Introducing protein at 6 months

If your baby was introduced to solids before six months, by the time he reaches six months he should have tasted a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, and be used to digesting reasonable amounts of carbohydrate in the form of potato and baby rice. He will be ready for the introduction of protein between six and seven months.

When your baby reaches six months you can introduce chicken, fish, meat, pulses and dairy products. I would advise that you introduce these foods slowly during the early stages, introducing a new food every three days to ensure that your baby does not have a bad response to a particular food. Start by replacing two of his vegetable cubes with two cubes of the more simple chicken, fish, meat or pulse recipes. Increase the amount by one or two cubes a day until your baby’s meal consists totally of one of the protein recipes.

It is very easy to get into the habit of serving the same favourite foods to your baby, but this could lead to him becoming very fussy about the foods he eats. I therefore advise that once your baby is established on the different protein meals, you should use the feeding plans as a guide to ensure that your baby receives a variety of different foods and meals each week.

Once a protein is established at lunchtime, the rice and fruit in the evening can gradually be replaced with other savoury foods. By the time your baby reaches seven months, his daily feeding plan should look similar to the feeding plans that follow. Parents and carers should use these plans as a guide; all babies differ, so don’t feel anxious if your child doesn’t appear to like a particular food or seems to want a little more or less. Be guided by your baby.

 

Introducing solid food

• When to wean
• Early weaning
• Which foods?
• Preparing and cooking food for your baby
• First stage weaning
• Weaning guidelines
• Early weaning at 4-5 months
• Introducing protein at 6 months
• Introducing solids at 6 months
• The 10pm feed
• Introducing solids at 11am
• Introducing solids in the evening
• Weaning plan at 4-5 months (Download PDF)
• Weaning plan at 5-6 months (Download PDF)
• Weaning plan at 6-7 months (Download PDF)

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