The rules for giving 6 months of admission must be understood

When he is 6 months old, usually babies can be introduced to complementary foods (solids). The provision of complementary foods should be in accordance with the complementary schedule and given in stages.

But don't forget because it is said to be a companion to breastfeeding, of course this baby food must still be done simultaneously with breast milk. In order for optimal feeding to meet the nutritional needs of infants, here is complete information that parents need to understand.

Why is MPASI given at 6 months of age?

Ideally, from birth until the age of 6 months the baby should get exclusive breastfeeding.

After the baby is over 6 months of age, he needs to be given baby food or get breast milk and solids at the same time.

However, if possible, you can still breastfeed until the baby is two years or 24 months old.

There is a special reason why exclusive breastfeeding lasts for only 6 months and must be given together with complementary foods thereafter.

This is because after the age of 6 months, the baby's daily nutritional needs have increased so that breastfeeding alone is not able to fulfill it.

MPASI is used to meet the daily needs of a baby who cannot be met by breast milk or infant formula if he is not breastfed.

In addition, giving solid food also serves to train the ability of the oromotor muscles (muscles in the mouth), motor skills of babies, and prevent nutritional problems in babies.

At this time the baby can also learn little by little until later they are really used to eating solid food so that the baby does not have difficulty eating.

If solid food is given too soon or too late, this has the risk of having adverse effects on the health of the baby.

The following are the possible impacts if the first complementary feeding is too fast:

The baby's motor skills are not ready, which increases the risk of choking.
The baby's digestive system is not ready, indigestion can arise.
Feeding solid foods too quickly is a risk factor for allergies, eczema, and obesity.

Meanwhile, the impacts that might occur if the first complementary feeding is too slow, namely:

Growth disorders, due to nutritional intake from exclusive breastfeeding, which is not sufficient for the baby's daily needs.
Rejection of solids, babies become picky eater because I'm not used to it.

What is the strategy for providing complementary foods?

Quoting from the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), there are four important strategies that mothers must understand when giving complementary foods at the age of 6 months.

Here are some strategies for providing complementary foods for babies:

1. Be on time

Repeating the previous thing, complementary foods for breastfeeding should be given at the right time, aka not too fast or slow.

With notes, this is adjusted back to the health condition of your little one.

In certain cases, your doctor may advise you to provide complementary foods before 6 months.

2. Adequate

Complementary foods with breast milk should meet the energy, protein, mineral and vitamin needs of the baby.

In other words, provide a complementary menu consisting of various food sources.

3. Safe and hygienic

All processes in storing baby food, processing it, and serving solid food should be done safely and hygienically.

This means that you are strongly advised to use safe and clean MPASI methods, materials, and equipment.

4. Give responsively

Just like breastfeeding, the solid foods that you serve your little one should also follow the signs that the baby is hungry and full.

So, it's good to give food when the baby is hungry and avoid forcing him to eat when he is full.

What are the signs that my baby can start feeding solids?

Before giving solid foods, you need to know the signs that your baby is ready to eat. Some signs when a baby is ready to be introduced to complementary foods are as follows:

Babies can sit with their neck straight and lift their head on their own without assistance.
Babies show an interest in food, such as trying to reach the food that is in front of them.
Babies show good motor skills, such as being able to grasp and put food or toys in their mouth.
The baby leans forward and opens his mouth if he is interested in food, and back and closes his mouth if he is not interested in food or is not hungry.
The baby looks hungrier and still shows signs of being hungry even after being given breast milk.

When your little one has shown these signs, the mother can start giving him complementary foods.

Provision of good solids according to the age of the baby

The baby MPASI menu is divided into two, namely the mixed MPASI menu and the single MPASI menu.

The single MPASI menu is a solid food complementary to breastfeeding which consists of only one type of food.

Here's an example, for example, a baby is given rice porridge continuously for 14 days or about two weeks.

While the mixed menu is solid food which consists of various sources, for example meat, eggs, fruits, cheese, vegetables, and others.

It is important to know that WHO strongly recommends that infant complementary foods since 6 months consist of a variety of food sources.

This is because one type of food is actually not enough to meet the increasing daily nutritional needs of babies.

In this case, a single MPASI menu does not enrich the baby's food intake, but instead limits the choice of food and nutrients.

The provision of solid food in each age range of infants is not always the same.

To make it easier to process and present complementary foods for your little one, the following are the rules that mothers need to understand according to WHO:

MPASI, 6 months old

Following are the guidelines for complementary feeding (complementary feeding) for 6 months:

Frequency and portion of meals

You may only need to feed 2-3 times a day with a portion of about 2-3 tablespoons at each meal.

In addition to these main foods, the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) also recommends giving intervals of about 1-2 times a day.

Food texture

In the early days of the introduction of exclusive breastfeeding to complementary foods (solids), it is highly recommended to give babies a soft and soft texture of food.

The texture of food that can be given at the age of 6 is starting with pounded food (puree).

Menu for 6 months baby solid food

An example of a 6 month baby solid food menu that you can make is rice mixed with mustard greens and chicken. First of all, make a thin porridge out of white rice.

Add the boiled mustard greens, a pinch of salt, and 2 tablespoons of shredded chicken, blended until smooth.

Cook this 6 months baby solid food menu recipe until it boils.

MPASI, 7 months old

Source: Happy Veggie Kitchen

Following are the guidelines for giving complementary foods at 7 months of age:

Frequency and portion of meals

You can provide food 2-3 times per day while regularly giving breast milk.

In fact, it is okay to offer snacks for babies 1-2 times a day in between the 7 month baby's main complementary foods.

If previously the baby was only given about 2-3 tablespoons of solid food per day, now you can add it gradually.

Prepare a serving of solid complementary foods of about ½ cup or ½ glass of mineral water measuring 250 milliliter (ml) for 7 months of age.

Food texture

You can process food with a smoother texture but thicker than before. This change in texture will also help train your 7 month baby to chew food.

The texture of complementary foods is thick but smooth enough to make it easier for a 7 month old baby to chew and mash it in the mouth.

7 months MPASI menu

An example of a 7 month baby solid food menu that you can make is team rice with beef stew with carrots and potatoes.

Boil the beef until cooked, then add vegetables for babies such as carrots and potatoes to contribute nutrients, including vitamins for babies.

Stir until all the ingredients are well blended, boil and cooked, then add spices such as salt, sugar, or micin to taste.

Cook the rice until it gets a soft texture while mashing the meat and vegetable soup, then mix the two.

Blend all ingredients orfood processor until it gets a soft texture or according to the baby's ability to eat.

MPASI, 8 months old

Following are the guidelines for giving complementary foods at 8 months of age:

Frequency and portion of meals

The frequency of complementary feeding at 8 months is around 2-3 times per day.

Meanwhile, for the portion of each meal, babies are usually able to eat about 2-3 tablespoons to ½ cup 250 milliliter (ml) size.

You can still snack on 1-2 meals per day between main meals.

Food texture

Babies are usually used to eating soft textured solid foods at this age. You can continue by giving mashed food which has a slightly thick texture (mashed food).

8 months baby solid food menu

An example of an 8 month baby solid food menu that you can make is rice mixed with tofu and chicory.

To make this menu, boil the tofu and chicory until cooked while cooking the rice until it produces a soft texture as part of making the 6 months baby solid food recipe.

Next, put the tofu and cabbage in a blender or food processor, then mix with rice to produce a complementary food menu for ASI (MPASI).

MPASI, 9 months old

Following are the guidelines for giving complementary foods at 9 months of age:

Frequency and portion of meals

The frequency of giving complementary foods at the age of 9 months is around 3-4 times per day. At the age of 9-11 months, you can give a serving of about ½ cup measuring 250 ml.

You can also provide snacks between main meals about 1-2 times a day according to your baby's wishes.

Food texture

As for the texture and type of food, you can present several options including finely chopped, coarsely chopped, and finger foods.

Finger foods is food that is cut into small pieces to the size of a baby's finger to make it easier to hold.

9 months baby solid food menu

Try making mashed potatoes with the addition of smoked meat and broccoli for a 9 month baby solid food menu.

The way to make it is by steaming potatoes, broccoli, and bacon until cooked then crushing it with a mash or fork.

Then, saute margarine and garlic while adding egg and milk to taste. Add the crushed ingredients and grated cheese.

MPASI, 10 months old

Following are the guidelines for giving complementary foods at 10 months of age:

Frequency and portion of meals

The frequency of eating babies aged 10 months is around 3-4 times per day. In addition to main meals, you can also routinely provide snack or snack for 10 months baby 1-2 times.

Gradually, it is recommended that you increase the amount of solids for your 10 month baby to 250 milliliters (ml) or about half a bowl.

Food texture

You can give your baby a variety of textures of complementary foods at 10 months of age. This is because baby teeth at the age of 10 months have started to grow so that they will be more trained when eating various textures of complementary foods.

Various foods ranging from finely chopped (minced), roughly chopped (chopped), as well as food that is easy to grip (finger food).

10 month baby solid food menu

An example of a 10 month baby solid food menu is red bean soup with meat.

Prepare the red bean soup first by sautéing the onions and celery while cooking the rice until it gets the right texture for the baby.

Next, bring the water and meat to a boil, then add the red beans and carrots then wait for everything to cook.

Then add the sauteed onions and celery and cook again until done.

Combine rice, red bean soup, meat, and vegetables in a blender and food processor then puree until it gets the texture your baby wants.

MPASI, 11 months old

Following are the guidelines for giving complementary foods at 11 months of age:

Frequency and portion of meals

The portion of solid foods for babies at the age of 11 months is about half a bowl or 250 milliliters (ml). As for the frequency or amount of food you can give 3-4 times a day.

If you find it still lacking, you can add 1-2 times a day to give a snack or snack.

Food texture

The food texture that you can give to a 11 month baby is finely chopped (minced), roughly chopped (chopped), and food that is easy to grip (finger food).

11 month baby solid food menu

For example, the choice of menu for 11 months babies is to make spaghetti pasta and minced meat.

You do this by boiling the spaghetti as usual and then cutting it or cutting it into small pieces to make it easier for the baby to eat it.

Finally, don't forget to add the cooked and seasoned minced meat to the top of the spaghetti.

Complementary food menu for babies 6 to 11 months

The following is an example of a menu recipe for complementary foods or complementary foods for babies from 6 months to 11 months:

1. Puree Mango

Puree the fruit using food processor or a blender. Make sure you puree it until the texture of the MPASI menu is like mush.

You can offer fruit as a snack or as a baby snack. It's just that the fruit given should not be in the form of small or large pieces if the baby is 6-8 months old.

You will need to blend or puree the fruit until it gets a creamy texture (puree).

Meanwhile, if the baby is already 9 months and over, you can give fruit the size of a baby's finger.

2. Potato and corn chowder

You can prepare complementary foods for babies aged 6 to 11 months by sautéing onions until fragrant then adding broth, corn, and potatoes.

When it is boiling, add milk, then blend until smooth as part of the recipe for serving the 6 month to 11 month baby solid food menu.

You can adjust the texture of potato and corn cream soup according to the age and ability of the baby to eat.

Complementary feeding rules for infant breast milk

Feeding babies is actually not difficult. Several choices of complementary foods for babies according to WHO, namely:

Pureed vegetables (puree), such as carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, broccoli.
Puree fruit (puree), such as cooked (steamed) apples, pears, mangoes, or papayas, or mashed avocados and bananas.
Porridge made from rice, rice flour, or brown rice flour, and can be added with breast milk or chicken stock or meat broth.
Special baby cereal fortified with iron.
Food sources of iron
Eggs can be started to be given to babies even though they are not yet 1 year old.

There is no specific order regarding the type or ingredients of food that should be given first to babies.

After the baby has received these foods well, you can provide other foods that are more varied.

Various types of food that you can provide next, such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, beef liver, and others.

Can I add sugar, salt and MSG?

The Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) allows the addition of sugar and salt to increase the delicacy of solid food for babies.

Likewise, MSG or micin for baby food is actually fine. With a note, the addition of sugar, salt, and MSG to baby's food is still within reasonable limits and not too much.

It is also important to note, when introducing complementary foods to breast milk to babies try one by one.

This aims to make it easier for you to judge if your baby has an allergy due to one or several certain types of food.

What are the tools for making MPASI menus since 6 months?

The equipment or equipment for making baby solids doesn't have to be complete, really.

The important thing is you can make sure that every cooking utensil you have can support and simplify the process of giving complementary foods later.

Well, here are recommendations for complementary equipment or equipment that you should have:

1. The mash tool

Source: Crate and Barrels

Babies who are just starting to learn to eat complementary foods (solids) need a very crushed and soft texture of food so they are easy to chew and swallow.

Actually, you can refine baby food manually by grinding it slowly.

However, the drawback of this manual method lies in the process, which is somewhat time consuming.

Launching from the Healthy Children page, another option for refining baby food can be using solid complementary blender and food processing equipment (food processor).

Blender and food processor is an example of an electric mash tool.

An electric masher can be used to mash solid foods that are still raw or in fresh form (such as whole fruits or vegetables) into a fine pulp.

The results of food processed from food processornot always completely smooth and pulverized, but quite thick.

2. Slow cooker

Source: BGR

Slow cooker can be said to be a practical and multifunctional baby food processing tool. You can cook, steam, and warm food using only the same utensil.

Apart from cooking, slow cooker usually also able to reheat or reheat baby food that has been cooked before.

This MPASI equipment or equipment is believed to be able to maintain the original nutritional content of food thanks to the techniquelow cookinguse medium heat.

This means that the nutrients in these foods, such as carbohydrates, protein for babies, fat for babies, and minerals and vitamins for babies are maintained.

3. Food container

MPASI equipment or equipment that is no less important for mothers to have, namely food container.

Food containerserves to store food, either in the refrigerator (refrigerator) or freezer.

Stored food can also be in the form of raw food per portion that is cooked directly or cooked food.

Raw food ingredients that can be stored in MPASI equipment or equipment food containernamely cooked broth, vegetables, fruit, cheese, and others.

Meanwhile, cooked food can be stored per serving at one time. That way, you only need to re-warm it when it is about to be given to the baby.

This MPASI equipment or equipment is also usually designed to be watertight and airtight to maintain the quality of the food in it.

4.Complete cutlery to serve solid foods since 6 months

In addition to completing complementary MPASI cooking utensils, don't forget to prepare eating utensils that the children will use later.

If you want it to be easier, you can choose a complete tableware set that includes plates, bowls, spoons, forks and glasses.

How to store complementary foods that need attention

How to store a good and correct baby solid food menu from the age of 6 months is actually not difficult. With notes, you understand these baby food storage rules.

According to the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), it is recommended to save a baby solid food menu from 6 months, namely in the following ways:

Store foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, pasta, and vegetables in the refrigerator at less than 5 degrees Celsius.
Store meat and fish in plastic containers and place them separately from cooked food and ready-to-eat ingredients.
All food must be stored in accordance with the storage instructions listed on the packaging.
Avoid processing and serving food that has passed its expiration date.
Foods that should be refrigerated should not be fed or reprocessed after being at room temperature for two hours or more.
Food that has been thawed fromfreezer and the refrigerator must be processed immediately.
Cooked frozen foods should not be frozen again.
Separate knives and cutting boards for cooked and raw foods especially meat, fish, chicken.
Cooked food is stored at room temperature for no more than 2 hours.

Always try to put baby solids in an airtight container then make it a habit to store in the refrigerator or freezer as the right way.

Unlike solid food or baby baby food that is processed by yourself, instant solids do not need to be stored in the refrigerator as long as they are not opened.

Well, don't forget to reheat the baby MPASI menu since 6 months that was previously stored at mealtime and let it cool slightly before serving.