6 month old baby food

If it hasn’t happened yet, this month will be devoted to a very big step in your baby’s life: that of food diversification. Gently, you will be able to introduce new flavors and introduce your child to the joys of gastronomy for toddlers! Remember to immortalize these first spoons!

Meals for 6 month old baby

At six months, baby’s days resemble the days of older children: in addition to his naps at regular times, he eats in the morning when he wakes up, then around noon, then has a snack around 3-4 p.m. and eats his last meal. in the evening, before bedtime.

Whether he is bottle-fed or breastfed, he therefore takes four meals a day of 210 ml to 240 ml of milk per meal, depending on his appetite: 210 ml of water + 7 measures of milk or 240 ml of water + 8 measures of milk.

If he is bottle-fed, this month you will switch from 1st stage milk to 2nd stage milk, a milk slightly more concentrated in proteins, vitamins, minerals and fatty acids to better meet your child’s needs. This milk is indeed normally offered from 6 months.

At six months, if it has not already been done, a big step takes place: that of food diversification. Indeed, from this age, exclusively consumed breast or infant milk is no longer sufficient to meet the baby’s nutritional needs. It is therefore important to broaden the diet of the child who is now able to chew and swallow foods other than milk.

However, note that even if your 6-month-old baby is about to start eating with a spoon – or is already eating with a spoon like a grown-up – milk is still his main food. The other foods that are offered to him very gradually, simply complement his milk diet.

Discovering proteins (meat, fish, eggs)

If you have already started your child’s food diversification, the big novelty for his 6 months will be the introduction of proteins such as meat, fish and eggs. These foods are a privileged source of iron for your child, whose needs are high at this age.

Generally, it is advisable to introduce proteins only one month after the start of food diversification. At six months, you can start introducing certain proteins such as:

• From turkey or chicken breastgrilled then mixed
• From cooked white ham, skinned and defatted mixed
• From lean fish well cooked like cod, hake or hake for example. Take care to carefully remove the bones and mix the fish. You can opt for fresh or frozen fish but avoid breaded fish.
• Eggs: choose extra-fresh ones (laid a maximum of 7 days ago) and offer your child half ahard-boiled egg yolk, instead of meat or fish. Mix it with the vegetables. Avoid white reputed to be very allergenic, at first.

The choice is therefore vast enough for the beginning of food diversification: take the opportunity to vary the sources of protein and introduce your child to the different flavors of each. The ideal remains to vary between meats, fish and egg yolk on a regular basis. Ideally, offer two servings of fish per week to your child.

The proteins will be offered at the meal during which you will offer your baby the vegetables (midday or evening) and will be mixed directly with the puree.

Regarding the quantities, be careful: the recommendations in terms of proteins are very frequently exceeded as the needs of the baby are minimal at 6 months. So be sure to introduce only one portion of meat, fish or egg per day: either at lunchtime or in the evening, in addition to vegetables. From 6 to 8 months the recommended quantities are 10 g in total per day only. This corresponds to 2 teaspoons of meat or fish or 1/2 egg yolk only per day !

Can a baby be vegetarian?

Well-planned vegetarianism for babies is generally accepted by the medical profession and is considered to pose no major problems. However, the same is not true for veganism, which is described as too difficult to implement to ensure the nutritional needs of the child.

If parents want a vegetarian diet for their child, particular attention should be paid to the quantity and quality of protein, iron, calcium and fatty acids, in particular.

Thus, it will be necessary to give priority to:

• Proteins: egg yolk and fish (if tolerated by the parents) will be the main sources of animal protein. Vegetable proteins will come in addition. Be careful though: all soy products (tofu, tempeh, seitan, steak and soy yogurts, etc.) are to be excluded in children!
• Iron : green vegetables (parsley, spinach, watercress), seaweed (sea lettuce, wakame), cereals such as oats and millet as well as curry are good sources of iron. If they are well tolerated at the intestinal level, legumes will be introduced for their richness in iron: red and white beans, chickpeas, split peas and lentils. In this case, it will be necessary to cook them well, or even overcook them.
• Calcium: green leafy vegetables (spinach, watercress, chard leaves, etc.), mineral waters rich in calcium (Talians®, Hépar®, Contrex®, Courmayeur®) will prevent deficiencies. The major error remains to use a simple commercial vegetable drink (soya, almond, hazelnut, spelled, etc.) to replace infant milk. Warning: these drinks are not suitable for infants and involve real health risks!
• Fatty acids : eggs (egg yolk only at first) from hens fed flaxseed will be preferred and oils rich in Omega-3 will be added to baby meals: perilla, camelina, nigella, hemp, walnuts, rapeseed , soy.

Favorite foods

Your six-month-old baby will therefore discover the joys of new colors, new textures and new flavors… if the discovery has not yet begun!

Thus, babies’ meals will now evolve gradually to switch to a varied and balanced diet around the age of one year. At six months, beyond proteins, the subject of which has been discussed previously, babies will taste the joys of vegetables, fruits and possibly starchy foods. Always start with small quantities and gradually increase the doses according to your baby’s reactions and his thirst for discovery. It is indeed important to respect your rhythm because food diversification can be a difficult exercise for babies who are the most reluctant to new things. Forcing it would then be counterproductive. Take your time, or rather: let your baby take his time.

The vegetables

Only the very fibrous vegetables such as artichoke heart, salsify, leek leaves are not recommended at first because of the digestive difficulties they can cause. Avoid them, especially if you find that your child has sensitive intestines. From the age of six months, your child will be able to discover all the other vegetables, in the form of purees:

• Carrots
• Green beans, flat coconut beans
• Spinach
• Zucchini
• Broccoli
• White leek
• Beet
• Eggplant
• Pumpkin, pumpkin, butternut squash, etc.

Prefer fresh seasonal vegetables, and possibly opt for frozen vegetables. Avoid cans that contain salt. Just be sure to wash well (if they are fresh), to cook the vegetables well enough and to mix them finely to obtain a very smooth purée which you will offer to your baby either with a spoon or in a bottle of milk (in this case, change the pacifier!), at noon or in the evening. On the other hand, do not add never salt !

Starches

The introduction of starchy foods is not mandatory at the start of food diversification if you want to offer 100% vegetable purees to your baby, but it is quite possible, to thicken and soften the purees for example. Choose, to start, smooth textures such as:

• The mashed potato
• mashed sweet potato
• Polenta mixed directly with vegetables

Legumes (lentils, split peas, chickpeas, white and red beans), – also called “pulses” – should however be avoided throughout baby’s first year because they are too indigestible due to their fiber content. .

The fruits

Fruits, with their sweet flavor, are generally very popular with children. Again, prefer fresh, seasonal and very ripe fruit to delight your baby’s taste buds and give him the benefit of their vitamins, minerals and antioxidants! And if your child refuses to take his milk after having tasted the joys of fruit, simply take care to always offer him his bottle or breastfeeding before his puree. Whether or not you have already started food diversification, you can offer your 6-month-old baby the following fruits:

• Apple
• Sin
• Quince
• Pear
• Nectarine
• Banana

These fruits will generally be offered as a snack in addition to a bottle or breastfeeding and will preferably be given with a spoon. However, it is possible to mix fruit puree with milk in the bottle, especially if baby is reluctant to new flavors.

Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and peanuts are however to be excluded.

Dairy products

At six months, you can introduce your children to yogurts. You will offer him a substitute for part of his bottle: generally a yogurt for children weighs 60 g: then reduce the quantity of milk by 60 ml (60 ml of water and 2 doses of milk). For dairy products, whether yoghurts, Swiss cheese or cottage cheese, opt preferably for infant dairy products sold in the baby department rather than those sold in the fresh section: they are made with infant milk, perfectly adapted to the nutritional needs of young children, without excess protein in order to protect their kidneys.

6 month old baby food day

Here is an example of a typical food day for your six-month-old. Of course, the quantities are given as an indication, and are to be adapted – revise them upwards or downwards – according to your child’s appetite.

Breastfeeding or bottle of 210 to 240 ml of 2nd age milk (210 ml of water + 7 measures of milk or 240 ml of water + 8 measures of milk)

Mashed vegetables with a spoon + 1 tbsp. c. of oil (ideally: mixture of 4 oils: Sunflower, Rapeseed, Oléisol, Grapeseed): progressive quantities starting with a few spoons then gradually increasing the volume of puree, depending on the stage of diversification of the baby and his appetite.

Optional, depending on the age at which you started food diversification: 10 g meat, fish or egg yolk = 2 teaspoons of meat or fish or 1/2 egg yolk

Breastfeeding or bottle of 210 to 240 ml of 2nd age milk (210 ml of water + 7 measures of milk or 240 ml of water + 8 measures of milk)

Fruit compote: from a few spoonfuls to 60 or even 100 g depending on the stage of diversification of the baby and his appetite.

Breastfeeding or bottle of 210 to 240 ml of 2nd age milk (210 ml of water + 7 measures of milk or 240 ml of water + 8 measures of milk) or bottle of 150 ml to 180 ml of 2nd age milk and 1 yoghurt with infant milk

Breastfeeding or bottle of 210 to 240 ml of 2nd age milk (210 ml of water + 7 measures of milk or 240 ml of water + 8 measures of milk).