Have the Best Weaning Moments with Your Little One

The first few months will be an exciting, wonderful time for you and your baby. Isn't it amazing how fast babies grow? This is an important time nutritionally. As loving parents, you will have questions on what to expect and how to give the best to your precious one. We are happy to share many practical tips, and information to help make feeding your baby more fun!

Only the Best for Your Baby
Breast milk is the best nourishment your newborn baby needs. Breast milk provides all the nutrients your little one requires for optimal physical and mental development. Therefore the World Heath Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breast feeding for the first six months.

When is my Baby ready for Solid Foods?
Every baby follows his or her own pace of development. At this stage, though, your baby is probably building her muscles and squirming with energy. All this activity comes with increased nutritional needs! By about six months of age, a baby's weight doubles. Then, breast milk alone is not able to provide all the nutrients baby needs and it is time to supplement her growing nutritional needs with gentle first foods.

5 Signs to suggest that your baby is ready for her first solid food:

• Sits with support and has a good head control.
• Has almost doubled her birth weight.
• Shows an interest while you are eating or preparing food.
• Frequently puts objects into her mouth.
• Can move a dab of thinned baby food to the back of her tongue and swallow it.

Baby Steps with Solid Foods
When Baby is ready, providing a variety of gentle first foods will introduce her to new flavours and textures, support her nutritional needs, and begin to help develop her eating skills.

Start with a single-grain infant cereal like rice cereal, which is a good first food choice because it is especially easy to digest with a low allergy potential.

Tips on first foods

• Try new foods one at a time, with a few days in-between, so Baby has time to get used to her new tastes.
• In the first days, start by feeding milk to take the edge off baby's hunger, then complete the feed with a new food.
• A single baby spoon or two of any solid is enough for the first taste. Remember, babies have tiny tummies at this stage.
• Babies can taste very subtle amounts of sweetness and don't need added sugars. Added salt should also be avoided - it's too much for Baby's body to cope with.

Finding time when she's in the right mood for new foods can be tricky. Lunchtime is a good place to start so you don't have to disrupt her morning and evening routines.

Get more expert advice about introducing first foods

Beginning with Infant Cereal
A single-grain infant cereal is a good initial step in adjusting to first foods. Though your baby's tummy is small, his nutrient and energy requirements are high. Infant cereals are gentle first foods to complement your infant's nutritional needs since they're energy-dense as well as nutrient-rich.

Some cereals, however, may be easier for your baby to digest than others. Infant cereals that contain carbohydrates that are broken down into smaller pieces (as with the Nestle CHE tm process) are specially designed to be easy on Baby's developing digestive system.

Discover which cereals are right for your baby

Laying a Healthy Foundation
Good nutrition at each stage of development ensures that your baby grows and develops optimally. Introducing the right foods in the right amount and right textures at each stage of baby's development will ensure that nutritional needs are met and baby learns to enjoy food as well. Checkout www.nestlebaby.com.sg for more yummy recipes, creative menus and information on baby nutrition and development.

Contributed by:
www.nestlebaby.com.sg

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