Menu Suggestions for Babies in Their First Year
Offering a wide variety of foods helps babies get all the nutrients they need, and learn about different foods.
At six months, offer solid foods two to three times per day.
By nine months, increase solid foods to three or four times per day.
Continue to breastfeed throughout the day whenever your baby is hungry. Between the ages of six and nine months, breastfeed before you offer solid foods. After nine months, offer solid foods and then breastfeed.
Choose foods from each of the four food groups of Canada’s Food Guide at every meal. Here are some daily food suggestions for babies, aged six to 12 months:
Milk and Alternatives
6-9 Months
- Breast milk (breastfeed according to your baby’s hunger and fullness cues).
- Introduce milk products such as yogurt, cottage cheese, and pasteurized cheese.
9-12 Months
- Breast milk.
- Small amounts of pasteurized whole (3.25% M.F) cow milk may be offered once your toddler is 9 to 12 months old and is taking a variety of iron-rich solid foods.
Grain Products
6-9 Months
- Iron fortified cereal. Start with a small amount and give your toddler more according to her hunger and fullness cues.
- Progress to rice, pasta, “oat ring” cereals, noodles, crackers by 8 to 9 months.
9-12 Months
- Iron fortified infant cereal: about 125 ml (1/2 cup) or more.
- Whole grain toast, pasta, rice.
- Small pieces of bannock, tortillas, roti.
Vegetables and Fruit
6-9 Months
- Cooked, well-mashed vegetables (potatoes, yams, squash, carrots). Progress to small pieces by 9 months.
- Soft fruit (banana, kiwi) and cooked hard fruit (apples, pears).
- Start with a small amount and give your toddler more according to her hunger and fullness cues.
- Juice is not necessary. If you decide to give juice, offer no more than 125 mL (1/2 cup) of 100% fruit juice a day.
9-12 Months
- Soft fruits and vegetables, mashed or cut in small pieces. Start with a small amount and give your toddler more based on her hunger and fullness cues.
- Small pieces of cooked vegetables (potato, yam, squash, carrots).
- Soft fruit (banana, kiwi) and cooked or small pieces of hard fruit (apples, pears).
- Juice is not necessary. If you decide to give juice, offer no more than 125 mL (1/2 cup) of 100% fruit juice a day.
Meat and Alternatives
6-9 Months
- Fully cooked, well minced meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, mashed cooked egg, mashed cooked tofu, legumes.
- Peanut or nut butter.
9-12 Months
- Fully cooked, well minced meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, mashed cooked egg, mashed cooked tofu, legumes.
- Peanut or nut butter.
Resources & Links:
HealthLink BC: Feeding your baby
HealthLink BC: Finger Foods for Babies
-
As your baby grows older, their nutritional needs change. A baby is either breastfed or formula-fed as a newborn and that is all infants need to grow and thrive. However, the day will come when your baby will be ready to develop “big kid” eating habi
-
Remember when you registered for that deluxe high chair back when you were pregnant? Perhaps it's been sitting in a corner of your kitchen or dining room, just waiting for the moment when your baby is finally ready to start taste-testing solid
-
One of the hardest challenges new mothers face is the struggle to lose the weight they gained during pregnancy. Many women turn to a traditional regimen--aerobic exercise and a low-calorie diet--while others seek alternatives to fit their busy schedu
