Last Updated on May 20, 2025 by

Food supplementation:

Food should first be pureed, which means that after cooking, they should be ground and then strained using a strainer to create a very fine, creamy paste or liquid.Pumpkin puree, turnip puree, and spinach puree can all be made. A puree is a smooth cream made from cooked and liquidized fruits or vegetables.
You can start introducing fruit puree after two weeks, up until the start of seven months. Try mashed banana puree, apple puree, and carrot puree, then dal and rice.

Stage-2 (At 7-9 months)

Make a lumpy dish of khichri by combining green veggies and mashed potatoes. Provide foods from every dietary group, such as fruit, vegetables, cereals, legumes, pulses, dairy products like cheese and yogurt, meat, fish, and eggs, as well as fat and oil.

Stage-3 (At 9 months onwards)

Foods should be coarsely minced so the infant may pick them up with her thumb and finger.

The newborn experiences taste during its fetal stage. You want to minimise the promotion of salty or sugary foods in moderation — packaged foods from cookies, chips and biscuits. Provide a selection of dishes with different flavors.

Right Consistency :

During the time of starting of complementary feeding, appropriate consistency may be adopted to guarantee the optimal nutrition for the child. The food shouldn’t be overly thick or too runny in nature.

Use caution when handling pea nuts, raisins, and small beans. Choking may result from these. Please attend your toddlers when they need you.

Gradually, different solid foods to be started for the child diet. To watch for any allergic reactions, simply introduce one new food at a time and keep it that way for three to four days. Stop eating right away and wait a month or two before beginning if you get any rashes, vomiting, or loose motion. (Food supplementation)

Give the infant no more than a teaspoon of the food at first, then a tablespoon, and finally two to three teaspoons.

Prioritize the active time of baby always. Please don’t be in hurry mood to finish the food what you’ve made for baby. The baby may simply throw up everything if you force-feed her, so pause and try again the following day for a better chance.

Make mealtime enjoyable for the infant rather than a chore. You shouldn’t worry, if the child after eating a spoonful of the meal & then loses interest, in such case please provide breast milk for all the nutrition baby needs.

Equal amounts of food are required for boys and girls.
Wash your hands with soap and water, and your child’s hands, before and after feeding.

When the youngster is eating, sit with them.

As per availability in our culture and society, we should select the best complimentary foods t which are simple to cook at home. Also the principles of proper consistency, texture and flavor may be adhered.

Up until the age of one year, youngsters are open to trying various flavors and textures. After the first year, however, youngsters go through a phase where they become suspicious of new meals and may even reject items they have already eaten. This might persist until the child turns three. The fact that this is a typical stage of a child’s development and that attempting to force feed a child can result in lifelong food refusal should be understood by parents. Do not forget to remove any uneaten food without making a comment.

Self-feeding should be encouraged from an early age for Food supplementation

During eating time, allow the child to make a mess. A child should look forward to mealtimes.

During mealtimes, pay attention positively.

We must prepare and provide a variety of diet options & honor the preference of baby.
In front of your child, eat the meal you want them to consume.
Ensuring your toddler to eat sufficient, please serve food to him/her in a different bowl.

One by one, the foods that are most likely to trigger an allergic reaction should be introduced so that it is simple to determine whether a particular item has triggered a reaction. We may start & introduce such types of diet as soon as our infant is eating fruit, veggies & cereals.

Foods made from cow’s milk or formula are among them; foods based on

Eggs, fish, almonds, soybeans, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, celery, wheat—bread, pasta, and some breakfast cereals—and other meals that contain sulfur, including packaged goods. Cow’s milk shouldn’t be provided before the first birthday, though.

Step -1 :

Six months should be time to offer your baby vegetables. As it is new to the baby, they won’t adopt & learn overnight, but if we persist, we should pass them a passion that will burn brightly for life. We must try to avoid the baby from sweeten vegetables by adhering to broccoli, spinach & cauliflower and also start with one savory flavor of diet.

Green veggies are my lifelong favorite : Food supplementation:

During introduction of complementary food, we should focus our infant to more vegetable flavors instead of sweet types which may help to mold their tastes and instill a lifelong appreciation of green veggies. Even though kids have a natural preference for sweet foods, exposing them to single-vegetable, basic flavors now can help them develop a liking for these foods later in life. In the first step, don’t forget to start with one vegetable and then go on to other single veggies.

Bacteria and germs won’t be present in infant meals if the kitchen is kept clean. Here is few tips to keep our kitchen clean.

Sanitation and hygiene is very much important before you start preparing the food for baby. In first step, we have to wash our hands thoroughly with soap & water. Hence, even for different organic vegetable & its produces that you are going to peel should also be properly washed with clean water.

We should use different working surfaces and equipment during keeping any raw meat, poultry and fish, it should not be mixed with cooked items.

Step – 2 : Food supplementation:

Fruit Puree: just after two to three weeks of consuming just vegetable puree. The third week following the introduction of supplemental meals

Soft finger foods together with thicker purees and soft mashed foods are appropriate foods for six to seven month-old. It helps your child develop the speech-related muscles and encourages them to be more adventurous with eating. In the same dinner, serve two or three family vegetables. The infants will understand different food tastes when puree ingredients remain separate from each other.

You should avoid consuming the allergy-trigging items like fish eggs milk and ground nuts and wheat for babies under nine months of age. However, before the first birthday, cow’s milk shouldn’t be administered.

After pureed food, go on to mashed food, and finally solid food. This enhances their ability to chew until at least the second birthday.

At 8 to 9 months, the following should be on the food plate:

1) fruits,

2) Especially many types of green leafy vegetables

3) The dietary choices such as ragi along with rice and wheat belong to the grain group.

4) The diet of a baby should include fish as well as fully cooked eggs and pulses (dal). Additionally they need proteins.

5) These dairy products consist of cheese in combination with curd and butter among others.

6) Fats and oils.

Along with finger foods, food should be prepared and served semi-solid. The messages on the plate for baby’s meals must be in checks and texture.

Your child will not need any forced meals of vegetable purees since you may present tasty small foods like sweet potatoes and bananas for self-feeding. Their experience with food becomes more vibrant regarding colors and flavors and sensory opportunities for Food supplementation

A 9-month-old child requires a plate containing food from each group but also needs visual and sensory diversity in terms of both appearance and texture and smell.

Support the fingers after 9 mths of age to take food to his/her mouth.

Foods to serve to children aged 9 to 12 months and older :

Grains: Food supplementation:

Other infant cereals include maize, millet, and baby rice, wheat, ragi, suji, khichri, chapatti, and meals prepared from rice (Idli, Upma).

Protein: Food supplementation:

Bengal gram, chickpeas (Kabuli Chana), lentils, legumes, ground nuts, soybeans, and green peas.Eggs (hard-boiled), fish (bones removed),

Fruits:

Bananas, papayas, apples, mangos, and other seasonal fruits, etc.

Vegetables :

Lettuce (salad patta), fenugreek leaves (methi), carrot, pumpkin, tomato, bottle gourd (lauki), spinach (palak), green beans, and coriander (dhania)

Dairy :

Paneer cheese, curd, and butter

Fats & Oils :

Combine groundnut oil and mustard oil or mustard oil and rice bran oil.

FAQs:

Q1. What is the necessity of food supplementation during the seventh month?

Ans. Breast milk fails to provide sufficient nutrition for a growing infant after six months of age specifically lacking iron along with vital nutrients.

Q2. I need to determine which food supplementation will be the right first introduction to my baby’s diet?

Ans. An appropriate first diet for iron nutrient absorption includes fortified cereals together with pureed meat meats in addition to lentils and soft fruits and vegetables such as bananas carrots and avocados.

Q3. Which is the correct approach for introducing new food supplementation items to my infant?

Ans. To monitor allergic reactions infants should only receive one new food at a moment followed by a waiting period of 3–5 days for each new addition.

Q4. What foods should I restrict during my first food supplementation introduction?

ans. The feeding schedule should exclude honey since it presents a botulism risk and whole nuts pose a choking hazard and should limit main beverages to cow’s milk and restrict food additions of salt or sugar.

Q5. A 6-month-old child should receive what amount of food supplementation per day?

Ans. Your baby needs one or two tablespoon servings per day at most while showing readiness to eat more (serving amounts).

Q6. The question remains if breast milk consumption needs to continue when solid food enters the diet.

Ans. Babies should maintain breastfeeding while also consuming solids beginning from at least 12 months of age as doctors recommend.

Q7. Which texture should parents use when introducing solid food supplementation to their babies?

Ans. The initial solid foods should be fluid yet pureed with no issues for swallowing. The feeding progression for your baby should start with pureed then mashed foods supplementation followed by soft bite-sized foods as your child grows.

Q8. The significance of iron supplementation should receive priority during early feeding periods.

Ans. Very important. The brain needs iron during development to work properly along with anemia prevention so start introducing iron-rich foods supplementation right away.

Q9. Which techniques can I use to ensure my dinner time with my infant is positive?

Ans. Families are advised to add several colorful foods to their child’s schedule, while the caregiver should have patience during eating and remain relaxed when the child learns to grab food alone.

Guideline of WHO for Dengue Disease and its link as mentioned below: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding

Thanks and Regards

Note: This information is suggestive only and not a replacement for medical advice. For more details please visit to my website as mentioned below:

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