Indian Baby Food For Six-Month-Old Baby

Six Month Old Baby Food Plan: What to feed your six-month-old baby? When a baby completes six months, it is ready to consume solid food.

According to medical experts, the baby develops digestive enzymes at this age which helps in digesting the solids. However, parents have to be very careful in choosing the right food to feed the baby. Usually, a puree of fruits, vegetables or grains is recommended. Moreover, the chosen food should be easily digestible, fed as per routine (once in a day) and feeding breastmilk or formula milk should continue for the rest of the day. So here is a list of some healthy Indian baby food to feed a six-month-old:

A puree of fruits

Not all fruits can be safe for the baby. The fruits you choose should be healthy and easily digestible. So you can feed a puree of fruits like apple, avocado, banana, pears and peaches. Make purees of these fruits separately and feed one fruit puree for three days. Recommended purees are banana puree, apple puree, papaya puree

A puree of vegetables

The recommended vegetables for the baby are carrot, pumpkin and potato or sweet potato. You can make puree or mash the vegetables separately and feed one vegetable for three days.

Gruel of grains or cereals

The baby can be fed with gruel of grains like rice, suji, oats, ragi, barley, sabhudana, phool makhana and quinoa among others. You can make gruels of these cereals and feed for three days in a week. Recommended food items are rice gruels, rice porridge, suji porridge and ragi porridge

Dal ka pani

Pulses are also good for the health of the babies but only yellow moong dal should be fed. It can be fed as a rice and moong dal porridge or dal ka pani is also healthy and widely recommended.

Milk products

Breast milk or formula milk should be fed to the child as usual. The baby can take solids in between the milk. However, other dairy products including ghee, butter can be given in moderation.

Fruit Mashes

These are excellent for your child. Fruits come full with vitamins and nutrients and are delicious too. They contain natural sugars that make the experience of having mashes or food, yummy. There are different ways to use fruits. Some people like to mildly stew the fruit and then puree it. There are many mothers who prefer to make the mash by just spinning a peeled fruit through the mixer. While peels contain nutrients, babies shouldn't be given peels or puree of any form of peels. The reason? It can get stuck in their throat.

Some fruits you should not mash or give at all include grapes, dates, dry fruits, jamun, berries, pomegranate of any kind.

Fruits that make an excellent mash are banana, papaya, pear, apples .

Moreover, it is recommended, that while making purees, remember to not serve a mixture of fruits and milk because that can cause ingestion, loss of appetite, no weight gain and accumulation of toxins.

What may not be given

In India many doctors say baby should not be fed with any non-vegetarian food products. Sometimes people may be keen to give the baby eggs but even that normally is recommended post 9 months for the baby. Nonetheless, it depends on different people and their paediatrician's suggestions.

Salt or Sugar?

Do not add salt or sugar in the baby’s food till it turns 1. Most recommended not putting white sugar in foods for kids for a long time.

Use sterilised bowls and avoid feeding clear soups for a long time.