Nutrition For Babies 6-12 Months

[Cora Hickel]

Notethat breastfed babies tend to gain slightly more weight than formula-fed babies during the first few months of life, but then formula-fed babies tend to gain more weight than breastfed babies in the latter part of the first year.4

When you eat iron-rich plant foods along with foods containing vitamin C, the body absorbs iron much better.9 For example, add a squeeze of lemon to beans or a squeeze of orange to chopped, sauted leafy greens.

Iron is particularly important for breastfed babies who take in minimal or no formula. This is because breastmilk contains very little iron. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends an iron supplement for breastfed babies until they are introduced to iron-rich solids at 6 months.10

Food sources of vitamin A include sweet potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, and other orange- and red-colored fruits and vegetables; dark green leafy vegetables (kale, collards, spinach, chard, beet and mustard greens), as well as yogurt, fortified whole milk, and pickled herring.13

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breastfed infants, and combination-fed (breast milk and formula) infants, should be given 400 IU of vitamin D supplement in liquid form every day beginning soon after birth.10,15

Expect the meal size to increase to approximately to 1 cup per meal (less for snacks). And by their first birthday, your baby will likely be eating 3 full meals and 2 to 3 nutritious snacks each day.11

Read more: Introducing Solids: First Foods and Advancing Textures

It can feel daunting to make sure your child is taking in every single vitamin and mineral needed for development if you are focused on a single day. Instead, look to balance their diet over an entire week.21

Read more:

Get MyPlate nutrition information straight to your home on your Amazon Alexa smart speaker, or on your phone or tablet via the free Amazon Alexa app. For more information, visit our MyPlate Alexa page.

Below are some of the many tips available for parents and caregivers on what and how to feed your baby. And just like the MyPlate.gov website and MyPlate tools, all of the information provided by MyPlate on Alexa is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

What your baby drinks is just as important as what your baby eats. Before 12 months of age, pediatricians agree that breastmilk, infant formula, and small amounts of plain water are the only beverages little ones should drink. Juice is not recommended -- even 100% juice. And experts recommend avoiding cow's milk until your baby turns 1 year old.

Did you know that experts say there is no room for added sugar in a baby or toddler's diet? To keep sugar out of your child's diet, avoid sweet bakery goods. Once your baby starts eating foods around 6 months, offer your child small pieces of cut fresh fruit. Fruit is naturally sweet!

As you introduce foods around 6 months, remember safety first! You can make eating safer for your baby by steaming or cooking hard foods like carrots until they are soft, and by finely chopping, grating, mashing, or pureeing foods.

When you start introducing foods around 6 months, experts recommend introducing peanut-containing products to infants before they turn 1 year old. Try mixing a small amount of creamy peanut butter with warm breastmilk or formula into a bowl of iron-fortified infant cereal. Make sure it's not too thick so your baby can enjoy it safely. Science shows that offering your baby foods like nut products -- as well as eggs, seafood, soy, and pasteurized yogurts or cheeses -- could prevent an allergy later in life.

Did you know that offering your baby iron- and zinc-fortified infant cereal is a great first food? It provides two nutrients many young babies need and is a great way to start off introducing foods at around 6 months.

A baby's brain grows quickly. Help boost your child's mind by offering some first foods at about 6 months that contain important fatty acids, like cooked salmon, shrimp, tilapia, and trout. Offer your baby one ounce of fish once or twice a week. One ounce is about the size of three dice.

Want to know if your baby is ready to start trying food? Look for if they can control their head and neck, sit up in a chair, and are grasping objects and bring them to their mouth. You just might have an active eater on your hands! Most babies start eating foods at about 6 months. If your baby shows signs these signs earlier, you can start foods as early as 4 months, but not any younger.

Have fun feeding your baby their first foods starting at about 6 months. Expect the mess and remember that if at first you don't succeed -- try, try again! Sometimes a food has to be introduced up to 10 times before a baby likes it.

Infant cereal is a great option once babies start eating food at about 6 months. But putting infant cereal in a baby's bottle is not recommended and could cause your baby to choke. Experts recommend only putting breastmilk or formula in bottles.

Some unpasteurized yogurts or cheeses may contain harmful bacteria. So, once your baby starts eating food at about 6 months, keep your baby safe by feeding only those that say "pasteurized" on the packaging.

This statement by the Infant Feeding Joint Working Group provides health professionals with evidence-informed principles and recommendations. Provinces, territories, and health organizations can use it as a basis for developing practical feeding guidelines for parents and caregivers in Canada.

The statement promotes accurate and consistent messaging on nutrition for older infants and young children from six to 24 months of age. Guidance on nutrition from birth to six months is covered in a separate but complementary statement.

Breastfeeding - exclusively for the first six months, and continued for up to two years or longer with appropriate complementary feeding - is important for the nutrition, immunologic protection, growth, and development of infants and toddlers.

Some infants may not be breastfed for personal, social, or rarely, medical reasons. Their families need support to optimize the infant's nutritional well-being. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO, 1981) advises health professionals to inform parents about the importance of breastfeeding, the personal, social, and economic costs of formula feeding, and the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breastfeed. Individually counsel those families who have made a fully informed choice not to breastfeed on the use of breastmilk substitutes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding from birth to six months of age and continued breastfeeding, with appropriate complementary foods, for up to two years or beyond. This public health recommendation is described in the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (WHO/UNICEF, 2003). Breastfeeding, with appropriate complementary feeding, is the nutrition standard for feeding the older infant, according to the Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes (IOM, 2006). Breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding are among the most effective interventions to promote child health, growth and development (WHO/UNICEF, 2008).

The duration of breastfeeding is influenced by many cultural and social factors. One such factor is the stigma many mothers perceive around breastfeeding an older infant and young child. This can lead some mothers to conceal they are continuing to breastfeed, known as 'closet nursing' (Lawrence & Lawrence, 2005; Kendall-Tackett & Sugarman, 1995).

To help improve breastfeeding durations, it is important to promote the implementation of the WHO/UNICEF's Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative outlined in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Its Canadian adaptation is Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Integrated 10 Steps for Hospitals and Community Health Services (WHO/UNICEF 2009; BCC, 2011). Baby-friendly initiatives are known to increase the initiation, exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding (Pound, Unger, & CPS Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee, 2012).

The success among mothers who want to breastfeed can be improved through active support (US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2011; AAFP, 2008). Breastfeeding protection, promotion and support increases the percentage of mothers who breastfeed their child beyond six months. Studies have shown that when all forms of breastfeeding support are offered at all follow-ups with the child up to nine months of age, mothers are encouraged to continue breastfeeding (Renfrew, McCormick, Wade, Quinn & Dowswell, 2012). The resource Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding: A Practical Workbook for Community-Based Programs can assist in identifying specific strategies and actions to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding in a population health context.

The father or partner and the wider family are part of the mother's social environment and have a role in supporting breastfeeding, especially for longer durations (AAFP, 2008). They need information about breastfeeding, answers to their questions, and clarification about any myths or misconceptions (AAFP, 2008).

Health professionals help to create supportive environments for breastfeeding when they continue to promote this practice as the normal way of feeding, along with appropriate complementary foods, for older infants and young children. Discuss with parents their views, concerns and questions. Explore topics such as returning to work or school, breastfeeding and child care, possible concerns about the social stigma of breastfeeding an older infant and young child, and peer and professional breastfeeding resources in the community.

Breastfeeding Committee for Canada. (2011). Breastfeeding Committee for Canada Baby-Friendly Initiative Integrated 10 Steps & WHO Code Practice Outcome Indicators for Hospitals and Community Health Services: Summary (the interpretation for Canadian practice).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). The Surgeon General's call to action to support breastfeeding. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General.

3a8082e126