How much food is enough for a baby during weaning?

When taking care of a baby, one of the biggest concerns of parents is how to ensure that their baby is provided with enough food. Managing a baby’s diet not only requires patience but also knowledge of nutrition. But how do you know that your baby is eating the right amount and enough nutrients? That is a question that many parents have to think about every day. So let’s explore with Autoru and better understand your baby’s nutritional needs from the first days of life.

When should babies start eating solid foods?

According to the American Pediatric Association, babies can start eating solid foods when they show some signs such as:

Baby can hold his head up and sit upright in a high chair.
Baby has significant weight gain (double or more than birth weight)
Can hold a spoon and move food deep into the mouth

When your baby shows the above signs, it is time for you to start the weaning process. This is an important step to help supplement essential nutrients for your baby to develop comprehensively and improve his/her eating ability. This stage is very important and you need to pay attention to the food and especially the amount of food for your baby at each stage.

How much food is enough for baby?

The amount of food is very important for babies, but not all babies eat the same amount of food. At each age, each child’s development and physical condition are different. Below is information for mothers to refer to about the appropriate amount of food for babies based on the recommended nutritional needs for Vietnamese people – Ministry of Health / Institute of Nutrition:

6 Months Old Baby (First Week)

Number of meals: 1 main meal
Milk intake: 800-880ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20g/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal (avocado, banana, pumpkin, cauliflower,…)
Amount of cooking oil for baby: 2.5 ml/day

6 month old baby (From 2nd week of weaning)

Number of meals: 1 main meal
Milk intake: 750-800ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20g/meal
Protein amount: 35g/meal (In the second week of weaning, your baby can supplement protein with beef or pork)
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Cooking oil amount: 2.5 ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)

7 month old baby

Number of meals: 1 main meal + 1 snack
Milk intake: 700-750ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20-25g/meal
Protein: 35-40g/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Amount of cooking oil for babies: 2.5-5 ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)
Snack: Yogurt – Cheese (Baby can eat from 7.5 months and no more than 4 days a week): 30g/day or fruit: 10g/meal.

8 month old baby

Number of meals: 2 main meals + 2 snacks
Milk intake: 550-600ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20g/meal
Protein: 30-35/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Cooking oil amount: 5ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)
Snack: Yogurt – Cheese (no more than 4 days a week): 30g/day or Fruit: 10g/meal.

Baby 9-10 months old

Number of meals: 2 main meals + 2 snacks
Milk intake: 550-600ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20g/meal
Protein: 35g/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Cooking oil amount: 5ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)
Snack: Yogurt – Cheese (no more than 4 days a week): 30g/day or Fruit: 10g/meal.

11 month old baby

Number of meals: 3 main meals + 1 snack
Milk intake: 500-550ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 20g/meal
Protein: 25/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Cooking oil amount: 5ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)
Snack: Yogurt – Cheese (no more than 4 days a week): 30g/day or Fruit: 10g/meal.

Baby 12-24 months old:

Number of meals: 3 main meals + 1 snack
Milk amount: 500ml/day
Amount of powder/porridge: 30-35g/meal
Protein: 45g/meal
Amount of vegetables/roots/fruits: 20g/meal
Cooking oil amount: 10ml/day (No more than 4 days a week)
Snack: Yogurt – Cheese (no more than 4 days a week): 30g/day or Fruit: 10g/meal.

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The role of weaning in babies

Weaning is not just a part of the baby’s nutrition process, but also plays an important role in the overall development and health of the child. When the baby begins to be exposed to solid foods, it not only helps develop the ability to chew, swallow and digest, but also creates opportunities for the baby to experience new foods.

Weaning also plays an important role in shaping your baby’s taste buds, helping them continue to explore and develop their own culinary preferences. At the same time, diversifying the weaning diet provides your baby with the necessary nutrients to support comprehensive development.

Weaning to ensure baby’s growth rate

Weaning is an important part of your baby’s development in the early stages of life. Through exposure to a variety of foods, your baby not only receives the nutrients needed for physical development.

Weaning ensures that your baby gets the right amount of nutrients for each stage of development. With a variety of foods such as vegetables, fruits, grains, proteins, and fats, your baby is provided with all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats needed for body and brain development.

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Stimulates sensory development in babies

Weaning not only helps your baby develop his or her ability to eat, but also stimulates the development of his or her senses. Introducing your baby to a variety of foods with a variety of colors and flavors will help your baby develop his or her taste buds. You can let your baby try foods such as cereal, porridge or meat so that he or she can feel the hardness and taste of each different type.

Involving your baby in the preparation and cooking process is also a great way to stimulate their senses. They can be involved in touching, molding or pouring food into individual bowls so they can experience the feel of the food texture.

Avoid the baby from getting allergies

Feeding your baby a variety of foods will help your baby avoid allergies when exposed to new foods. Most importantly, when feeding your baby new foods, parents must actively monitor their baby’s body’s reaction to each type of food.

An effective way to avoid allergies is to start by introducing one food at a time. Your baby should be introduced to one new food at a time and then observed for signs of an allergic reaction such as rash, redness, itching or difficulty breathing. If you notice any signs of an allergy, stop feeding that food and consult your doctor.

Maintaining variety in your baby’s diet can also help reduce the risk of food allergies. By offering your baby a variety of foods from different food groups, we can help your baby develop the ability to adapt and absorb nutrients in the best way.

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Make sure your baby gets enough minerals

During the weaning process, ensuring that your baby receives enough minerals is an important factor to ensure your baby’s development. This is especially important in the early stages of forming your baby’s eating habits.

Among the minerals necessary for the development of children, calcium stands out with its important role in the formation of bones and teeth. Children can receive calcium from many sources such as milk, yogurt and nuts.

One thing to note is that you should choose foods that do not contain dangerous substances or your baby may get food poisoning. Choose natural foods that do not contain harmful substances so that your baby can absorb minerals naturally and healthily.

Notes when mothers feed their babies

When feeding your baby solid foods, you need to pay attention to the foods you give them when they first start feeding. You should not feed your baby solid foods when you first start feeding your baby solid foods. And the time to feed your baby solid foods is when your baby is not too hungry or too tired. At the same time, you need to pay attention to your baby’s posture when feeding your baby solid foods to avoid the baby falling backwards or regurgitating. You can use a high chair to fix your baby and limit accidents during feeding. And you should use baby spoons because these spoons are usually small and suitable for your baby’s mouth. You should also monitor your baby’s expressions such as liking or disliking that dish and vary your baby’s menu so that your baby can absorb more nutrients.

The above are suggestions for mothers, however, mothers should still depend on their children because each child is a different individual. If the child cannot eat the desired amount, mothers should not worry and force the child to eat. This is the stage when the child is “learning to eat”. Especially in the first year of life, the main food that the child needs is still breast milk and formula milk. Therefore, the important thing is not the quantity but the “quality” of the child’s meals, including: the food that the mother introduces to the child, the child’s chewing and swallowing skills and food processing, the child’s joy when eating… These things will be very important for the child to form scientific eating habits later.