Childhood Diseases

Posted by: Cindy | 2012-04-26


Diet change suggestions

My little one is just over 10 months now. She as 5 meals per day and 2 of which are milk only (the first and last ones in the day). She will also eat fruit and yogurt in the morning, veggies (with or without meat) in the afternoon for lunch and I give her some cereal around 5pm. However, I want to phase the cereal out. I was told that fruit is best eaten in the morning and meals for lunch. So, what can I give her instead of cereal at 5pm?

Expert's Reply



May I ask you to direct your important question to our Parenting line on Health24. You will find this in the list of sites in the left hand column on the Health24 Home page.
I hope that our regular Paediatric forum members will also give you advice here.


user comments


Posted by: Purple | 2012-04-26


Babies can generally eat exactly what the rest of the family eats so long as you avoid the foods that are common allergy causers and the foods most likely to cause choking.

Up until a year, milk is baby''s most important source of nutrition, so milk feeds should continue to be on demand day and night. OFten a baby that is beginnign to crawl or walk or just get very busy will not have much milk in the day and make up for it at night.

lAt around 9 or ten months (or later in some babies) you can introduce mid morning and mid afternoon snacks between meals so that baby is having small meal amounts often, as babies have small little tummies that need refilling often.
You can (and should) also offer sips of cooled boiled water to baby with meals (its not nice trying to eat if you are thirsty and have a dry mouth from the food).

Baby cereals aren''t necessary for a baby unless you don''t have access to fruit or vegetables or other nutritious foods. They won''t do any harm, there just isn''t any need for them.

My babies feeds go something like this:

Breakfast - at around 06:30 to 07:00 before I leave for work:
multigrain pronutro (I mix with cows milk) or a boiled egg with toast soldiers (my baby ate an egg by mistake and had no reaction, so I''ve just kept on feeding egg), or full cream yoghurt, or toast wtih marmite or peanut butter, or porridge such as jungle oats or maltabella.

mid morning snack - at around tennish
some sort of fruit such as halved grapes or blueberries, peach, watermelon, green melon, spanspek, plum, grated apple, banana, mango, slices of kiwi fruit, chunks of avocado, steamed pear slices, chopped pieces of strawberries. sometimes I give dried fruit such as apricot, pear or apple rings, mango strips or raisins or dates. Sometimes I give little blocks of cheese as well.

Lunch - usually around 13:00.
Strips of steamed chicken breast or lean beef mince, or chicken livers, or fish or a lamb chop bone with some meat on it or some ribs with a bit of meat on them. I freeze chicken, fish and mince and chicken livers. The bones I give if we have had a braai or had them for supper the night before.
Vegetable such as peas or baby marrow or broccolli or cauliflour or patty pans or butternut chunks or small, soft baby carrots or sweet potato chunks or a quarter of baked potato. I do a bulk cook over the weekend of three or four kinds of vegetables and then freeze them or I leave leftover from our supper the night before.
A starch such as rice or pasta rice or couscous or pasta. I cook and freeze these in ice block containers. Mountains of them so I always have on hand.

Afternoon snakc - around 3ish.
Usually something like a rice cake or two, or those little flower shaped things Nestle makes in the long tube, or a teething biscuit, cucumber strips, cherry tomatoes (halved), blocks of cheese. Just a small nibble.

Supper - usually around half past five or six.
I give much the same as at lunch time. IF its weekend I sometimes give a breakfast food - especially on a sunday night.
I also give her whatever we have for supper, so cottage pie, soup, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti bolognaise, roasted mediteranean vegetables, fish, beef stroganofff (she holds the strips of beef in her hand), lasagne. I tend to spoon feed her her supper, but all other meals she feeds herself and has done so since starting on solids just before 6 months.

AS she gets older (she is now 11 months) I may add a before bed snack of a glass of milk and a biscuit.

I try to balance her meals so she gets all food groups according to the food pyramid over about a week rather than stressing over each and every day or meal.

Hope that helps with a few ideas.

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