Should I eat complementary food first or drink milk first?

As the baby grows, the mother's breast milk is no longer sufficient to meet the baby's nutritional needs. At this time, it is necessary to add appropriate complementary foods to maintain the nutritional needs of the baby's body. Therefore, when the baby grows to 6 months, parents can choose complementary foods for the baby that help with nutrient absorption and digestion. But when feeding babies complementary foods, many parents wonder whether to feed them complementary foods first or breastfeed them?

When adding complementary foods, should complementary foods be given first or breastfeeding first?

Before adding complementary foods, the baby has been eating breast milk or formula milk. It is normal for the baby to be uncomfortable with the sudden addition of complementary foods and to reject spoon feeding. However, as the baby grows day by day, the nutritional components of breast milk, formula milk and other dairy products can no longer meet the baby's growth and development needs. Adding complementary foods is a necessary process for every baby's healthy growth.

Many parents are struggling with whether to feed their babies breast milk first or complementary foods first. In fact, the scientific method of complementary food feeding is to add complementary foods between two meals. Completely replacing normal formula milk or breast milk with complementary foods is difficult for babies to accept for a while. You can feed your baby breastmilk first, but don't feed too much, and then feed with complementary foods at the next meal. The formula should be reasonable. At the beginning, you can only use two simple formulas. If there are too many types, the baby's stomach cannot accept it and gastrointestinal digestive system diseases may occur.

If there are too few complementary foods, the nutrition is not comprehensive, so we need to gradually increase the types from one or two at the beginning to multiple types. Generally, a variety of mixed complementary foods contain the following nutrients:

1. As the main staple food, the complementary food is mainly starchy food. It is recommended that mothers choose cereal porridge instead.

2. Protein supplements, either plant protein or animal protein, such as milk, meat, fish, eggs, etc.

3. For supplementary foods containing vitamins and minerals, such as vegetables or fruits, mothers are advised to make them into fruit and vegetable purees, which are more convenient for babies to eat.

Pay attention to the ratio of main food to supplementary food

The ratio of starchy staple foods and protein foods should be appropriate, for example, starch: lean meat: protein = 13:5:5. You can use two protein-providing foods such as beans and small fish. It is recommended that mothers use animal protein to increase food utilization, and choose green leafy vegetables rich in A and C vitamins as vegetables and fruits. Babies need time to adapt to the initial stage of adding complementary foods. Mothers do not need to be overly demanding on the completeness of the nutritional structure, but should add complementary foods gradually from a single one.