The menu of a 7 month old breastfed baby has a variety of tastes

Seven-month-old babies are inquisitive, active and quite independent. They are tirelessly busy exploring the world around them, which requires special attention from parents. A more active lifestyle requires a change in the child’s diet; he needs more nutrients. The feeding standards that previously suited him cannot fill this need. Therefore, a child’s menu at 7 months should be more varied.

The baby does not stop feeding on mother's milk or specialized formulas. His diet is gradually enriched with new foods typical of “adult” cuisine; during this period it is important to properly accustom the baby to new foods.

How much should a baby eat at seven months?

The norm for food consumption at this age is 1000-1100 g per day. In the menu of a 7-month-old breastfed baby, the amount of mother's milk should be 900-1000 ml.

To calculate the amount of food a child needs, you need to divide his body weight by 8. For example, if the baby’s weight is 8 kg, then his daily food intake is 1 kg.

At seven months of age, the child should receive complementary foods daily. This can be vegetable or fruit puree, liquid milk porridge, yolk, cottage cheese.

The norms for food consumption developed by doctors and nutritionists are advisory in nature. It must be taken into account that the amount of food eaten may depend not only on the weight of the baby, but also on its individual characteristics:

physical activity, mobility;
physique;
metabolic rate.

While monitoring the baby and assessing whether he is getting enough nutrition, parents should monitor how quickly the child gains weight, how many times he urinates, and how often he passes stool. Insufficient or unbalanced nutrition can lead to negative consequences:

vitamin deficiency;
reduction of the body's immune defense;
rickets;
anemia;
developmental delay.

Doctors remind that it is important not only to feed children, but also to prevent excess weight, which will interfere with the ability to fully learn to crawl, walk and get to know the world around them. This can cause problems with physical and mental development. With age, body weight may return to normal. Predisposition to obesity sometimes lasts a lifetime.

Once again about the principles of introducing complementary foods

The menu of a breastfed child at 7 months of age is supplemented with products of animal origin: dietary meat, egg yolks.

The signal for the introduction of these products into complementary foods is the appearance of teeth in the child: the body makes it clear that it is ready for a change in diet and is sufficiently developed to assimilate “serious” food - by nature, a person is a predator, and therefore meat is necessary for him as a source energy and building material for muscle and bone tissue.

Differences in nutrition between infants and artificially raised infants

Often, mothers believe that if they have a sufficient level of lactation for a seven-month-old baby to be well-fed, then there is no need to feed him.

To make it clear to parents what a child’s diet should be at 7 months, there are developed complementary feeding schemes:

Meal time	Nutrition of breastfed children		Menu for a 7-month-old bottle-fed baby
Meal time	Products	Weight in grams	Products	Weight in grams
7.00	breast milk	specialized mixture
10.00	liquid milk porridge, fruit puree	150	liquid milk porridge, fruit puree	180
14.00	meat puree or vegetable puree, 50 ml compote (juice)	150	meat puree or vegetable puree, 80 ml compote (juice)	180
18.00	children's cottage cheese, 100 ml kefir, cookie	40	children's cottage cheese, 150 ml kefir, half an egg yolk	50
22.00	breast milk	specialized mixture

Pediatricians say: if a child at this age willingly drinks mother's milk, the body still requires vitamins and minerals. The baby can get them with new, healthy foods.

Therefore, breastfed children need to be introduced to complementary foods. This should be done carefully: starting with small portions.

The needs of babies who are bottle-fed or mixed-fed and specialized milk formulas cease to be fully satisfied at 4-5 months. The diet of children in the seventh month of life and the approximate amount of food consumed no longer coincide somewhat with the menu of their peers who feed on mother’s milk.

The feeding regimen for infants and formula-fed babies is the same. Feeding frequency: 5 times a day. The breaks between them should be less than 4 hours.

Diversity

Oatmeal is very healthy and nutritious, and it’s easy to prepare. Carefully sort the cereal, add it to boiling water and cook for forty minutes over low heat. You can add some vegetables and start feeding.

Millet porridge is endowed with all the necessary microelements. Be sure to let your child taste this delicious delicacy. Cook it for a long time, about fifty minutes, and season with olive oil before feeding.

Add buckwheat to your diet. If the child is not too well-fed, you can sometimes pamper him with semolina porridge with berries or jam. Prepare the diet of a 7-month-old bottle-fed baby correctly. Feed him meat and cottage cheese every day. The baby's bones and teeth will quickly become stronger, and digestion will be normal.

New foods to introduce into the diet

The diet of a seven-month-old baby is gradually enriched. First, vegetable purees are introduced into it, a week later - porridge, a few weeks later - cottage cheese, yolk, and meat dishes. Kefir is introduced last.

Vegetable purees

The best choices for first foods are zucchini, carrots, broccoli and pumpkin. After the child gets used to these products, you can gradually introduce potatoes and beets. The puree must be ground until smooth, without adding salt or spices.

Porridge

By the age of 7 months, many children are already familiar with some types of cereals. The most useful are:

buckwheat porridge, rich in iron and other beneficial microelements;
rice porridge, which is highly nutritious and suitable for babies prone to loose stools;
corn porridge, which is well accepted by allergy sufferers, does not contain gluten.

Various types of cereals should be present on the children's menu every day.

Egg yolk

Yolk is an allergenic product, so it must be administered with caution. The first time you can give 1/8 part and monitor the baby’s reaction. Subsequently, portions can be increased to half a yolk per day. This product is rich in iron, phosphorus, and vitamins.

Meat

Meat is an important source of protein, iron, magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins. It is recommended for children with low weight and anemia. Meat products are introduced into children's diets in the form of canned food or prepared at home. Babies of the first year of life are allowed to eat turkey, rabbit, beef, veal and chicken. You should not eat offal at this age.

Fermented milk products

Pediatricians believe that children under 1 year of age should not be given cow's milk, since it can cause diathesis and is difficult to digest. But fermented milk products are an excellent choice for seven-month-old babies. Cottage cheese is good for children's bodies due to its rich calcium content, and kefir helps digestion.

Nutrition for a 7 month old baby: what does it consist of?

They say that not only his health, but also his mood and sound sleep directly depend on the quality of a baby’s nutrition.

Therefore, if you want to see your baby’s smiles more often, you need to make sure that at the age of 7 months his menu includes the following dishes:

Vegetable puree - as a rule, artificial children begin to become familiar with it at 5-6 months, when they try cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini. And during this period, you can offer them other vegetables, including carrots and pumpkin, as well as legumes. The main thing is to introduce them according to all the rules of complementary feeding, starting with a small spoon, and carefully monitor the baby’s reactions. The appearance of a rash, poor sleep or irritability is a reason to postpone them until better times. By the way, the “traffic light” rule works successfully to prevent allergic reactions. This is when all green vegetables are first introduced into the diet, then orange and yellow, and only after that red ones. Due to the increasing energy costs of the baby, the volume of a serving of vegetable puree at this age should be at least 170-200 grams .
Porridge is a source of energy and nutrients. If your baby has already become familiar with buckwheat, rice and corn, offer him oatmeal. The main thing is to dilute it with formula, and not with cow's milk - otherwise meetings with a nutritionist cannot be avoided. When thinking through a child’s diet, it should be taken into account that the serving size at the age of 7 months should not exceed 160-200 ml .
Fruits - their regular consumption is the key to good health of the baby. Moreover, you can offer them to him separately or as part of fruit puree. At this age, apples, peaches, cherries, apricots, pears and bananas are allowed. In the spring and winter, you can use homogenized nutrition. The kid will definitely appreciate it!
Yolk is a completely new and very healthy product. It contains not only proteins, but also iron, phosphorus, zinc, fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E and much more. In addition, it has an incomparable taste. The main thing is to offer it alone, without protein, so as not to encounter diathesis. After all, eggs have always been the strongest allergens. A 7 month old baby needs half an yolk twice a week. If he is capricious and asks for more, it is logical to offer him the yolk of a quail egg. It is smaller, so the baby will not be tempted to eat more than he needs.
Meat is a source of protein and essential amino acids, which, in combination, are the main building material for the body. In addition, meat contains easily digestible iron, so it is especially necessary for children with low hemoglobin, suffering from anemia or anemia. True, in order for the process of getting to know it to be successful, you need to start with lean types - young beef (it is softer than usual), rabbit, turkey, chicken breast or veal. Boiled and crushed in a blender or food processor, they should be offered to the baby in the form of a puree, with or without vegetables. The daily amount of meat by the beginning of the 8th month of life should be 50-70 grams. If for some reason a decision is made to start complementary feeding with homogenized products, preference should be given to those that contain only one type of meat.
What else can you offer such kids? Fermented milk products - kefir and cottage cheese, if they have not tried them before. After all, these are sources of calcium, phosphorus and potassium, without which it is impossible to talk about normal growth and development. The main thing is to select special children's kefir and start with 20 ml per day, gradually increasing its amount to 100 ml . The same goes for cottage cheese. However, if after their introduction the slightest changes in stool are observed, and the baby himself becomes irritated, it is better to postpone the process of introducing him to them for a couple of months.

How to give your child new foods and dishes

It’s good if the child is happy to try and eat new foods with appetite. When introducing complementary foods, parents should follow the following rules:

You cannot force a child to eat if he refuses. It is worth trying to offer your baby new food later. He may be full, he may be teething, or a new food may be hot.
When introducing complementary foods, gradualness is important. Each dish should contain no more than 1 new ingredient in small quantities.
Another secret of proper feeding is the uniform consistency of food. There should be no lumps or separate pieces in it. Products should be passed through a blender or rubbed through a sieve.
The best time to try a new product is breakfast or lunch. Until the evening, parents have the opportunity to observe how the food is digested.
After feeding, you can give your baby compote or juice to drink. It is better to give water to drink between feedings.
The child should be gradually taught to eat not with his hands, but with a spoon.

Child's diet and menu for every day of the week

Pediatricians and psychologists advise getting used to a routine starting from an early age. To do this, the diet can be divided into 5 meals:

6.00-7.00 - first breakfast;
10.00-11.00 - second breakfast;
14.00-15.00 - lunch;
18.00-19.00 - afternoon snack;
22.00-23.00 - dinner.

The first breakfast and the last meal before bed should include light food. The baby should receive the main amount of calories during the day. If the established feeding schedule deviates from the generally accepted one, and the child feels great, there is no need to change it.

Adults should remember the need for regular nutrition. The intervals between meals should not be more than 4 hours.

To help mothers, tables with an approximate daily menu have been developed, taking into account the age and needs of the children. The diet should include breast milk or formula as the first and last feeding.

What should a formula-fed baby's diet be like?

As a rule, everyone knows that the menu of a 7-month-old breastfed baby is somewhat different from feeding a formula-fed baby. The reason for this is quite understandable: breast milk contains many more useful substances than formula. Therefore, doctors recommend continuing breastfeeding as long as possible, since mother’s milk is indispensable for infants. At the same time, the menu of a 7-month-old baby with artificial feeding should be balanced and include natural fruit and vegetable purees and cereals. So, the baby’s nutrition should be as follows:

the first meal , as a rule, occurs at 6 o'clock in the morning, and consists entirely of a mixture, without the addition of purees and porridge;
the second meal should be after 4 hours, and it includes 150 grams of porridge and 60 grams of fruit puree;
lunch should consist of 120 grams of vegetable puree and 50 grams of meat puree;
a complete dinner for a baby consists of 60 grams of fruit puree and 140 milliliters of milk porridge or cottage cheese;
the second dinner consists entirely of the mixture, in the amount necessary for the baby.

At the same time, the menu of a 7-month-old baby with artificial feeding differs in that after each complementary feeding in the form of puree, porridge or cottage cheese, it must be supplemented with breast milk. The difference is that a breastfeeding baby should receive the maximum amount of nutrients from mother's milk, since it is the most nutritious.

Recipes for delicious and healthy dishes

Many mothers of seven-month-old babies are in a hurry to fill their cookbooks with healthy and tasty dishes. Here are some recipes:

Oatmeal with pumpkin. You will need: 15 g of porridge, 50 ml of water and milk, 50 g of pumpkin pulp, a little butter. Peel and rinse the pumpkin, cut into small pieces, add water and simmer for 30 minutes under the lid. Add cereal, milk and leave on low heat for another 20 minutes. Pass the finished dish through a blender.
Creamy soup with zucchini and cauliflower. You will need 100 g of zucchini and cauliflower, 200 ml of water. Wash the vegetables, cut into small pieces and cook. Grind in a blender.
Fruit apple and pear puree. You can prepare this dish yourself. It is a replacement for canned products. You will need: 250 g of apples and pears, 600 ml of water. Wash, peel, cut the fruits, add water, cook until tender, rub through a sieve or grind until smooth using a blender.

Knowing what and how to feed your baby is extremely useful. Proper nutrition and a routine instilled from an early age are the key to the health and normal development of a child.

Basic foods and meals at 7 months

Dairy products.

Usually this is baby cottage cheese and kefir, which has a beneficial effect on intestinal function, helps the formation of proper microflora and is simply irreplaceable when feeding with formula. For the first time, 20 ml is enough. Gradually adding volume, you need to reach 200 ml, no more. No need to add sugar. You should not give kefir from a regular bottle. It's better to use a spoon or cup. If your baby doesn't like the taste, you can add fruit puree.

Bread and children's cookies.

It is a source of carbohydrates, energy, and protein.
It is better to start with white bread, which quickly fills you up and does not cause negative reactions. Of course, you need to give little by little. Another good option is crackers. Not only are they nutritious, but they can also keep your baby occupied for a while. Don’t forget to clean your baby’s face from crumbs and food debris; it’s convenient to use Lovular
Soups and Purees lint-free wet wipes for this.

Such dishes can be prepared from vegetables with the addition of sunflower and butter, light vegetable broths, yolk, and cottage cheese. Frying and strong broths are prohibited, as they can harm the delicate child’s body.

Meat dishes.

You can start with lean meats. It is better to use turkey, as this meat will not cause allergies. Chicken, despite its apparent lightness and safety, can often cause allergic reactions. It is better to initially give the meat in the form of thoroughly pureed puree. It can be mixed with vegetables and added to soups. The approximate volume of meat puree is 30-50 ml.