Parenting is an exciting journey as well as a messy affair. We might not be able to help you solve every single challenge, but LoveAmme is here to help on all your feeding challenges, thrills and spills. At LoveAmme, we offer you purely helpful content drawing from more than 30 years of experience in the feeding business, and we are committed to keep improving our content. In this section, you can find information on aspects such as growth milestones, feeding needs and feeding requirements.

Feeding Behaviour

This is an exciting time to discover your baby’s unique personality. He or she will express her hunger or various sources of discomfort through different types of cry. Babies use their rooting reflex (turning in the direction when their cheek is stroked), and their sense of smell, to find a nipple for nourishment. The rooting reflex works with their sucking reflex, allowing him to suck and swallow milk once the nipple is found. Your baby will be gaining muscle control over the next few months, where their movements will become less jerky.

What to Feed?

Babies are to be fed exclusively with breast or formula milk. For moms who are able to, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends breast feeding till your baby is 6 months old. Your baby’s digestive system is still rapidly developing during this period, so solid foods are not recommended.

How much to Feed?

The signs that your baby is feeding well include:

• Your newborn is gaining weight steadily after losing their birth weight
• Your baby is relaxed and satisfied.
• Your baby is wetting at lesat 6 diapers a day, and passing stools at least 3 times a day. Their stool would be a typical mustard yellow after the first 3-5 days.
• Your baby’s urine is light yellow or clear.
• Your baby is not fussy or lethargic all the time.

Babies don’t only feed when they are hungry. Sometimes they just need to quench their thirst. To prevent overfeeding your baby, take little breaks during the feed for them to express if they have had enough. It is easy to overfeed a baby especially when bottle feeding.

Every baby is different. It’s best to follow you baby’s cues – don’t force her/him to feed more if he/she appears full, and let her/him continue feeding if she/he continues to express hunger cues.

How much to feed in a day?

A rule of thumb to calculate how much your baby needs is that the average baby takes 130 – 200 ml of milk each day for every kilogram of body weight, up to a maximum of 950 ml. For example, a newborn who is 3 kg is estimated to need 400-600 ml of formula in a day.

Feeding Behaviour

Weaning is a milestone for you and your baby! Weaning begins when your baby begins to lose interest in nursing and he or she starts eating solids. Your baby is likely ready to try solids if he can can hold head up and sit upright in a highchair, shows significant weight gain and weighs at least 6 kg, can close his/her mouth around the spoon and can move food from the front to the back of the mouth.

By 5 months, he/she can start using a sippy lidded cup, with either a spout teat or vented silicone straw. Start slow with the smallest size and progress to the next stage if he/she exhibits a need for a faster liquid flow rate while drinking.

What to Feed?

As you guide your little one into exploring other foods and incorporate it on top of their milk diet, the other foods besides breast milk are called complementary foods. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that infants start receiving complementary foods at 6 months of age in addition to breast milk. Milk is a necessary part of their diet until your child is 2 years old. Milk is an important source of nutrients, particularly calcium, which is required to build strong bones and teeth.

Begin with 1 teaspoon puree or baby cereal. You can mix cereal with 4 to 5 teaspoons of breast milk or formula. (It should be very runny.) You can increase that steadily to 1 tablespoon of puree, or 1 tablespoon of cereal mixed with breast milk or formula, twice a day. If you are giving cereal, gradually thicken the consistency by using less liquid.

For the first solids, you may want to consider the following:

• Pureed vegetables: Cooked Carrot, Potato, Sweet Potato, Squash.
• Pureed fruits: Bananas, avocadoes, apples, mangoes, apples, pear, cantaloupes, peaches. You may consider steaming harder fruits. Alow it to cool down before feeding.
• Pureed meat: White meat, such as Chicken or Turkey
• Semi-liquid, iron fortified cereal
• Small amounts of unsweetened yogurt with no cow’s milk

As the solid food will bind the iron content in breast milk, for exclusively breastfed babies, it is recommended to start babies on meat, a rich source of iron, from 6 months. Traditionally, medical professional had recommended introducing meat only around 7 months of age. To allow your baby’s body to absorb the iron more easily, puree the meat very finely. Adding a root vegetable to the puree would make it tastier and achieve a more palatable texture for first feeders.

How much to feed in a day?

Milk: Your baby would be taking 90 – 150ml of milk per feed every 3-4 hours, or 4-6 times per day. This works out to approximately 600ml of milk per day. This is an average guide and your baby may vary from this.

Solids: Initially, solid foods will be fed 2-3 times a day between 6-8 months, increasing to 3-4 times daily between 9-11 months and 12-24 months with additional nutritious snacks offered 1-2 times per day.

Feeding Behaviour

Your baby is will be drinking from a smaller straw, and is able to chew or gum finely minced foods. Towards 8 months, he/she would be able to pick up a cup and put it to his/her mouth. They would be able to pick up, hold and control a cup using both hands, but would still require a lidded cup. He/She would be able to pick up larger pieces of biscuits or food with their fingers.

Towards the 8th month mark, your baby may be ready to self-feed! Self-feeding is an important journey for your baby – cultivate the right eating habits and they will last him/her long into their years. Self-feeding is more than just putting food into the mouth. When your little one self-feeds with their fingers, their senses are also involved, growing a better sense of touch, taste, sight and smell. Most little ones embark on self-feeding when they are 8-10 months old – when they are able to use their pincer grasp to pick up pieces of food.

When your baby starts to exhibit signs of self-feeding, never leave your baby unattended while eating, in case of choking hazard. If you are unsure if a finger food is safe – check if it is naturally soft, mashed, and can be gummed.

 Your baby would also start teething visibly around 6 months, although some babies teeth as young as 3 months. Symptoms of teething include drooling, irratability as well as sore and tender gums. He/She may exhibit a slightly elevated body temperature. During teething, your baby would be soothed with cold foods, such as a a chilled banana or apple slices.

What to Feed?

You will need to start giving your baby more and chunkier solids, moving on from the early weaning diet. Introduction of more solid weaning is essential to the development of your baby. At this stage, your baby still requires breast milk or a change in follow-on formula.

Plan a nutritionally balanced diet for your little one. Apart from calcium, iron is another essential nutrient that your baby needs. Without enough iron, babies become anaemic, a condition that causes tiredness and lethargy, poor health, or slower growth and development. Fortified infant cereals and white meats can be a good source of iron. Cereals are also a good source other minerals and vitamins that infants and young children need. The Vitamin C found in fresh fruits will help your baby absorb more iron.

Here are some food options:

• Pureed or strained fruits: once your baby has tried a variety of fruits, you can consider mixing 2 fruits for a different taste!
• Pureed or strained vegetables: well-cooked carrots, squash, sweet potato.
• Protein: Pureed meat or tofu. Red meats such as pork, salmon or beef can be introduced.
• Small amounts of unsweetened yogurt. No cow’s milk is recommended until one year’s old.
• Pureed legumes: black beans, chickpeas, edamame, fava beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, kidney beans.
• Iron-fortified cereal such as oats or barley.

The common allergens to avoid are egg whites, peanut butter, honey, strawberries, shellfish, and raw tomatoes. Also avoid choking hazards such as grapes, nuts, raisins, and chunks of meat.

How much to feed in a day?

Milk: Your baby would be taking 180 – 240ml of milk per feed every 4-6 hours, or 4-5 times per day. This would be approximately 800ml of milk a day.

Solids:

• 1 teaspoon of fruit, gradually increased to 2 or 3 tablespoons in 4 feedings
• 1 teaspoon of vegetables, gradually increased to 2 or 3 tablespoons in 4 feedings
• 3 to 9 tablespoons of baby cereal in 2 or 3 feedings

Feeding Behaviour

They are almost toddlers! Your little ones can now self-feed small pieces of food. They are able to put objects in and out of containers. This is the time to bring out the snack cups which will help refine their pincer grip. They are even able to give objects to another person when prompted at this age! It’s time for finger foods! Start with soft pieces that are big enough for him/her to hold and chew easily.

At the 11th month mark, they are able to chew small pieces of food – with a wide variety of tastes and textures ranging from baby biscuits to meat. They can also start self-feeding with a spoon and drink from a lidless cup. Some babies will be more interested in solid food than breast milk by 12 months, after they’ve tried a variety of foods and can drink from a lidless cup. Mealtimes are now as much about discovery and exploratory playing as nourishment. If you are looking to wean them off the bottle, they can be coaxed to do so at this stage as well.

What to Feed?

It is important to ensure that a variety of foods are given. Try to choose one food from each of these 4 major groups, (i.e. rice and alternatives, fruits, vegetables, meat and alternatives) everyday.

Food Options:

• Small amounts of soft pasteurized cheese, cottage cheese and unsweetened yogurt
• Vegetables: cooked carrots, squash, potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes. These can be bite-sized or soft-cooked.
• Mashed fruits, or cut into strips.
• Finger foods: O-shaped cereal, small bits of scrambled eggs, well-cooked pieces of potato, well-cooked spiral pasta, teething crackers, small pieces of bread.
• Protein: small bits of meat, poultry, boneless fish, tofu and well-cooked beans, like lentils, split peas, pintos or black beans.
• Iron-fortified cereal such as barley, wheat, oats and mixed cereals.
• Combo foods: macaroni and cheese, rice and flaked fish.

How much to feed in a day?

Milk: Your baby still needs at least 750ml of milk daily. If you are feeding formula milk, it should contain moderate amounts of protein and fat, with added essential vitamins and minerals for a balanced diet.

Solids: Here is how much he/she may feed in a day:

• 1/3 cup dairy (or 30gm cheese)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup iron-fortified cereal
• 3/4 to 1 cup fruit
• 3/4 to 1 cup vegetables
• 3 to 4 tablespoons protein-rich food
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup combo foods (towards 12 months)

Feeding Behaviour

Your toddler may actually eat less than he did before – as a rule of thumb, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children get about 40 calories a day for every inch of height. Your toddler may be a picky eater or become fussy at mealtimes! Try to encourage the idea of dining together as a form of family bonding – have them eat alongside an older sibling as a role model, or together with you.

What to Feed?

You can start getting a lot more adventurous

 Here are some new foods that your toddler would be ready to try, which include foods that younger babies should avoid:

• Whole milk and other dairy products – soft pasteurized cheese, full-fat yogurt and cottage cheese.
• Honey
• Grains: preferably unrefined, wholewheat bread, pasta or rice.
• New fruits such as melon, papaya, apricot, grapefruit.
• Harder vegetables with more fibre content, such as broccoli and cauliflower “trees,” cooked until soft.
• New forms of protein such as eggs, beans, thinly spread peanut butter.

How much to feed in a day?

Your one year old would be taking about ¼ cup of food per serving.

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk, or 1 cup yogurt, or 30g of cheese
• 85g cooked grains, at least half whole grains. 30 gmtranslated to = 1 cup cold cereal, 1/2 cup pasta or rice, one slice of bread.
• 1 cup fruit – fresh, frozen, or canned; and cut into very small pieces.)
• 1 cup of vegetables – cut in small pieces and cooked well
• 60 gm of cooked protein. 30 gm translates to one slice of sandwich meat, about 1/3 of a chicken breast, 1/4 can of tuna, 1 cup of cooked beans, or an eggs.