Give complementary foods from 9 up to 12 months

Note: The white background food image represents a meal; yellow background represents a snack.

What:

• Continue breastfeeding on demand (on cue) both day and night.
• Provide animal-source foods, which are very important for young children. Cook them well and cut them into very small pieces.
• Offer at least one to two snacks each day, such as an egg, ripe mango and papaya, avocado, banana, other fruits and vegetables, bread with nut paste, or orange-fleshed sweet potato. See also Counselling Card 21.
• Add a small amount of pounded groundnut paste to porridges and other foods to provide extra protein and energy.
• Avoid providing sweet biscuits, sugary drinks and snacks high in fat, salt, and sugar.

How:

• Give finely chopped, mashed foods and finger foods.
• Increase quantities gradually to ¾ cup (250 ml cup). (Show the suggested amount in a cup brought by the mother.)
• Give your baby a minimum of three meals a day and offer one to two snacks.

Responsive care and feeding practices:

• Interact and talk with your child while washing hands and feeding.
• Encourage your child to hold food and to attempt to use a spoon to feed him/herself.
• Don't use food as a reward or punishment.
• Engage the child in ‘play’ to make the eating session a happy, learning experience.
• Encourage ‘conversation’ by copying your child’s sounds or gestures.
• Offer new foods several times; children may not like (or accept) new foods the first few tries.
• Respond to your child’s surprise at a new taste or texture by communicating joy or surprise or encouragement.
• Eat with the family as much as possible to promote your baby’s social and emotional development.
• Do not insist if the child does not want to eat. If the child refuses to eat, offer food again later.
• Follow your child’s lead and hunger or fullness cues.
• See Counselling Cards 27, 28 and 29 on responsive care and early learning and Counselling Cards 13, 14 and 15 on handwashing, hygiene and clean water cards.