Feeding Your Baby & Children

• Provide breast milk for the first two years and beyond.

• Respond to your baby's cues.

What to feed your baby

• Breast milk + vitamin D.

• Provide 10μg (400 IU) vitamin D supplement every day in addition to breast milk.

How and why

• Breast milk is the only food that your baby needs for the first 6 months. It provides just the right amount and type of nutrients.

• Breast milk helps protect your baby from infection and disease.

• Vitamin D helps build strong bones and teeth.

• If your baby is hungrier at any time before 6 months of age, baby may be having a growth spurt. Extra breast milk will meet baby’s needs.

• Your baby does not need water or juice.

• There are risks to introducing solid food too early.

Start iron-rich solid food when your baby:

• Can sit and lean forward and backward

• Holds his head up and turns towards or away from food

• Follows food with his eyes

• Opens his mouth wide when offered food

What to feed your baby

• Offer iron-rich foods such as beef, lamb, game, poultry, fish, meat alternatives such as cooked whole egg, tofu, well-cooked legumes including beans and lentils and iron-fortified infant cereal. 

• Provide a variety of soft textures such as lumpy, tender cooked and finely minced, puréed, mashed or ground as well as finger foods. 

How and why

• Your baby needs iron and extra energy from solids.

• Your baby learns to move food to back of the mouth with his tongue and swallow.

• Keep feeding positive. Do not force your baby to eat.

• Increase iron-rich foods until they are offered two or more times each day from age six to 12 months

• Continue with iron-rich foods as you introduce other new foods. If your baby refuses iron-rich foods, discuss an iron supplement with your doctor.

• You decide whether to offer solid food or breast milk first to your baby.

• New foods can be given in any order.

• Increase texture and variety of foods, following your baby’s cues.

• Offer solid foods at two to three meals and one or two snacks each day.

What to feed your baby

• Offer soft cooked vegetables – grated, mashed, pureed or soft pieces of squash, peas, carrots sweet potatoes, broccoli and other vegetables.

• Offer soft ripe fruit or soft cooked pieces of fruit such as banana, apple, pear and melon.

• Offer milk products such as yogurt, grated or small pieces of cheese or cottage cheese.

• Offer finger foods such as ground or minced cooked meat, fish or poultry; bread crusts or toast strips; and pasta.

How and why

• Offer a variety of foods to introduce new flavours, textures and nutrients .

• Vitamin C from vegetables and fruit helps your baby absorb iron from cereal and meat alternatives.

• Continue to offer single grain cereals such as oat and wheat before offering mixed-grain cereals or cereals that contain milk products.

• Your baby can sip small amounts of water from an open cup.

• Your baby does not need juice. If you offer juice, limit the amount to 125 mL (4 ounces) of 100% fruit or vegetable juice per day. Do not offer sweetened drinks.

• Allow your baby to feed herself with fingers or a spoon.

• Offer lumpy textures by nine months.

• From nine to 11 months offer your baby three meals and one or two snacks.

• From 12 to 24 months offer your child meals and snacks every 2 ½ to three hours.

What to feed your baby

• If you offer cow milk, serve homgenized (3.25% Milk Fat) milk in an open cup.

• Offer a variety of foods from Canada’s Food Guide.

• Provide healthy fats such as soft margarine, nut or seed butter, vegetable oil, fatty fish and avocado.

How and why

• Wait until your baby is 9 to 12 months old to give cow milk. Cow milk is low in iron.

• Healthy higher fat foods are an important source of energy for your baby. 

• Honey can make your baby sick. Wait until 12 months to offer honey or foods that contain honey. 

• Be a good role model for your baby.

• Include your baby in family meals.

Starting solids

• Start with 5 to 15 mL (1 to 3 tsp) of iron-rich purée once per day, increasing the amount and then offering twice per day.

• Gradually add new foods until your baby is eating a variety of foods.

Drinking from cups

Allow your baby to drink from an open cup. An open cup:

• Reduces the risk of dental cavities

• Keeps your baby from getting too many calories

• Helps your baby develop drinking skills

At first your baby will need help drinking from an open cup, but they will quickly learn to hold the cup and sip from it. Start with water because it is easy to clean up.

Your baby knows best how much to eat. Watch for signs of hunger and fullness from your baby.

Sample menu for a 7-month-old baby

Offer more or less food, responding to your baby’s cues.

Let your child decide how much food to eat from the healthy foods you offer.  It is normal for children’s appetites to go up and down.  How much children eat changes meal to meal and day to day.

• Food jags are periods of time when children will only eat a few kinds of foods.  Be patient and try not to worry, especially if your child is active, growing and healthy.

• Younger children eat smaller portions compared to older children.

• Offer meals and snacks two or three hours apart so that children come to the table hungry.

• Have your doctor measure your child’s weight and height regularly.  These are plotted on a growth chart to see that he is growing well.

Use meal and snack times as a chance to teach your children about different foods, food preparation and good table manners.

• Help children learn by setting a good example. Eat with them at the table and eat well yourself by choosing a variety of foods.

• Children are easily distracted.  Put toys away and turn the TV off at meal and snack times.  A young child may sit at the table for up to 15 or 20 minutes.

Here are some tips for introducing new foods to your child:

• Keep offering new foods to encourage children to try to taste them.  It may take 10 to 15 times before children learn to like new foods.

• Offer new foods with familiar foods.

• Children are more likely to try new foods when they are hungry.

• Make one meal for your whole family including at least one food your child likes.

Here are some resources that can help you with healthy eating for your child:

• Canada’s Food Guide

• Visit UnlockFood.ca to learn about healthy eating and healthy weights, picky eating, cooking and meal planning, and lunch ideas 

• Speak to a Registered Dietitian by calling Telehealth Ontario. Toll-free: 1-866-797-0000 Toll-free TTY: 1-866-797-0007

• Nutri-eSTEP for parents of children 18 months to five years of age. Take a survey about your child’s food choices, eating behaviours and physical activity and get feedback on what is going well and what you can improve.

• How to Feed Your Growing Child