Your baby's nutritional needs from 10 to 12 months

As weaning progresses, food becomes an increasingly important part of your baby's diet. Your baby is getting more active and needs more energy. At the same time, the balance of nutrients your baby requires changes.

During the first year of life, babies need a higher fat diet than adults to support their rapid growth and development. By the time they reach 12 months they need less fat, while their need for energy from carbohydrates, such as potatoes, pasta, bread and rice, increases.

Your baby's nutritional requirements from 10 to 12 months

• Your baby can still only manage small amounts of food at each meal, but they need a good, varied diet. By now, they should be having three meals a day plus two or three snacks.
• You can start to offer two courses at each meal. And now is a good time to return to any foods your baby may have initially rejected and try them again.
• Until they are 12 months old babies need 525mg of calcium per day. Milk is one of the best sources of calcium and your baby should still be having breast milk or a minimum of 500ml of follow-on formula milk per day.
• Make sure any dairy products you offer, such as yogurt, fromage frais and cheese are full fat. As you introduce a milk-based pudding, you may find your baby no longer needs the milk feed after their meal.
• Continue to include a starchy food, such as bread, rice, pasta or potatoes, at each of your baby's meals. You can give some wholegrain varieties but not too often. They are high in fibre, so can fill your baby up too quickly without providing enough calories.
• Give your baby fruit or vegetables at each meal. You can offer some of these as finger foods.
• Continue to give one or two servings of meat, fish, eggs or pulses a day.
• Your baby still needs plenty of iron-rich foods, such as red meat and dried figs and apricots. Alongside these, give foods that are high in vitamin C. In addition to its many other functions, vitamin C helps your baby absorb the iron from non-meat sources.
• If you are breast feeding a baby of six months and over, you should also give them baby vitamin drops. Speak to your health visitor for more information.
• Take care to limit the amount of sugar in your baby's diet. Added sugar and the sugar that occurs naturally in fruit should together make up no more than 10 per cent of your baby's daily calorie intake. Biscuits and cakes can encourage a sweet tooth and have little nutritional value.
• Salt should not be added to your baby's food.