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When your baby is about 8 to 9 months old, you can feed them the same healthy foods as the rest of the family. Make the foods softer with less salt and sugar added to it. Babies need foods that are high in iron and calcium for their growth and development.
Family foods can help your baby:
- learn how to chew
- eat by themselves
- accept new foods.
Family food ideas
- Boiled pasta.
- Boiled or steamed vegetables: pumpkin, potato, carrot, asparagus strips.
- Cooked lean meat cut up into cubes or strips.
- Raw food: tomato slices, a whole small banana, a small ripe pear.
- Cheese sticks, or sandwiches.
You can prepare finger foods or cooked meals to take when out with your baby. Learning to eat can be messy and slow. Try to stay calm and patient to help your baby enjoy mealtimes
Tips for feeding
- Give your baby a small amount of food at first. Let them learn about new foods with their hands and mouth.
- Let your baby decide how much and what they want to eat.
- Have your baby’s food ready at mealtimes, so they do not wait too long for meals.
- Eat together as a family. Your baby learns by watching you enjoy healthy foods.
- Be patient. It takes time to learn to eat. Stay calm at mealtimes.
- Give your baby the same new foods many times. It can take 10 tries before they like a new food.
- Make mealtimes fun and social. Talk and laugh together.
Breastmilk and formula
You can give them solid foods first, then give them breast milk or formula in a cup or bottle, three to four times a day. Breast milk or formula milk is still very important for your baby. Give them about 600 mL per day from 6 to 12 months.
You do not need to change their formula. Just give them different types of foods with different tastes and textures to help them grow and develop.
Food safety
- Use a 5-point seatbelt in high chairs.
- Make sure the temperature of the food is not too hot
- Stay with your baby when they are eating
- Do not give your baby whole nuts, seeds, hard fruit, hard vegetables, honey and raw eggs.
- Do not give your baby herbal teas, caffeinated drinks, juice, cow’s milk and soft drinks.
- Do not add sugar or salt in your baby's food.
- Do not give your baby processed foods with fat, sugar or salt (e.g. cakes, biscuits, chips, fried foods)
Baby foods from the supermarket
- Have less nutrition than regular foods.
- Does not let your baby learn textures and flavours of family foods. This can delay speech.
- Food pouches are sucked instead of chewed. This can cause tooth decay and speech issues.
- They cost more than homemade baby food.
