like cantaloupe, mango, papaya, sweet potato, squash, green beans, potato, broccoli and cauliflower are all good sources of vitamin C.

Are there any foods that I should avoid in the first year?

Avoid honey and egg white in the first year.

At the start, feed your baby:

• One food at a time, one teaspoon or less at a time, for a few days.
• Look for signs of food allergy. Some signs are: skin rash, hives, eczema, vomiting, diarrhea, nose itching, cough, and difficulty breathing. Talk to you doctor before you introduce new foods if you suspect your child may have a food allergy.
• As your baby accepts the food you can gradually give more. Progress from once a day in the morning to twice a day.
• Begin with runny, semi-solid food. Progress to pureed and smooth.

How long should I puree my baby’s food?

When your baby first starts to eat, begin with a runny, semi-solid texture. Gradually make the texture thicker.
It is important that you do not puree your baby’s food for too long because your baby has to learn to chew.

Around seven to nine months, gradually change the texture and variety of foods when your baby can:

• Hold food in the mouth before swallowing
• Mash food between the jaws
• Scrape food from the hand into the mouth
• Pick up food with the palms of the hand
• Sip from a cup

Babies and young children love to play with their food. Messes are normal and to be expected. Playing with their food is just one way babies and children learn how to eat. Foods and textures to try at this age are:

• Pureed food that is thicker and lumpier
• Fork-mashed food like ripe banana, mango, avocado
• Stronger tasting vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower that is still pureed, but thicker and lumpier
• Dry, plain toast strips and unsalted crackers

Around 10 to 12 months your baby is ready to join the family table when he/she can:

• Bite and chew
• Pick up small pieces of food
• Put food in the mouth
• Start to hold a cup when drinking

Foods and textures to try at this age are:

• Finger foods like raw or cooked pieces of soft fruit, cooked vegetable, pasta cut into small pieces and small pieces of cooked meat, chicken, beans
• Family food that is mashed, minced, diced or cut up like meat sauce, mashed baked beans, chopped meatloaf

What about milk?

• Breast milk is the best milk for your baby. Health Canada recommends breastfeeding for up to two years and beyond.
• An alternative to breast milk is iron-fortified infant formula.
• Whole (homogenized) milk can be introduced between nine to 12 months and is recommended at least until the age of two.
• Lower fat milk like skim, 1 %, 2%, chocolate milk or fortified soy beverages should only be introduced after the age of two.
• Children aged two to five years need at least two cups of liquid milk every day.

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How much food they need

How much should I feed my baby?

Take your cues from your baby. Your baby will show you he/she is full by:

• Turning his/her head away from the spoon
• Closing his/her mouth at the sight of the spoon
• Spitting out food

Your baby will show you he/she is hungry by:

• Sucking on fist or lips
• Fussing or crying
• Leaning forward or reaching for food
• Opening mouth at the sight of food

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Making homemade baby food

How can I make homemade baby food?

Making baby food is easy. You need a food blender, baby food mill or a wire sieve and a spoon. If you wish to freeze baby food, you need an ice cube tray, freezer bags and labels.

How to start?

Wash your hands before you prepare the food. Use utensils, containers and cookware that are clean.

To prepare vegetables and fruits

1. Wash, peel, and remove the pit or seeds from fresh or frozen vegetables or fruit. (e.g. carrot, squash, sweet potato, green beans, peaches, apples, plums, prunes)
2. Place vegetable or fruit in a steamer or a small amount of boiling water and simmer until tender.
3. To microwave, place the vegetable or fruit in a microwave safe bowl with a small amount of water and heat at a high setting until tender.
4. Remove from heat and drain. Keep the cooking water.
5. Mash or blend vegetables using a small amount of cooking water.

To prepare meat and fish

1. Place a piece of meat (e.g. chicken, turkey, beef) or fish (e.g. sole, flounder, haddock, halibut) in a saucepan with a small amount of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Continue to cook until meat separates easily form the bone or the fish flakes easily with a fork.
2. To microwave, place meat or fish in a microwave-safe bowl and heat at a high setting until meat separates easily from the bone or the fish flakes easily with a fork. Meats and fish can also be roasted, baked or braised.
3. Remove meat/fish from bones and skin. Cut meat/fish into small pieces.
4. Blend or puree with some stock.

To prepare meat alternatives

1. Cook legumes (e.g. silken tofu, chick peas, red lentils, kidney beans, black beans) according to the directions on the package. Cook egg yolks until firm.
2. Mash with a little water to bring the mixture to the desired texture.

How can I store homemade baby food?

In the refrigerator: Store homemade baby food in tightly covered containers for up to three days. Remove the portion to be served at each meal rather than feeding directly from the container.

In the freezer: Put the prepared puree into ice cubes trays. Cover the ice cube tray with plastic wrap and place in freezer until frozen – about three to six hours.
Once the purees are frozen, store in a plastic freezer bags which are labelled and dated. If stored in a fridge freezer, use within two months. If stored in a deep freezer, use the food within six months.

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