Introducing solid foods to six months little one is always exciting for every parents. New mothers are often confused with which food should be introduced first to their baby. Until six months babies are fully dependent on mother milk or formula milk, but now it's time to introduce different kinds of food to develop their taste buds.
By six months babies are completely ready for solid food and also try to accept all kinds of taste at this age. Here are the 6 months baby food items and recipes, which will help you to choose from.
It should be noted that breastfeeding or formula milk is still necessary for the six months babies along with the small portion of solid food. Breastfeeding is necessary until one year of baby to provide all the essential nutrition as well as the hydration to them.
Read here: How To Boost Immunity In Babies?
FOODS FOR 6 MONTHS BABYFruits- Apple, Banana, Papaya Vegetables- Carrot, Sweet Potato, Raw Banana Grains- Rice, Sabudana/ Sago, Phool Makhana Pulses- Moong Dal (Yellow Lentils) Dairy Products- Ghee Non Veg- No
BABY FOOD RECIPES FOR SIX MONTHSFRUIT PUREE
Apple Puree- Wash an apple and peel the outer layer properly. Cut it into 4 to 5 pieces and discard the seed area. Steam the pieces of apple for 20 mnts. Mash and the apple puree is ready to serve.
Banana Puree- Peel a ripe banana and simply mash it with baby food masher or fork. Make sure no lumps are there. You can blend it too in a blender for smooth paste. Banana puree is ready to serve.
Papaya Puree- Wash and peel a ripe papaya. Cut it into small pieces, mash or blend the papaya for a smooth puree. Serve it your little one.
Watermelon Puree- Wash and remove the upper layer of the watermelon. Cut it into small pieces and remove the seeds. Blend it in a blender for a juice like consistency. Watermelon puree is ready to serve.
VEGETABLE PUREE
Carrot Puree- Wash a carrot and peel the outer layer properly. Cut it into small pieces. Steam the carrot for 20 mnts. Mash and the carrot puree is ready to serve. Sweet Potato Puree- Wash the sweet potato properly, make sure no dirt remains. Peal the upper layer. Steam and mash to serve. Raw Banana Puree- Wash the raw banana. Pressure cook it with the peel. Cool it and remove the peel. Mash and it's ready to serve.
CEREAL RECIPES
Rice
Khichadi- Overcook rice and moong dal with no salt. Blend it to a smooth paste and serve by adding little ghee.
Rice Moong Dal Powder - Wash one cup of rice and one cup of moong dal. Drain water and dry it in a shed or under the fan. After 3 to 4 hours of drying, dry roast the mixture to remove all the water content. Add little cumin seeds to roast as well. Grind all ingredients and store the mixture in an airtight container, it lasts for 1 month.How to serve: Add little hot water to the powder and cook it for 5 mnts in a pan and it's ready to serve. Sabudana/ Sago
Soak Sabudana in water and overcook it in water. If necessary grind to smooth paste. Add formula milk. (Do not add the formula milk powder directly mix it in milk form).
Sabudana Powder- Roast the Sabudana with desi ghee. Cool it and grind to smooth powder. How to serve: Add a little hot water to the sabudana powder and cook it for 5 minutes in a pan. Add formula milk powder (in milk form) mix to get the smooth paste to serve. You can also mix the Phool Makhana powder to make it more healthy." Phool Makhana
Cut the phool makhana into small pieces and dry roast it in desi ghee. Cool and grind to smooth powder. Store the powder in an airtight container, it lasts for two months.
How to serve: Add little hot water to the phool makhana powder and cook it for 2 minutes in a pan. Add formula milk powder (in milk form) mix to get the smooth paste to serve.
PULSES RECIPES
Moong Dal (Yellow Lentils)
Wash Moong Dal and cook it in water. Do not add salt, while turmeric is optional you can add a pinch of turmeric powder. Serve the Dal water to your baby. It's easy to digest and good for health.
FOOD QUANTITY FOR SIX MONTH BABYVegetable and Fruit Puree- Can be given 2 tbsp to 4 tbsp in starting. Gradually you can increase the quantity depending upon your baby's interest.
Cereal- Can be given half cup or 3/4 depending upon the hunger and taste interest of your baby. Gradually increase the quantity.
Pulses Water- Can start with 4 tbsp to 6 tbsp. Later increase the quantity after two three weeks.
SIX MONTH BABY EATING ROUTINEMorning- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk
Mid Morning- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk/ Dal Water/ Fruit Puree
Lunch- Cereal/ Vegetable Puree
Mid Evening- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk
Evening- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk
Dinner- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk
Late Night- Breastmilk/ Formula Milk
Things to Remember:Always sterilize the utensil used for feeding your baby.
Introduce one food one at a time.
Introducing fruits is good for babies but sometimes babies get cold and cough with regular feeding of fruits. So, try giving fruits once or twice in a month for a six months infant. It's not compulsory, it depends from baby to baby as well.
Always go slow, week by week, for introducing any new food.
Always prefer steaming of fruits and vegetable over pressure cook. Steaming keeps the nutrient of the fruit and vegetable intact.
Make sure no sugar and salt in baby food until one year. Palm candy powder can be used in place of sugar which must be minimal in amount.
Always check the baby food is not so hot while feeding. Sometimes, the spoon is hotter than the food, therefore check the temperature before feeding. We recommend a silicone heat indicator spoon for feeding. You can also try a silicone bottle feeder to ease your baby feeding process.
Ensure your baby is not getting allergic to any food.
Always ask your pediatrician before introducing any meal plan to your little love.
Also read:
Lunch and dinner ideas for babies (9-12months old babies)
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