Nutrition of a child at 8 9. Nutrition of a child at eight months: what to feed and what to give? Diet products

Most eight-month-old babies are happy to hold cutlery in their hands and even try to eat on their own - they like to imitate adults. Their diet undergoes minor changes - it is supplemented with bread and cookies (if this has not been done before), many mothers begin to offer their children mashed foods rather than grated ones, thanks to which the baby learns to chew food.

What foods should be in the diet of an 8-month-old baby?

This is one of the frequently asked questions to pediatricians. Nutritionists at the Institute of Nutrition of the Academy of Sciences offer certain standards, but they should rather be used as a guideline, because the needs and taste preferences of children depend on many factors, including the region of residence, family traditions, prevailing products on the market, and others. On average, an 8-month-old baby can be given:

• up to 60–65 ml of fruit puree;
• up to 100 g of vegetable puree;
• 100–150 g of porridge;
• no more than 60 ml of fruit juices;
• about 3 g of vegetable oil (the same amount of butter);
• cottage cheese - 30–50 g;
• 5–10 g of flour products (cookies and bread);
• meat and fish - up to 50 g;
• kefir - 30–50 g.

Of course, these are approximate norms that the mother will adjust taking into account the child’s appetite and the degree of his adaptation to new products. The main wish for parents is to think through the baby’s menu in such a way that every meal brings him pleasure. And although he still cannot eat many foods (fried, baked, pickled, smoked, lard), if desired, you can always find a way to diversify your baby’s diet.

Basic principles of nutrition at 8 months

Happy are those mothers who manage to provide breast milk to their 8-month-old baby. Even if the baby already eats many foods, do not deprive him of the most valuable nutrition. He will happily nurse in the mornings and evenings. If the baby still drinks mother's milk, the number of feedings per day is 5 times, “artificial” - 4 times.

It is recommended to feed fish 2-3 times a week. Every day, you can offer your baby meat and cereals (alternating them so that they are not repeated over several days), vegetable purees, and confectionery products (dry cookies and bread). You can add puddings and soufflés to the usual soups and cereals. Children eat great dishes with the addition of fruits or vegetables, for example, rice with pumpkin, wheat porridge with blueberries or other toppings.

There are three main meals during the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. After a nap, offer your baby a snack - an afternoon snack. Most often this is a light snack, for example, fruit puree, yogurt with cookies or cottage cheese. Approximate schedule:

• 07:30 - breakfast, any of the porridges (buckwheat, wheat, corn, oatmeal or rice, sometimes semolina), 1-2 pieces of cookies, compote or juice;
• 12:00 - lunch, soup, a small piece of bread, ground meat with side dish (mainly vegetable puree), egg yolk (1/4);
• 16:00 - afternoon snack;
• 19:00 - dinner, you can offer mashed potatoes with the addition of cabbage or other vegetables.

Finish the day with a serving of breast milk or kefir just before bed.

Menu for the week

Now let's try to create a menu for the week. So:

Monday:

• breakfast - buckwheat porridge with milk, carrots and applesauce, tea, cookies;
• lunch - vegetable soup (potatoes, zucchini, carrots, onions), rice porridge in water with meat puree, 30 ml of plum juice;
• afternoon snack - 70 ml yogurt;
• Zucchini puree, compote.

• breakfast - rice porridge with milk, apricot puree, dried fruit compote, cookies;
• lunch - rice soup with meatballs, mashed potatoes with liver pate (homemade), peach juice;
• afternoon snack - cottage cheese pudding;
• dinner - rice porridge with pumpkin, tea, cookies.

• breakfast - milk oatmeal with prunes, tea with cookies;
• lunch - rabbit soup, vegetable puree from broccoli, potatoes and zucchini, dried fruit compote;
• afternoon snack - applesauce;
• dinner - chicken liver pate with mashed potatoes.

• breakfast - milk corn porridge, peach puree, tea;
• lunch - potato soup with yolk, broccoli and potato puree with fish;
• afternoon snack - kefir with cookies;
• dinner - spinach puree with meatballs.

• breakfast - wheat porridge with wild berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries), cottage cheese, tea;
• lunch - children's borscht (without beans and fried onions and roots), vegetable puree with ground meat, compote;
• afternoon snack - fruit yogurt;
• dinner - chicken liver with rice porridge.

• breakfast - milk semolina porridge, apple and carrot puree, tea;
• lunch - cauliflower soup, buckwheat porridge (in water) with meatballs, compote;
• afternoon snack - cottage cheese, fruit juice;
• dinner - mashed potatoes with fish.

Sunday:

• breakfast - oatmeal, carrot juice, cookies;
• lunch - vegetable soup, cottage cheese, compote;
• afternoon snack - apple and apricot puree with cookies;
• dinner - mashed potatoes with broccoli with ground turkey meat.

The serving size depends on the child's appetite. Do not try to persuade him to eat or force feed him - it is useless. Keep in mind that excessive weight gain is just as bad as significant weight loss. In addition, the standards do not take into account the child’s heredity and a deviation of 10% from the expected weight is not critical. When assessing a baby’s health, one should focus on behavioral factors and his well-being.

If the baby calmly withstands a 3.5-4 hour break between feedings, it means that the food he consumed is quite enough for normal development. Is your baby hungry just two hours after lunch or breakfast? Probably, the dishes were not high enough in calories, so it is worth reconsidering his diet.

First course recipes

Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup

You will need 1 potato, a small piece of carrot (up to 50 g), 100 g of broccoli and the same amount of cauliflower, 30 g of celery (two sprigs) and 10 g of parsley.

Finely chop the vegetables, add water and put on fire. When the water boils, add the celery and reduce the heat, then simmer for another 15-20 minutes. After cooking, put the greens into the pan (directly with sprigs), then cover with a lid and let the dish brew for 10-15 minutes. Grind the finished soup in a blender until pureed. Add a pinch of salt.

Chicken and broccoli soup

Ingredients: two potatoes, ground chicken fillet (without skin) - it’s better to cook it yourself, 100 g of broccoli.

Pour 200–300 ml of water into a saucepan and put on fire. Once it boils, add minced chicken to it. Collect the foam that forms on the surface of the water, then add potatoes and broccoli florets to the soup. Cook until tender (15–20 minutes) and puree the soup using a blender. You will end up with a mass that resembles sour cream in consistency. Don't forget to lightly salt the soup.

Zucchini and cauliflower soup

For 100 ml of water you will need 50 g of cauliflower and zucchini. Wash the vegetables thoroughly, then chop them and cook. Rub the finished soup through a sieve, season with a small amount of butter, add a quarter of the boiled yolk.

Nutrition in the eighth - ninth month of a child’s life

At the age of 8 months, the baby is still fed 5 times a day (and, of course, without night feedings), but now another feeding with breast milk is replaced by complementary foods (you introduce the so-called third complementary food into the daily diet). The child has developed a taste for new dishes and likes his menu. He is well-fed and cheerful, and is gaining weight well. What dishes are best used as a third complementary food?.. Nutritionists recommend fermented milk products; These products are good because they greatly facilitate the digestion process - they are easily digested and easily absorbed. At this age, your breastfed baby's menu should look something like this:
6.00 - breastfeeding;
10.00 - milk porridge (cereals should be alternated) - 170 g, chicken egg yolk (1/2), one of the fruit juices - 50 ml;
14.00 - meat broth - 20 ml, white bread crackers, vegetable puree - 170 g, meat puree - 50 g, one of the fruit juices - 20 ml.
18.00 - kefir - 100 ml, cottage cheese - 50 g, one of the fruit purees - 70 g;
22.00 - breastfeeding. The same menu can be designed for a baby who is bottle-fed, but instead of breast milk at 6.00 and at 22.00 he receives formula or another adapted formula.

Continue breastfeeding.

It is clear that as complementary feeding was added, the child began to eat less breast milk. And you may have noticed that your lactation has decreased. Try, however, to maintain morning and evening breastfeeding. This is important because, along with mother’s milk, the child receives the required amount of antibodies, which make the baby’s body less susceptible to diseases. Not a single, even the best adapted formula can replace a child’s mother’s milk in this sense. Save 2 breastfeedings until the baby is ten months old.

How to teach a child to a new dish.

Have you noticed that a child, having tried a new product, sometimes does not immediately accept it. To help your child get used to this product faster, try mixing it with an already familiar dish, a favorite dish. You can mix a new product using the following method: first add 1/10 of the new product, then increase the amount of this product day by day. Do not think that a child refuses a new dish because he finds it tasteless. No, the dish is simply unfamiliar and you still need to get used to it. Some mothers, in order to quickly accustom their child to new foods, flavor the dish with various spices: garlic, herbs, large quantities of onions... Don’t do this. Also avoid giving your child dishes with sauce, smoked meats, pates, and spicy marinades.

Nutrition of a child at eight to nine months.

At 8-9 months, breast milk in your baby’s diet should account for no more than a third of the total food volume. We have already listed many different products above, but this does not mean that you yourself should not try to somehow diversify your child’s menu. Prepare vegetable purees from all the vegetables available to you (depending on the season). In vegetable purees, do not miss the opportunity to add herbs - dill, parsley, lettuce (avoid hot herbs and spices); when the child grows up - and the onion. Some mothers prepare milk porridge only from oatmeal, buckwheat, rice and semolina. But if you try a little, you can steam delicious barley porridge. Many people have an undeservedly bad attitude towards pearl barley. At about 10 months you can start preparing your child fish dishes (low-fat, of course) - hake, cod. Remove the bones from the fish very carefully. Fish can be given both in the form of steamed cutlets, and boiled - in mashed form. It is recommended to cook milk porridges with whole milk - do not dilute it with water. Store cow's milk in the refrigerator and boil before drinking. If you give your child boiled whole milk to drink, then it must be in a cup. But you should only pour milk into the cup a little at a time so that the child does not spill it on himself.

The presence of healthy foods recommended by experts in the diet of an 8-month-old baby is an indispensable condition for the proper growth and development of the baby. At this age, physical activity increases noticeably, which requires a greater energy value of the diet.

According to WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations, there is no difference in the diet of children on and children receiving. Previously, complementary foods were introduced to formula-fed children at an earlier date. This was due to the low quality of infant formula, which did not provide the child with the necessary nutrients.

Currently, adapted formulas are almost identical in composition to breast milk. Therefore, the timing of the introduction of certain complementary feeding products does not differ between infants and formula-fed infants. True, you can read many articles on the Internet with recommendations for different timing of introducing complementary foods and differences in the diets of infants and artificially-fed infants. In some regions of the country you can also find pediatricians working the old fashioned way, adhering to old methods.

An equally important point is the question of the timing of introducing juices into the diet of children. Previously, it was recommended to start giving them at 1-2 months, and by 8 months of age the recommended portion of juice already reached 50-70 ml. Until now, in many articles on the Internet (as well as in the advice of some pediatricians), these recommendations have been preserved.

However, studies by foreign specialists have proven that juices have an irritating effect on the gastric mucosa and can cause the development not only of diarrhea, but also in adolescence. Therefore, you should not start introducing fruit juices into your child’s diet until he is one year old. Some experts advise giving juices even later.

List of products and their quantities for the diet at 8 months

Millet porridge with banana diversifies the diet of an 8-month-old baby.

The diet includes most of the products the child received previously, but their range is expanding and the portion sizes are increasing. One of the new products is fish, but more on that below. Another difference is that now you can prepare multi-ingredient vegetable and fruit purees and porridges for your child.

Vegetables

In addition to vegetables already familiar to the child (pumpkin, carrots, etc.), green peas and beans can be used. Chopped legumes are added to vegetable puree from other vegetables or to meat puree. The addition of legumes should be small (30-40 g), since a large amount of them can cause bloating and discomfort. Onions can be added to vegetable purees and pureed soups. The maximum serving of vegetables for a child to consume per day is 180 g.

Porridge

This dish is a must for an 8 month old baby. In addition to the porridges already familiar to the baby (oatmeal), you can gradually introduce porridge, starting with 1 tsp. new product. You can cook porridge with water, vegetable broth, breast milk or formula.

You can add no more than 1 tsp to the finished porridge. creamy or mashed boiled vegetables or fruits. You can prepare porridge for your mother yourself or purchase industrially produced products for children. At 8 months you can give your baby 150-170 g of porridge.

Some children cannot cope with the standard portion of porridge or vegetable puree, others willingly cope with it and can also breastfeed. If the baby eats less, but gains weight well, then parents have nothing to worry about.

Dairy products

From fermented milk products, a child can be given not only cottage cheese, but also. These products can be made as an addition to other dishes, or you can feed your child cottage cheese and kefir as an afternoon snack. You can buy them in the baby food department, paying attention to the production time and composition.

It is optimal for mother to prepare lactic acid products on her own. For this purpose, a yogurt maker and special starters purchased at the pharmacy are used. Such yoghurts not only enrich the child’s body with beneficial microflora, but also prevent the development of pathogenic microorganisms.

The fat content of fermented milk products should be minimal. To improve the taste of these products, you can add chopped fresh fruits or dried fruits (pre-soaked in warm water). Acceptable daily consumption rates: yogurt and kefir – 200 g, – 50 g.

Fruits

Fruits serve as a source of microelements and vitamins for the body. Previously, the child had already become acquainted with apples, bananas, apricots, etc. Now the child can also receive currants (preferably golden ones). Each type of fruit (berry) should be introduced separately, starting with a minimum portion (0.5-1 tsp) and monitoring the body's reaction to the new product.

You can prepare a multi-component puree from fruits already familiar to your baby. In this case, its basis (50% of the volume) should be applesauce, with other fruits added to it. If the child’s stool is normal, then raisins and melon pulp can be introduced into the diet. Citrus and exotic fruits (mango, kiwi) are not recommended. The standard age portion of fruit puree can be up to 80 g per day.

Meat

Many babies have already begun to introduce meat into their diet at the end of the eighth month. In this case, after reaching a full 8 months, you should increase the portion of chicken puree. Additionally, you can add veal and beef. Meat puree can be added to vegetable puree. The daily portion of meat can be increased to 50 g.

If meat has not yet been introduced to the child before 8 months, then you should start with a minimum amount (0.5 tsp) of ready-made meat puree. To prepare it, you need to boil (or cook in a double boiler) a chicken breast, grind it in a blender and dilute it with breast milk to the desired consistency.

If you don’t have a blender, you need to grind the meat twice through a meat grinder. In addition to chicken, you can use rabbit and turkey meat for the first tests. If the meat is well tolerated, the portion is gradually increased to the norm.

Fish

is a new product that experts recommend starting to introduce into the diet after 8 months. Fish contains not only valuable proteins, but also polyunsaturated fatty acids (including omega-3), minerals and vitamins.

For the first test, low-fat sea fish is suitable:

• pollock,
• cod,

Its introduction into the diet should be carried out according to the same rules: from a minimum amount (5 g), monitoring the body’s reaction, gradually increasing the portion to 30 g.

If sea fish is well tolerated, after about 3 weeks you can offer your child river fish (carp, salmon, pike perch). Puree or soufflé is prepared from fish. A fish dish can be given no more than 1-2 times a week.

Beverages

You can give your child boiled water (or special water for children). In addition, the child can be given compote and jelly prepared by the mother from fresh fruit or without sugar. You can also make decoctions from dried apricots, raisins, and prunes.

Other products

In addition to the above, other products should be given to the child at 8 months:

• a small amount (5 g per day) of wheat, slightly dried bread;
• biscuits or crackers – 3 pieces (soak in breast milk or kefir);
• homemade crackers from a wheat loaf or dry bread (allow to suck or chew under the supervision of an adult);
• the amount of butter and vegetable oil (sunflower, olive, corn) remains the same, that is, 5 g;
• the portion of hard-boiled egg yolk () also remains the same - ½ yolk 1-2 times a week.

Hard crackers offered to a child will contribute to the development of chewing skills and the formation of the maxillofacial apparatus, which will also have a positive effect on the development of speech.

Diet and feeding regimen at 8 months

At 8 months of age, the child receives 5 meals a day. Feeding with breast milk or an adapted formula must be maintained. The mother’s lactation may already be reduced, but there is no need to rush to replace mother’s milk with formula. It is important to continue breastfeeding until at least one year of age. The diet is varied, but it is recommended to give breast or formula at least before bedtime and early in the morning.

Mom can create various menu options on her own, guided by the following tips:

• the same product should not be given to the child twice a day;
• Without fail, the baby must receive porridge, meat, vegetables, fruits, and fermented milk products every day in order to provide the body with the necessary nutrients, minerals, and vitamins;
• mother can decide for herself when it is better to give porridge (for breakfast or dinner) and when to give fermented milk products; a combination of them is also possible;
• for lunch you should definitely prepare vegetable dishes, fish or meat;
• For dessert you can prepare fruit and berry puree, baked fruit, fruit soufflé or mousse.

To make it easier to organize the baby’s nutrition, it is better for the mother to prepare a menu for the week in advance, taking into account the recommendations of specialists on the selection of products and the child’s daily need for them.

Sample menu

Menu for the day

• 6:00 – mother’s milk or formula;
• 10:00 – porridge with water, monocomponent or multicomponent with butter; fruit puree;
• 14:00 – vegetable puree soup with the addition of vegetable oil and half an yolk, meat puree or soufflé, bread, compote;
• 18:00 – yogurt with fruit or kefir, cottage cheese with cookies;
• 22:00 – mother’s milk or adapted formula.

The sequence of dishes offered to the child can be changed. For example, fermented milk products can be given to your baby for second breakfast, and porridge (dairy or dairy-free) can be prepared for dinner. After a heartier dinner and breastfeeding before bed, the baby will sleep and not require the breast at night. The same recommendations are given by Dr. E. O. Komarovsky, known to many parents.

Always from 6:00 to 7:00, that is, at first breakfast, and at 22:00 (before bedtime) the baby receives breast milk or an adapted formula.

What to feed a child with allergies?

For a child with a tendency to allergies, you should select only products that rarely cause allergic reactions. Your doctor will help you choose a hypoallergenic milk formula. Cow's milk should be absolutely prohibited. According to the recommendations of experts, complementary foods are introduced to children with allergies a month later than to healthy children.

An 8-month-old child with allergies is not allowed to consume highly allergenic foods:

• poultry meat;
• fish;
• whole milk products;
• chicken eggs;
• fruits and vegetables with bright colors.

The basis of the diet is homemade fermented milk products, vegetables and gluten-free porridges cooked in water. Rabbit meat and lean beef are introduced no earlier than 9 months, and fish only shortly before one year of age.

Chicken eggs should not be introduced for up to a year; with the permission of an allergist, they can be replaced with quail eggs. From fruits you can give a green apple, banana, plums, golden currants. Ideally, you should coordinate the set of products with an allergist or pediatrician.

Summary for parents

The diet of an 8-month-old baby is so varied that it allows the mother to use both her imagination and her culinary abilities to prepare new healthy and tasty dishes.

At 8 months, the child learns to use cutlery and behave at the table. Even crackers are included in the diet for a reason - they will help develop the baby’s chewing apparatus and prepare for eating at a common table.

Pediatrician and nutritionist S. G. Makarova talks about what to feed a baby at 8 months:

In order to fully satisfy the needs of a growing child's body for valuable nutrients, its menu must be varied, balanced and age-appropriate.

At eight months, the baby's diet consists of five feedings. There are no longer nighttime meals at this age. It is believed that at this time the third complementary food should be introduced into the child’s menu. Baby feeding experts recommend that these be various fermented milk products.

If you start introducing complementary foods into your baby's diet in a timely manner, it is recommended to include fish in his menu by the 8th month. Fish meat is a source of easily digestible complete protein, valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids necessary for the full development of many organs and systems, a complex of B vitamins and minerals.

The process of digesting fish is more gentle than digesting meat. At the same time, fish should be introduced into the baby’s diet with caution, since this product can act as a potential allergen. For this reason, at first you should include fish in the menu no more than once a week, while carefully monitoring the child’s reaction.

In baby food, priority is given to white ocean fish, as it is the most hypoallergenic. It could be cod, pollock or hake. At later stages, you can include salmon in the menu, as well as the pulp of some types of river fish - carp, pike perch, etc.

Fish for feeding an eight-month-old baby is prepared separately, chopped and served with pureed vegetable puree or healthy vegetable broth. Canned baby food containing fish is not uncommon on the shelves of modern stores, but the percentage of actual fish in them is quite small.

On other days - that is, six times a week, a child, starting from five to six months, must necessarily receive a portion of meat. We should also not forget that each new product is introduced into the child’s diet gradually.

What to feed a baby at 8 months while breastfeeding

What to feed a baby at 8 months if he is breastfed and started receiving complementary foods at four to five months? As an answer to this question, the first menu option has been developed:

• 1st feeding (6 hours) – 180-200 g of breast milk or adapted milk formula;
• 2nd feeding (10 hours) – 180 g of milk porridge, a teaspoon of butter, half a hard-boiled chicken yolk, 40 g of fruit puree;
• 3rd feeding (14 hours) – 180 g of vegetable puree with the addition of 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of meat or fish puree, a slice of bread, fruit juice;
• 4th feeding (18 hours) - 150 g of breast milk or adapted milk or fermented milk formula, 40 g of cottage cheese, 2-3 cookies, 40 g of fruit puree, 40 ml of fruit juice;
• 5th feeding (22 hours) – 180-200 g of breast milk or adapted fresh or fermented milk formula, which can also be replaced with kefir.

How to feed a child at 8 months, if, having reached this age, he also continues to receive mother's milk as the main component of nutrition, and complementary feeding was started at the age of five to six months? An approximate weekly diet looks like this:

• 1st feeding (6 hours) – 180-200 g of breast milk;
• 2nd feeding (10 hours) - 180 g of milk porridge, 5 g of butter, half a hard-boiled chicken yolk, 40 g of fruit puree;
• 3rd feeding (14 hours) – 180 g of vegetable puree with the addition of 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of meat puree, 50 g of fruit puree, a slice of bread, 40 ml of fruit juice;
• 4th feeding (18 hours) – 40 g of breast milk, 40 g of cottage cheese, 2-3 cookies, fruit juice;
• 5th feeding (22 hours) – 200 g of breast milk or baby kefir.

What to feed a breastfed 8 month old baby who is allergic to cow protein? The third menu option is designed specifically for these children:

• 1st feeding (6 hours) – 180-200 ml of breast milk, fermented milk product, mixture based on protein hydrolyzate or soy;
• 2nd feeding (10 hours) – 180 g of dairy-free porridge with the addition of 8-10% breast milk or hydrolyzed protein, fermented milk product or soy mixture and 1 teaspoon of butter, 30 g of fruit puree;
• 3rd feeding (14 hours) – 170 g of vegetable puree with the addition of 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, 50 g of meat puree, 30 g of fruit puree;
• 4th feeding (18 hours) – 170 g of cereal-vegetable mixture with the addition of 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, 30 g of meat puree, 30 g of fruit puree;
• 5th feeding (22 hours) – 180-200 ml of breast milk, fermented milk product, mixture based on protein hydrolyzate or soy.

Nutritional standards for an eight-month-old baby

When thinking about the question of what to feed a child at 8 months of age, any menu should be perceived by parents solely as a guide. We should not forget that the main component of a baby’s nutrition at this age remains mother’s milk. In case of its absence, the basis of the diet should be an adapted milk formula, and all other products are introduced into the child’s menu individually.

In order to assess the sufficiency and completeness of a child’s nutrition, their development and growth rate, the presence of appetite and normal intestinal activity, and the absence of diseases are assessed. If the listed indicators are normal, then even without adhering to the “academic” menu, you can be sure that the children’s diet is chosen correctly.

If any of the parameters causes alarm, then first of all it is necessary to determine the cause of the failure. If, in general, the child eats according to his age, then earlier or later introduction of any component will not affect the overall picture.

Thus, many doctors recommend introducing the yolk only at 9-11 months of life. As for meat puree, not only chicken or beef is used to prepare it, but also rabbit or turkey. Milk porridges are also alternated, or the child is offered assorted porridge from several types of cereals (oatmeal, buckwheat, rice, semolina, barley). Vegetable purees should be prepared from local, seasonal vegetables. Cow's milk is always offered to the child in boiled form and always from a cup.

If the child is not delighted with the new product, then it can be mixed little by little into already familiar and favorite dishes. You should start with 0.1 part, increasing the amount day by day. Often children are reluctant to accept changes, but this does not mean that they really do not like the product or are not suitable for it. To speed up the habituation process, you should not season or salt the dish, or add various sauces to it.

When thinking about the question of what to feed an 8-month-old baby, you should remember that breast milk, as before, plays a huge role. Lactation should be supported as much as possible and the baby should be provided with at least two breastfeedings per day.

The 8-month-old baby's menu continues to be updated with new dishes and products. This must be done slowly and carefully, monitoring the body's reaction. If a rash, vomiting or diarrhea occurs, you should stop introducing complementary foods. There is a list of foods that are allowed at this age, and some dishes should be left for subsequent months.

An 8-month-old baby must be fed cottage cheese and other fermented milk products. You can include yoghurts in the menu. Products should not have a long shelf life. It is better if the dishes are prepared at home.

Complementary feeding from cottage cheese dishes can be combined with fruits or dried fruits.

Kefir can be served as a complement to morning or evening milk feeding. If a child refuses to eat this product, then it will be enough to give him a few spoons before the main feeding with breast milk or formula.

At 8 months, the menu contains all types of permitted cereals. You can cook them from rice, corn, oatmeal, buckwheat. You can diversify your diet by cooking porridge from several grains. Start adding a little butter to the finished dish. The porridge needs to be cooked in water; you can use pasteurized milk.

Complementary food in the form of hard-boiled chicken yolk is a new product on the menu of an 8-month-old baby. The whole yolk should not be given yet; it should be divided in half. Yolk should be included in the diet no more than twice a week. If your child does not like this product, you can finely grate it and add it to the mixture or porridge.

The child's diet includes complementary feeding from meat dishes. Initially, you should cook broth with meat, then soup.

On average, it takes about two weeks to become familiar with meat dishes. It is recommended to replace the meat dish with fish twice a week.

The menu is complemented by complementary foods made from fruit puree. It is allowed to be made from peaches, apples, pears, apricots, and bananas. You can squeeze juice and cook compotes.

With caution, you can try introducing complementary foods made from legumes (beans, peas, lentils) into the diet of an 8-month-old baby.

Between main feedings, it is allowed to feed the child with cookies or white bread crackers, no more than 10 grams.

Features of feeding at this age

At 8 months of age, the child eats five times a day at intervals of approximately 4 hours. The child's diet looks like this: in the morning it is advisable to prepare porridge, for lunch - soup or meat broth, in the evening - a light dinner with fermented milk products. An early first breakfast and a late evening dinner should consist of breast milk or formula. A breastfed baby should receive about 900 g of milk per day.

An approximate menu schedule for an 8-month-old baby follows the following hourly schedule.

1. The baby still wakes up early, around 6 am. During this time, you need to feed him breast milk or formula. You should not stop breastfeeding, especially if your baby urgently needs it. Mother's milk contains components that ensure the maintenance of immunity and normal intestinal function, which is especially important during the period of introducing complementary foods.
2. Breakfast must consist of cereals. They are cooked in water, without adding salt or sugar. Cereals should be chosen without gluten (oatmeal, rice, buckwheat, corn). If children are breastfed, then the menu will consist of new cereals; by this time, artificial ones are becoming familiar with all the permitted grains. You can add a small piece of butter (5 g) to the finished dish. Additionally, you can serve the yolk of a chicken egg (1/2 pcs.).
3. For lunch, you can serve vegetable soup or broth made from lean meats (rabbit, chicken, turkey, veal). You can make cutlets or steamed meatballs, or cook pureed vegetables. It is allowed to include natural juice from fruits familiar to the child’s body for dessert in the diet.
4. Dinner should not overload the digestive organs. It is best to give your baby kefir or cottage cheese, fruit puree.
5. Before bed, breast milk or formula is indispensable.

If the child is bottle-fed, then the first complementary foods were presumably introduced earlier, at 4-5 months. Therefore, at 8 months you can include fish in your diet. It is better to choose river or ocean fish with white meat (hake, pollock).

Fruit dishes should be included between main feedings. They cannot be used to replace other products. This way they will be better digested by the body, and all nutritional components will be absorbed.

Feeding rules

The table will help you visually study what the diet of an 8-month-old baby looks like, regardless of what feeding he is on.

Sample menu for an 8-month-old baby for a whole week in the form of a table.

• food must be pureed;
• You cannot add spices, as well as salt and sugar;

• three breastfeedings can already be replaced with complementary foods;
• the dish should be prepared for one feeding;
• The baby should be weaned from feeding at night.

The first feeding directly affects the further development of the child’s digestive organs. Mom should schedule a feeding regimen on time and correctly, including approved foods.