Good day! Today we are going to talk about the nutrition of a seven-month-old toddler. The baby has grown up, and it’s time to enrich his menu with new food. You will learn about what products these will be, how to introduce them correctly, whether to give preference to store-bought or home-made food, and how much to feed a baby at 7 months by reading this article.
Features of the feeding process
It is very important to know how to properly organize the baby’s feeding process. To do this, there are a number of rules, following which you can achieve good results in the development of your little one:
- Teach your baby to use a spoon and a cup. For the first time, you can purchase a special sippy cup.
- Feeding should take place exclusively in a sitting position.
- Approve your baby's cognitive activities. Don't be angry if he smears all the porridge on the table.
- Set an example for your child. Show that you also eat like him.
For example, I took another spoon and, together with my son, ate from his plate. And then she poured it into a separate bowl for herself and sat down next to him. This is how our meal went together.
- The baby eats five times, two feedings are still formula or breast milk.
- Breaks between meals last 4 hours. This is enough so that the baby does not start to feel too hungry, but also has time to get hungry.
- There are established standards for the consumption of certain foods. But each child’s body is unique, and you need to adapt to his personal characteristics: metabolic rate, activity, body type, genetic predisposition.
Nutrition system for a seven month old baby
As we have already said, the baby has five meals a day. It is worth considering that the very first, as well as the last, feeding should be represented by formula or breast milk. Let's take a closer look at what time meals should take place and what, if possible, they will include:
- The first feeding approximately occurs at 6 am. It still includes the baby’s usual adapted formula or mother’s milk.
- The second feeding occurs at 10 am. Now you need to feed the baby something satisfying. Porridge is ideal. At this age, fruit puree can be added as a sweetener. 10 o'clock is the optimal time to introduce new foods to the toddler's complementary foods. This way you will have enough time before bedtime to monitor your baby’s reaction to the new complementary foods.
- Lunch comes at approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It is recommended to give the child the most high-calorie food at this time in order to charge the child with energy before the walk. Soups are good for this, and for children on an artificial type of feeding - meat purees (low-fat varieties), cottage cheese.
- The penultimate feeding occurs at 6 pm. Feed your little one any proven food. Vegetable purees, as well as fruit purees, are good for this time. After complementary feeding, it is allowed to supplement the baby with a little formula or breast milk.
- The last time the little one eats is around 10 o'clock at night. The only acceptable food for this time is mother's milk (formula). Make sure your baby doesn't overeat before bed.
Products from the store or home cooking
This is a highly controversial issue. Here, rather, you choose for yourself what is more convenient for you and what is best. But let’s still look at the advantages of one and the second type of product.
When purchasing food at the counter, you can be sure that all sanitary standards, the ingredients have been carefully checked and prepared according to special technologies. You can also see the composition, which is usually completely natural (at most, a preservative will be present lemon acid), no added sugar. This product requires virtually no time investment. Convenient to use. Also on the label you will find the optimal age for taking a particular food and an indication of portion sizes in accordance with age standards.
If you decide to prepare food for your baby yourself, you will have to spend a lot of time. But you will cook with love, you will be sure that you are using only natural and fresh products. And as practice shows, food prepared with your own hands turns out tastier than canned food or powdered porridge.
However, it is worth remembering that you cannot repeat the technology for preparing some products at home. These include juices and cookies for the little ones. If you still decide to prepare juice at home, then know that it must be diluted by half with water intended specifically for baby food.
What can you feed a baby at 7 months?
Now we have come to the most important question. At the age of seven months, absolutely all children have a varied menu. However, it still differs in its composition.
Naturally nourished baby
At the age of seven months, porridge (but only representatives of the gluten-free range), fruit purees, compotes and juices are added to the baby’s diet. It is already allowed to sometimes add a little butter (butter) to the prepared dish. But you should still avoid salt and sugar.
Now you can introduce new types of vegetables, buckwheat, rice porridge, fruits. The main thing to remember is that the baby still needs food of a liquid and uniform consistency. We are still introducing new products a little at a time and monitoring how the child’s body reacts.
As for juices and compotes, prepare or buy them based on products to which the child’s body has already adapted. And it is important to know that juice prepared at home must be diluted by half with special baby water.
I first introduced apples and pears to my toddler at this age. And the first drinks I gave were clarified apple and pear juices. The first of the porridges was buckwheat, cooked in water (it was still too early to cook with milk). The baby liked the new products and, fortunately, was accepted normally by the body.
Baby with artificial feeding
The artificial baby's menu is already quite varied. It includes many products. Vegetable purees, cereals and fruit purees remain irreplaceable. If you haven't yet introduced egg yolk, fish and meat, now is the time. It is important to remember that the portion of food for such children should be one and a half times larger than for those who are on breastfeeding. The food intake can be calculated as an eighth of your child’s body weight.
What could be the menu for a baby?
All children, regardless of the type of feeding, have already switched to complementary feeding. But they did it in different time and their menu is slightly different. Therefore, we will separately consider the approximate diet for a child on breastfeeding and for children on IV.
On GW
- The baby's morning begins at 6 o'clock. He wakes up and immediately wants to eat. The first feeding is represented by breast milk, which is still so necessary for a growing body. There are no special restrictions on the volume of milk consumed. As a rule, at this age the child drinks enough to feel full and moves his head away or spits out the nipple.
- Around 10 o'clock the little one will be hungry again. Porridge (for example, buckwheat or rice) is best at this time. The baby needs to eat no more than 170 grams. For dessert, offer your child 80 grams of fruit puree.
- At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, vegetable purees and juice (170 grams and 30 ml, respectively) are ideal.
- Dinner falls at approximately 6 pm. Prepare fruit puree for your baby (80 grams is enough). And for a snack, give two biscuits.
- The baby's diet ends (at approximately 10 o'clock at night) with breastfeeding. The child drinks as much as he needs.
On IV
- Feed your baby milk or fermented milk formula at 6 am. The volume of drink should be 200 ml.
- At 10 o'clock the baby's appetite will work again. Now you can give him porridge in milk with a piece of butter (170 and 5 grams, respectively). A delicious dessert would be fruit or berry puree (80 grams).
- For lunch (at 14:00), the baby will have pureed vegetables (170 grams) with 5 grams of oil (vegetable), one-half chicken yolk, 50 grams of meat puree and juice (30 ml).
- The baby's dinner is at 18:00. Suitable for a child
Hello everyone, tell me what your menu is and by the hour at 7-8 months, and what kind of breastfeeding or bottle feeding?
Here are some selections I made from the Internet, do you also feed?
Menu seven one month old baby:
A seven-month-old baby's menu should look something like this:
6.00 – breastfeeding;
10.00 – vegetable soup with meat broth – 20 g; vegetable puree - 150 g (add 1 teaspoon to the puree vegetable oil and half a yolk); meat or liver puree 10-30 g; fruit juices – 5-6 teaspoons;
14.00 – breastfeeding, one of the fruit juices – 5-6 teaspoons;
18.00 – oatmeal (buckwheat, rice) – 150 g; cottage cheese – 4 teaspoons; scraped apple or one of the fruit purees - 3 tablespoons;
22.00 – breastfeeding.
Baby menu at 8 months:
6 hours - breastfeeding;
10 o'clock - vegetable soup on meat broth - 30 g, one cracker, bread - 5 g, vegetable or vegetable-fruit puree - 170 g with 1/2 yolk and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, meat (liver) puree - 50 g, juices - 7 teaspoons ;
14 hours - breastfeeding or kefir - 1 glass with cookies, juices - 7 teaspoons;
18 hours - porridge (buckwheat, oatmeal, rice) - 170 g, cottage cheese - 4 teaspoons, grated apple or fruit puree - 4 tablespoons;
22 hours - breastfeeding.
At the age of 7.5-8 months, the child is still fed five times a day (and, of course, without night feedings), but now another feeding with breast milk is replaced by complementary foods (you introduce the so-called third complementary food into the daily diet). The child has acquired a taste for new dishes, and he likes his menu. He is well-fed and cheerful, and is gaining weight well.
This is what the diet of a 1 year old child looks like:
– 1 breakfast – porridge;
– 2nd breakfast – fruits, fruit puree;
– Lunch – soup + meat dish;
– Afternoon snack – cottage cheese, kefir, casserole;
– Dinner – breastfeeding.
The main rule of nutrition for children under one year of age: the first and last feeding is breastfeeding. The interval between meals for a child up to one year old is 4 to 4.5 hours.
The menu for an 8 month old baby may look something like this:
6:00 – breast milk or formula (200 g);
10:00 – dairy-free porridge (150 g), ½ yolk (after introducing meat, it is advisable to transfer the yolk to breakfast), breast milk or formula (50 g);
14:00 (lunch) – vegetable broth (20-30 ml), vegetable puree (150 g), meat puree (30 g), breast milk or mixture (50 g). Of course, you can give not just broth, but actually vegetable soup (vegetable broth and some mashed vegetables);
18:00 – breast milk or formula (200 g)
;22:00 – breast milk or formula (200 g)
The first complementary food is fruit puree. In Russia, this is traditionally applesauce and is better made from slightly poached apples - it contains fewer extractives and allergens. It is desirable that the apple is green or yellow. You can also use “jars”; they are certainly more useful in the winter-spring period.
The next fruit could be a banana, then apricot, prunes (all in the form of puree). It is very good to use combinations - for example, apple-zucchini or apple-pumpkin.
At 5-6 months you can start introducing porridge into complementary foods. In this case, you need to start with one grain - for example, buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, corn. If the child tolerates all this well, you can use mixtures. Depending on the condition of the child’s intestines (you should consult your doctor about this), you can start with “gluten-free” cereals or immediately introduce the “adult” version of cereals into complementary foods.
From 6 months, butter is added to the porridge. At 6-7 months, vegetable puree is introduced into complementary foods. In more early dates It’s difficult to introduce it - children don’t like the unusual taste of vegetables, and you have to mix the puree with milk or formula. At the age of 6-7 months, this is easier to do, although sometimes you have to use different tricks. By the way, if a child does not tolerate vegetable puree well, it is better to postpone its introduction into complementary foods for another month rather than cause him to have a negative attitude towards this important dish.
From 7 months, vegetable oil is added to vegetable puree. There is no need to add vegetable oil to ready-made (“canned”) vegetable purees. At 7-8 months (sometimes, as prescribed by a doctor, even earlier - at 6 months), the introduction of cottage cheese and, if well tolerated, kefir are prescribed.
At 8 months, the child is given bread or cookies, which are usually added to cottage cheese and mixed with fruit puree. During the same period, meat is introduced - beef, rabbit, turkey, chicken. It is better to give the yolk from 9-11 months, during the same period you can start giving tender broths. Thus, in the first 6 months, unfamiliar foods are not introduced into complementary feeding, and in the second half of the year, all the necessary ingredients are introduced quite quickly.
Video. 8 months baby food table
The feeding scheme for a child at 7 months requires a fairly strict meal schedule if the mother wants to raise an emotionally stable and healthy child. – an important thing, it should not be underestimated. By showing rigor and integrity, you lay the foundations for the good health of your beloved baby. As for, it also directly depends on what the baby ate before.
Feeding pattern for a 7 month old baby: infants and artificial babies
It is no secret that up to 6 months, a child fed on mother's milk does not need anything other than it. Artificial babies have to start complementary feeding earlier, since formula does not contain everything that is in breast milk. It is not surprising that the feeding patterns of 7-month-old children on different feedings are somewhat different from each other.
6 a.m
At the first feeding he receives what he is most accustomed to. Infants - mother's milk, and artificial babies - an adapted formula, fresh or fermented milk. The serving size depends on the baby’s appetite, but at this age it rarely exceeds 200-220 ml.
10 a.m
The second feeding has no fundamental differences. Offer your baby 170 grams of milk porridge with a teaspoon butter, and for dessert give a 70-80 gram portion of fruit puree. The difference can be observed in the choice of fruits - the artificial ones probably managed to try more of them than the infants.
2 p.m.
Lunch feeding – best time in order to feed the baby vegetables (170 grams), seasoned with a spoon of vegetable oil and drink fruit juice (30 ml). If your baby is already familiar with egg yolk, give him half. Artificial producers can already add a 50-gram portion of meat puree to this.
6 p.m.
At the fourth feeding, infants receive milk (150 grams), 40 grams of cottage cheese, 40 ml of fruit juice and 2-3 cookies as a snack. Artificial babies eat formula instead of milk, but everything else is the same.
10 p.m.
At bedtime, babies eat their mother again or receive 180-220 grams of baby kefir, while artificial babies get the usual mixture or the same kefir. The serving size is the same.
As you can see, the differences in the feeding pattern of a 7-month-old baby on artificial feeding, and a baby, there is. The nutrition of an artificial baby is somewhat more varied, but the benefits of mother's milk should not be underestimated.
If a child has a food allergy, the allergen product must be removed from his diet. It’s good if a reaction occurs to fruits or certain vegetables - everything is simple, but often you have to deal with an allergy to cow protein. This allergy makes significant adjustments to the baby’s diet. With her, the feeding scheme for a 7-month-old baby looks like this.
6 a.m
At the first feeding, the baby should be fed breast milk, a fermented milk product from the children's kitchen, a formula based on protein hydrolyzate or soy. Serving size – 180-220 ml.
10 a.m
Children without allergies receive milk porridge for second breakfast, and those with allergies receive dairy-free porridge with a small addition breast milk or a product that habitually replaces it. The serving size is 170 grams, there is no point in giving up butter and fruit puree.
2 p.m.
The third feeding menu, recommended for children at this age, does not involve the use of dairy products, and therefore the feeding scheme for a 7-month-old child with an allergy to milk protein does not change here. Vegetables with vegetable oil, meat and fruits, excluding allergens - everything is standard.
6 p.m.
Evening milk feeding for allergy sufferers is replaced with fully grown-up food: 170 grams of porridge with vegetables and vegetable oil, 20-30 grams of meat puree and 30 grams of fruit puree as dessert.
10 p.m.
The last feeding of a child with allergies before bedtime should consist of breast milk or a formula that replaces it - for example, kefir, soy formula and other special products.
Remember that allergies are not a death sentence. If your child is not allowed to do something, this does not mean that he will grow up sick and unhappy because of it. In the end, everyone's culinary preferences are different - and that's great!
In the first year of life, the child develops very actively; as the baby grows, the digestive, circulatory, nervous systems, musculoskeletal skeleton, there is rapid growth of tissues and organs. When deciding what to feed a 7-month-old baby, you should know exactly what physiological processes in the baby’s body occur during this period. age period. In accordance with them, the diet of a 7-month-old child is formed in order to provide the body with the necessary nutrients.
Despite the individual development of each baby, there are general patterns that are important to consider in order to understand why and what to feed a 7-month-old baby. So, after six months in children:
- By 7-8 months, the intestinal microflora is practically formed, which makes it easier to adapt to new types of food and process them more successfully;
- Frequent regurgitation of food stops. The valve between the esophagus and the intestines is almost formed, and the child spends most of his waking hours in an upright position, which helps to better retain food masses in the intestines;
- Motor activity increases significantly, the baby crawls a lot, tries to stand, actively prepares to walk, expending a lot of energy in the process. Only breast milk or adapted milk formulas are not able to provide the child’s body with nutrients for normal functioning and growth in the required volume;
- At 6-7 months, teething begins, for the formation of which babies require additional intake of calcium and vitamins necessary for its absorption.
Therefore, it is necessary to introduce new products into the diet of a 7-month-old child, which sufficient quantity will provide it with nutrients, vitamins, micro- and macroelements.
What to feed a 7 month old baby: menu
Despite the fact that the main food for a 7-month-old child is still breast milk or infant formula, to improve the quality of nutrition, cereals, meat and fish dishes, cottage cheese, kefir, cheese, puree from various vegetables, fresh fruit.
It is important, before feeding a 7-month-old baby new complementary foods, to monitor his reaction to unusual foods. To do this, each new dish is introduced gradually, starting with a small amount, and if there are no allergic manifestations, loss of appetite, or digestive problems, the serving size can be increased.
Let's consider at what time and what to feed a 7-month-old baby who is breastfed. Sample daily menu for a baby:
- 6:00-7:00 – breastfeeding;
- 10:00-11:00 – vegetable soup with meat broth (20 g), vegetable puree with half a hard-boiled yolk, and a teaspoon of vegetable oil, preferably olive or corn (150 g), meat, fish or liver soufflé ( 10-30 g), fruit juice(5-6 teaspoons);
- 14:00-15:00 – breastfeeding, fruit juice (5-6 teaspoons);
- 18:00-19:00 – buckwheat, rice or oatmeal porridge prepared with milk or water (150 g), freshly prepared baby cottage cheese (4 teaspoons) or kefir (50-70 g), fruit puree or peeled apple (3 tablespoons );
- 22:00-23:00 – breastfeeding.
Milk and cereal porridges – good source vegetable protein, starch, fiber, minerals and vitamins; if the baby is allergic to cow's or goat's milk, porridge is boiled in water and diluted with expressed milk or infant formula to medium thickness. Buckwheat contains a lot of vitamins and iron, and rice contains starch. These porridges do not contain gluten, which usually causes allergic reactions in children, so they are the first to be introduced into the menu. You should start feeding cereals by preparing them from one cereal; later you can use a cereal mixture. After buckwheat and rice, you can start complementary feeding oatmeal, but this must be done with extreme caution, since cereals contain gluten and can cause allergies.
Before feeding a 7 month old baby semolina, it is important to know that semolina is large quantities contains proteins of extremely low biological value, starch and gluten. It contains practically no dietary fiber necessary for babies and is low in fat. Therefore, in modern pediatrics it is reasonably recommended to introduce semolina porridge into a child’s diet as late as possible.
Vegetable puree is prepared in the same way as for younger children, but from 7 months it can be mixed with chopped boiled meat (rabbit, veal) or beef liver.
The daily diet at 7 months must include baby cottage cheese and kefir, which can be prepared at home or taken from a dairy kitchen.
What to feed a 7 month old baby if milk is gone
In the seventh month of feeding, the mother may experience another lactation crisis: in this case, if the pediatrician’s recommendations are followed, milk usually comes back. But if lactation is not restored, you need to decide what to feed your baby at 7 months if milk has disappeared.
The baby was breastfed until 7 months, and this is very good. This means that in the first months of his life he received all the necessary nutrients, and due to the antibodies contained in mother’s milk, he strengthened his immunity well. The child is quite ready to switch to formula feeding without any particular harm to his health. When switching to artificial feeding, you should choose the most suitable formula for your baby and reduce the number of feedings from 6 to 5 times, since it takes more time to completely digest the formula.
What to feed a 7-month-old baby with artificial feeding, approximate time and menu:
By 7 months, the baby is sitting confidently, so all food, except breast milk or formula, should be given to him from a spoon. It is good to purchase a special children's chair and place it in the shared kitchen. In this way, your child will learn adult life skills, adapt better socially and learn the world. You should also not stop your baby’s desire to pick up a spoon and try to eat on his own.
You have correctly determined what to feed a 7-month-old baby if your baby is active, develops well, enthusiastically explores the world around him and does not experience digestive problems. He gets enough balanced diet, providing the body with the nutrients necessary for growth and development. In the seventh month, children on average gain 500-600 g of weight and grow by 2 cm.
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