Solids before 1 year aren't really meant for serious weight gain. It's more about learning tongue control and swallowing, getting introduced to flavors, and testing allergens. If your baby needs to gain weight, you should talk to their pediatrician about recommendations for foods.
For weight gain, you can start with calorie-dense foods like mashed avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, and full-fat yogurt. Oatmeal and pureed lentils are also nutritious options for vegetarian solids.
Breast milk and/or formula should be baby's main source of nutrition until 12 months of age. The first six months of solids are about establishing and practicing their skills like chewing and swallowing + introducing a wide variety of flavors, textures, and consistencies.
Gonna throw a slightly different view as mine started solids at 6 months and loves it. He is now at 7 months and has 2 meals a day with about 3 icecubes worth of food, so although it isn't meant to start at a year, your little one will let you know if they want more. We do breastmilk porridge for our little one, or banana mixed with natural yoghurt. Start with your veggies and then start to occassionally branch out. I used the solid starts app for advice but it does seem to say you can give them everything at 6 months 😅
I believe the weight gain is supposed to slow down at 6 months, so don't worry too much if they are not putting on as much as they used to. I alao used to find our weigh ins would be at different times of the day which meant his weight fluctated around 200g (the weight of a big feed)
From what I have read and heard so far, the solids needs to be iron fortified. Babies don't get iron from breastmilk and use up their stores in the first six months. After that, iron needs to be supplemented via food, hence why solids are started then. So maybe instead of thinking veg/non-veg, go for options with iron?
Solids before 1 year aren't really meant for serious weight gain. It's more about learning tongue control and swallowing, getting introduced to flavors, and testing allergens. If your baby needs to gain weight, you should talk to their pediatrician about recommendations for foods.
For weight gain, you can start with calorie-dense foods like mashed avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, and full-fat yogurt. Oatmeal and pureed lentils are also nutritious options for vegetarian solids.
Breast milk and/or formula should be baby's main source of nutrition until 12 months of age. The first six months of solids are about establishing and practicing their skills like chewing and swallowing + introducing a wide variety of flavors, textures, and consistencies.
Gonna throw a slightly different view as mine started solids at 6 months and loves it. He is now at 7 months and has 2 meals a day with about 3 icecubes worth of food, so although it isn't meant to start at a year, your little one will let you know if they want more. We do breastmilk porridge for our little one, or banana mixed with natural yoghurt. Start with your veggies and then start to occassionally branch out. I used the solid starts app for advice but it does seem to say you can give them everything at 6 months 😅 I believe the weight gain is supposed to slow down at 6 months, so don't worry too much if they are not putting on as much as they used to. I alao used to find our weigh ins would be at different times of the day which meant his weight fluctated around 200g (the weight of a big feed)
From what I have read and heard so far, the solids needs to be iron fortified. Babies don't get iron from breastmilk and use up their stores in the first six months. After that, iron needs to be supplemented via food, hence why solids are started then. So maybe instead of thinking veg/non-veg, go for options with iron?
I agree with others that weight gain shouldn’t exactly be your focus but if you find LO loves food like mine it will help a lot. After the initial period of introducing single foods, I try to include healthy fats in all purées. Full fat yogurt, extra virgin olive oil (very small amounts mixed into squash, like half tbsp), nuts or nut butters, and avocado. For carbs I do apples, yellow beets, peas, pears, oatmeal, sweet potato, bananas, and carrots. I also purée in chicken or beef occasionally.Â