Starting from the 4th month you should give supplemental food to your baby. 4. Before the 4th month only breast milk provides enough nutrition to babies but after this month only breast milk or ready made food will not be enough. In order to continue stable and healthy growth babies will need higher protein, energy, iron, vitamins and minerals. For this reason babies will need different types of food.

Disadvantages of starting to give supplemental food either early or late

There are disadvantages of starting to give supplemental food to your baby either early or late. Starting to give supplemental food before the 4th month will have negative effects on the digestion system of your baby and may cause diarrhea or allergies. Similarly starting later than the 6th month will have negative effects on the growth of your child.

Important facts on giving supplemental food

Do not lose your motivation. It will take time for your baby to appreciate different tastes. You will need to be patient when starting additional food. Breast milk and ready made baby food will still be the primary food of your baby for some more time. Remember that you need to give your baby new food gradually and slowly. All new food will need to be given in small amounts and one by one. If you want to start giving a new food give your baby just one spoon during the first day and do not give any different food for a couple days. This will enable you to monitor how your baby is reacting to that particular food. Did it make allergies? Did your baby’s body accept it? If his/her body accepts the new food you can start increasing the amount you are giving to your baby every day gradually. And maybe a week later you can start giving your baby a second new food.

When you are starting a new food follow the same rules. If you see that your baby is having an allergy do not feed him/her the same food for at least a few weeks. If your baby has skin eruption, rashes or diarrhea she/he might have developed allergy against the food. There may be some difficulties with new food. For example your baby might think that new tastes or tools such as spoons are too early for him/her. To be more successful first cheer up your baby. When your baby is very hungry it is not easy to start feeding him/her with a spoon. First try to give some food the normal way. You can be more successful if you try in the morning when your baby is rested and feels good.

When your baby is on your lap simple touch a bit of food to his/her lips, your baby will start to suck it. If you put the spoon deep in his/her mouth remember that he/she can puke. Try to avoid this. In time both you and your baby will gain experience with the spoon.

After feeding your baby with breast milk or ready made baby food continue with hard food or ready made food which are given with spoons. Your baby will eat only hard food in time.

For your babies new diet you can use homemade baby food, fruit juices or ready made food that are given with spoons. The first food you can start is fruit juice of apples or similar fruits. One of the best choices for hard food is ready made baby food that contain milk and cereals. Ready made baby food that contain rice can be a good choice which contain proteins, essential nutrition, vitamins and minerals. After this you can start food that contain different types of cereals (such as wheat, oaf, rye, etc.). You can also start vegetable soups by adding a new vegetable one at a time in small amounts.

Such as rice and carrots and potatoes and lentils the next time. You can choose to give your baby ready made vegetable-cereal baby food instead.

Having limited information about food will lead to poor nutrition even in rich families. For example there is no need to give your baby salt and sugar until he/she reaches the age of 1. Even if you like spicy food this is both dangerous and unnecessary for your child. Oils can be used in very small amounts and liquid oils (preferably olive oil) should be used. Cooking food more than necessary will reduce their vitamins. Bran and fiber amounts are also important. Food that contain bran and fibers are very good for health.

But excessive fibers can have an adverse effect on absorbing minerals. Generally, most of the mistakes are done during this period. For example adding sugar to the food of the baby because he/she didn't like it makes it harder for your baby to adjust to new tastes.

Babies that did not like a taste at first can start eating it a few months later with joy. Their tastes can change. For this reason it is not correct to insist on some foods.

Forcing your baby to eat is also not correct. Your baby can determine when and how much to eat. In contrast to the general belief, problems related with hunger in babies is not common. Mothers should be patient.

If your doctors says that your child’s weight is normal this means that your child is eating well even if you don't think so. You baby can eat sweet fruits or specially produced sweet food for babies. It is not correct to give your baby chocolate or cakes until your baby reaches the age of one or maybe more.

The best way is to give your baby specially produced sweets for babies that have high nutritional values and have contain specially processes sugars. When starting on hard food one of the important matters is the amount of grains they contain. Rather than giving your babies food that are homogenous try to give them food with grains in it to train them. First give your baby food that contain little grains in it and monitor his/her reaction and increase the amount of grain the food contains in time. This will make it easier when time comes to start giving him/her hard food. Purees with milk, apples and bananas have high nutritional value and can be good for your child thanks to their nice flavor.

Make sure that your baby starts to east different types of foods in time in sufficient amounts.

The types can be listed as below:

1. Carbohydrates

2. Proteins

3. Oils

4. Vitamins and minerals

Every child should eat 5 to 6 times a day until the age of 3. These can also include only fruit juices or ready made milks. In addition after a sickness a baby may need more meals a day.