Breast is best
Breast milk is the best milk for babies. Breast milk provides the ideal balanced nutrition and protection for your baby. Maternal nutritional requirements increase during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Therefore mothers’ diets should include a wide variety of nutritious food and healthy snacks.
If you are considering bottle feeding, always seek professional advice as once bottle feeding has commenced it can be difficult to revert to breast feeding. Partial bottle feeding may also adversely affect breastfeeding by reducing the supply of breast milk. Always use and prepare infant formula as directed by the manufacturer; unnecessary or improper use of infant formula can be hazardous to the health of your baby.
Before using infant formula, always consider the social and financial implications, such as issues of convenience and cost to the household of using infant formula for at least 12 months. If you are considering using infant formula, it is important to discuss this with a health professional.
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Hands on feeding: giving your baby finger foods
From around eight months onwards is a good time to introduce finger foods. It’s a great way to give your little one more independence at meal times, make food interesting and to help develop their hand eye coordination skills.
Your baby might not have all his or her teeth yet, but it’s also a good way to get them chewing – even with just gums! Stick close by though. You’ll want to supervise them to make sure they don’t choke on anything.
Good finger foods to start with:
- Soft fruit - melon, banana or thin slices of peeled apple
- Cooked, cooled vege sticks, like carrots or beans or small cucumber sticks
- Rusks
Once they get the hang of it try:
- Soft toast or bread fingers (this slices or ‘soldiers’)
- Small portions of cheese
- Cooked pasta
- Soft cooked chicken slices