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Robin Barker's regular granddaughter diary, and baby care column. Granddaughter Sage also joins us with a baby persepective on life.

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Please refer back to January diary for food allergy/intolerance guidelines

Between 6 and 9 months your baby can follow this regime. Remember this is a guide only and must be adapted to your baby and your lifestyle. The times given are approximate

	BREASTFEED OR BOTTLE (180-210ML) 6am
	BREAKFAST SUGGESTIONS 7am-9am stewed fruit and/or cereal (add made-up formula or full fat milk) or full-fat yoghurt or egg yolk (whole egg after nine months) As well offer bread or toast To drink: offer water or juice in a cup or a bottle if your baby has already had an early morning feed. If no early morning feed give breastfeed or bottle after breakfast
	10am to 11am: Morning tea (this is optional) – water or juice (cup or bottle) and choice of finger food (bread, crusket, cheese, fruit, rusk)
	LUNCH SUGGESTIONS (NB, lunch and dinner are interchangeable) 12md-1:30pm Any vegies, add meat, chicken or fish (ground up in a hand or electric blender or mashed with a fork) add to mix Grated cheese or tomato puree or grated hard-boiled egg yolk Breastfeed and/or cup or bottle (around 180-210ml)
	2pm-4pm: Afternoon tea (this is optional) same as for morning tea
	EVENING MEAL SUGGESTIONS (NB lunch and dinner are interchangeable) 5pm-7pm Mashed avocado and cottage cheese or yoghurt Mashed banana and cottage cheese or yoghurt Any other fresh fruit and cottage cheese or yoghurt Soup, jars of commercial baby food Boiled egg Tofu and fruit Family food ground up (pasta, rice, casseroles, spag bo etc) Breastfeed and/or cup or bottle (around 180-210ml) (remember older babies who drink from cups do not consume large amounts – see notes next page) Sometime between 9 and 12 months Commercial fish fillets Cheese on toast Baked beans Spaghetti Sandwiches

Info to go with the chart

Things to avoid:

This list is for the non-allergenic, please refer back to January diary for allergy/intolerance info.

Avoid unnecessary sugar, salt, junk food, and ‘hot’ food such as chilli, pepper and so on.

Things like basil, garlic and tomato puree that you use in your food are fine.

Food safety

Food safety precautions are important as soon as your baby starts eating family food.

Small, hard items such as peanuts, pips and seeds are choking hazards. Other foods, which are choking hazards, include whole apple, whole carrot, raw celery, corn chips or popcorn.

Once your baby starts eating food herself make sure she is always supervised and not allowed to crawl or walk with food.

Your diet

This is also a good time to take a critical look at the family diet.

If you have a healthy diet your baby’s diet will be healthy too.

Gagging

Most babies need the main part of their meal ground up until they are around twelve months old as their gag reflex is still strong until then. Lumpy food from a spoon tends to make meal times stressful because the lumps cause many babies to gag a lot.

Oddly enough when babies feed themselves finger foods they control their gag reflex much more efficiently.

So, if your baby keeps gagging when you offer her lumpy food off a spoon a good compromise is to give her the main part of the meal ground up them offer her some finger foods she can eat herself.

And, on the subject of finger foods

There are some babies who are not interested in finger foods. Usually these babies are happy to eat anything from a spoon (lumps and all) and may not get into finger foods until they are over a year.

You see, they’re all different…the variations are endless.

Fluids

Three bottles of milk every twenty four hours is all babies need once they are eating well.

One drink of juice a day is sufficient.

Try water at other times when your baby is thirsty.

Many breastfed babies will not take bottles.

There is rarely any need to force a healthy breastfed baby to take a bottle after 6 months of age.

This includes babies who only have 3-4 breastfeeds every twenty four hours. Babies will thrive on their meals, small amounts from a cup and their breastfeeds.

The amount they drink from a cup steadily increases. It takes about six to eight weeks for a baby to learn to drink from sixty to ninety mls from a cup in one go.

Naturally you have to hold the cup!

Bottles of milk and juice are not needed after twelve months.

A cup is fine.

Teeth

The first teeth erupt anytime between 3½ months and seventeen months. The arrival of teeth has nothing to do with when and what your baby eats. Many twelve-month-old babies with no teeth eat a wide variety of chunky food.

They learn to use their gums very efficiently.

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