Breastfeeding is very beneficial to optimised babies growth. Breastfeeding is necessary to be given to babies from birth to 6 months old, even it is better until they are 2 years old. A small amount of solid food can be given to a baby as early as 6 months old but no less than 6 months because the digestive system in babies have not developed. Makanan Pendamping ASI (MP-ASI) provides nutritious food for their growth while breastfeeding. In the beginning of MP-ASI, it is important to acknowledge that parents need to give solid food gradually to see any reaction from the food to see if it cause either allergy or indigestion. If tolerated, parents can continue feeding their baby with solid food. It is important that MP-ASI needs to be soft enough for babies to chew and swallow. Parents can gradually feed with harder solid food until babies digestive system can process any solid food without in need to soften the food.
Essentially, MP-ASI is needed to look for micro nutrients needs for babies. The nurients consist of carbohydrate, fat, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin, and mineral. Those nutrients can be found in broccoli, spinach, carrot, banana, orange, apple, pears, melon, papaya, mango, potato, rice, sweet potato, poultry, fish, eggs, and tofu. Those food are good for children and easy to get, not hard to cook also. But keep in mind not to add salt nor sugar into the food, only natural falvours. Oftentimes when it comes to portion, it depends on the children’s condition on how much food they need. It is suggested that it’s enough until they are full.
There are variations to make food for babies. You can make porridge, mashed, and finger food. To keep the food hygienic and, so the children can easily chew, you can boil or steam it. As the children grow older. It is better to try various food with different taste and textures. The key point of making their food that you can try mashed, blended, or finger-sized food. Finger food can help them for developing their hand-eye co-ordination.
The easy recipe for a nutritious food that you can try is porridge with broccoli or spinach. Also you can make a mashed fruit with avocado and banana or sweet potato and carrot. For snacking, you can try make a finger food, you can just slice an apple or a pear that is already washed and peeled. If the fruit is too hard for babies to chew, you can always steamed it to make it softer to chew but remember to let it cool down before babies eat it. Always keep in mind that the food needs to be hygienic and you need to make sure you wash their hands at all time.
Nutritious food for 6 months old babies are essentials for their growth beside breast feeding. It is necessary for babies to gain their nutrition from solid food, a small amount can help. It’s important to introduce food that can trigger allergic reactions or indigestion so that you can avoid giving them certain kind of food if not tolerable. Breastfeeding can be given until babies turn 2years old, in that time frame you can gradually introduce them with solid food as early as 6 months old. As you introduce them with different textures of food, it can help to develop their motoric system dan train them to eat on their own.
