Starting an Adventure of Solid Food

At 6 months old, your growing child will begin to need more to meet their nutritional needs. However, the digestive system is still not ready for solid food. This marks the beginning of the transition often referred to as complementary feeding which helps them transition to their first solid foods. Some of the signs that your child is ready include the ability to sit upright and swallow food. Your child may also show interest in your food by reaching out for it. By this time, your child would have lost the reflex which causes the tongue to stick out. 

During this time, feeding should be adequate and timely. They should start receiving baby food with the appropriate texture in addition to breast milk. It is also good to introduce the appropriate foods appropriate foods one at a time. Start from pureed and smooth baby cereal and then move on towards different kinds of tastes and textures as they grow older. It is also important to take note of any possible intolerances and food allergies.

Your Little One requires much more iron intake as comparing with adults (based on per kg body weight). Thus it is very important to ensure that your child has sufficient iron as it is a key nutrient for optimal growth and development. Insufficient iron could put your child at risk of iron deficiency anaemia.

To help ensure that macro nutrition is absorbed by your child’s small tummy, you can try CERELAC^® Infant Cereals for 6 months which is specially formulated using CHE (Cereals Hydrolysed Enzymatically) technology. This helps to ensure that carbohydrates such as rice or wheat are broken down to smaller components for ease of digestion. It is developed with probiotics B.lactis which helps improve beneficial intestinal microflora in your child’s digestive system and may reduce the incidence of diarrhoea. Each serving of CERELAC^® Infant Cereals also contains at least 50% of your child’s daily required iron requirement*.¹

When in doubt, it’s always good to discuss when and what to start feeding your child with your health care professional. We wish you an exciting journey of discovery as your child explores a new world of taste! 

Looking for more tips on your child’s nutrition? You can visit our Recipe Section to help you prepare a variety of meals appropriate for your child at each stage of their development. 

*Malaysia RNI for Iron: 9mg/day for 6-11 months and 6mg/day for 1-3 years

References

• 1.    NCCFN (2017). Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Malaysia.  A Report of the Technical Working Group on Nutritional Guidelines.  National Coordinating Committee on Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya.