It is a wonderful feeling to have your baby pass the halfway mark of their first year. This in itself is a milestone. At this stage in their life, though, there are many more exciting moments coming your way. One of these is your little one’s first bite of solid food.
When is it time for solids?
After six months, it’s important to start introducing solid foods to meet the changing nutritional needs of your growing baby, this is known as weaning. One of the first weaning foods that KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital recommends is plain rice cereal that is iron-fortified.
If your little one opens their mouth for food while you’re eating, this could be a sign that they are interested to start eating solids! From this moment on, you have the opportunity to introduce new flavours and textures to your baby.
Getting started on solid food with infant cereals
In this new feeding stage, it is important that your baby receives all the essential nutrients they need, and also to maintain a healthy digestive system. One way to ensure this for your little one is with the help of infant cereals.
Infant cereals, such as CERELAC® Infant Cereal, are easy to digest, containing essential carbohydrates and dietary fibre. Indeed, these make a great first food to help your baby wean to solids from milk.
As the only infant cereal with the widest range of variety, textures and tastes, CERELAC® Infant Cereal is an ideal choice because it allows you to discover your baby’s tastes and preferences. It is also the only infant cereal brand with Bifidus BL probiotics that help fight against harmful bacteria in the digestive tract.
By giving your baby two bowls of CERELAC® Infant Cereal each day, you meet 100% of their nutritional needs, including:
- 100% daily calcium and iron needs
- DHA and Bifidus BL probiotics
- 12 vitamins and minerals
Experimenting with new flavours and textures gives you a chance to discover your child’s preferences.
Daily meal plans for babies
To guide you through your baby’s weaning journey, here are three sample meal plans that you can prepare at home. These include a balance of infant cereals, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat. As your baby gets used to having cereals, you can start to replace the dinner milk feed with a second bowl of CERELAC® Infant Cereal.
Make sure to pay attention to your baby’s hunger cues like smacking their lips, opening and closing of mouth, attempting to position themselves for feeding, or crying. On the other hand, you’ll know that your little one is full when they refuses to open their mouth to accept food, turns away from the spoon, or leans back in their chair away from the bowl.
Observing how much your baby eats can help you measure the portions that you serve at each meal properly.
After 6 months
- Breakfast – Milk 180-210 mL
- Mid-morning snack – Mashed bananas 1-2 tbsp
- Lunch – CERELAC® Rice & Milk 1 bowl
- Mid-afternoon snack – Milk 180-210 mL
- Dinner – Milk 180-210 mL or CERELAC® Rice 1 bowl
- Bedtime – Milk 180-210 mL
Check out our meal suggestions for babies 8 and 12 months old on the next page.
As your baby begins to eat on their own, you must make sure that they get all the nutrition they needs everyday.
8 months
- Breakfast – Milk, 180-210 mL + Mashed bananas 2-4 tbsp
- Mid-morning snack – Applesauce 2-4 tbsp
- Lunch – CERELAC® Brown Rice 1 bowl with Pureed Spinach 2 tbsp
- Mid-afternoon snack – Milk 180-210 mL
- Dinner – CERELAC® Rice & Mixed Fruits 1 bowl with Mashed Tofu 2 – 3 tsp
- Bedtime – Milk 180-210 mL
12 months
- Breakfast – Milk + 1 tbsp Diced Mango mixed with GERBER 2nd FOODS Apple Prune ½ – 1 jar
- Mid-morning snack – GERBER® Graduates Strawberry Apple Puffs 1 handful
- Lunch – CERELAC® Rice & Mixed Vegetables 1 bowl with Diced Chicken Liver 10g & Finely Chopped Onion 1 tsp
- Mid-afternoon snack – Milk + ¼ Orange slices with GERBER® 2nd FOODS Exotic Dessert ½ jar
- Dinner – CERELAC® Multi Grain & Mixed Fruits 1 bowl with steamed and mashed steamed Bean Curd 50g
- Bedtime – Milk
Big nutrition for small tummies
Mums trust CERELAC® Infant Cereal to deliver big nutrition for small tummies, making it the number one brand among infant cereals in Singapore. Find out why, and discover how you, too, can serve up bowls of love to your little one as they begins their adventures into eating solid food.