Weaning: what your baby needs

Your baby's diet
Now your baby is becoming more active they need more energy. Milk is still their main source of nutrition at this stage, but the puréed solid foods you give your baby start to become an increasingly important part of their diet.

From six months old, the balance of nutrients your baby needs changes too. Until they are six months old, babies require half of their calorie intake to come from fat but this decreases to 35 per cent by the time they reach 12 months. At the same time their need for energy from carbohydrates, such as potatoes, pasta, bread and rice, increases.

Once your baby is over six months old, unless you are giving your baby infant formula, you should start giving them vitamin drops containing vitamins A, C and D. Speak to your health visitor for more information.

What should I be giving my baby?
Once your baby is used to taking purées from a spoon you can start to give solids first and the milk feed second.

As your baby's tummy is still small, it gets full quickly. Because of this protein rich and calorie-dense foods are needed to meet their energy and protein requirements which will increase with age until they are 18 years old. Take care not to include too many high fibre foods as these may fill your baby up too quickly.

• Include some starchy foods, such as potatoes, rice, bread or unsweetened breakfast cereal, with each meal.
• Try to include fruit and vegetables at two or more meals each day.
• Protein and iron are an important part of your baby's diet. You should give one or two servings a day of meat, fish, egg, tofu or pulses, such as beans or lentils.
• You can also start giving full-fat milk products such as yogurt or fromage frais unless you have been advised otherwise by your GP or health visitor. Whole cows' milk can also be used for cooking, for example in sauces, but do not give it to your baby as a drink until they are 12 months old.
• Sugar, including the sugar that occurs naturally in fruit, should account for no more than 10 per cent of your baby's daily calorie intake. Added sugar should be kept to a minimum.

You can gradually increase the amount of solid food you give. Be led by your baby's appetite. At the same time, move from one solid feed a day to two solid feeds then three. You will find that as your baby eats more solid food, they will not want as much milk.