Congratulations mummy, your baby is one month older. You could have known now how time flies. It would have been felt that your baby was born just now, but they are already 9 months old. So, make sure to spend quality time with them by playing, hugging, kissing, and creating a lot more memories. Since by now, your babies could have tasted the foods, here are some of the things to consider before introducing new food products:
- Make sure to continue breastfeeding your baby. The milk helps in improving their immunity power, developing strength internally, and a lot more.
- Include fruits and veggies every single day.
- Add some sources of protein like dals, sprouts, eggs, chicken, etc in their breakfast or lunch routine.
- Never add salt or sugar at least for one year. It is because the organs are being developed, which is why the work should not be overloaded for the organs. If you are worrying that without salt, it may cause indigestion, never worry; your breastmilk has the salt which is required for the baby.
- Freshly prepared foods are always the best choice. For eg, if your baby has only half the boiled apple, don’t worry, mummy can have the remaining without storing the opened apple for the next day. Even mothers need strength to take care of the baby right.
When your kid is 9 months old, you can introduce them to 3 meals per day which include breakfast, lunch, and dinner; Along with two snacks in the mid-morning and evening. Since they have been grown to an extent, make sure to make them eat by themselves, which is nothing but self-feeding. This will make them know how important it is to make them independent and take care of their work. Even though you may feel they are too young, it is important to develop the skills slowly for making their future an even better one.
Here are some tips for making their food journey smooth and happy:
- Try to give the same food every day. If you are giving apples a day, make sure to change the fruit to watermelon or muskmelon the other day. This will help them taste the variety and they also will get excited to try new food options.
- Make sure that they consume enough water in a day. It is normal for kids to not drink water. So, you can try flavoured water like jeera water, fruit juice without sugar/ice, etc.
- Give them the food in small portions. You should not force feed them, which is very important in the process of eating.
- Introduce them to soups, which are a very good source of healthy food.
- If you are overfeeding, the kid may get constipated. So be aware to give them food only for their capacity rather than stuffing and forcing them.
- Also, one more important thing is to make sure to feed only when the baby is sitting. Do not feed them in the sleeping position.
Get to know the 9-month baby food chart recipes in detail.
Also, check out the sample menu with an option for you to go through:
- Once the kid wakes up, breastfeed them, which is way more important.
- When the clock strikes between 8 to 9, give their first meal, which is nothing but breakfast. You can give idly, dosa, rice porridge, khichdi, upma, idiyappam, appam, etc.
- Then around 10 AM, you can breastfeed them. Or you can introduce soups or fruits according to your climatic conditions.
- Between 12 – 1, you can give them lunch which may include rice with dal, along with any one steamed veggies.
- After 30 – 45 mins, you can breastfeed them.
- Then you can give fruits, black/white channa as their healthy snack.
- Make sure to finish their dinner before 8 PM. For dinner, you can give them steamed foods like idli, idiyappam, etc.
- You can then breastfeed according to your kid’s hunger level.
