Explain the Feeding 6-12 Months Infant?
As the infant grows older, mother's milk alone is not sufficient to meet his increasing needs. This could be seen in few infants between 4-6 months by the downward slope in the growth curve. Especially if for some reason, mother's milk is insufficient, the infant is then weaned. Weaning is a process of gradually introducing foods other than breast milk. Weaning foods are those foods, which are used during the gradual transition of the infant from breast-feeding to a normal diet. It may start with the introduction of other milk but the best option is to continue breast milk and give other solid foods in liquid and semi solid consistency.
The introduction of complementary foods/weaning foods ensures fulfilment of nutrition a requirements and gradually introduces the child to family eating pattern. By the time the child is one year old, he should get used to eating the normal family diet. You will find information related to balanced diet for infants. The infants 6-12 months can eat in a day's diet : 30-45 of cereal, 15 g pulse, 200-500 ml of animal milk (if breast-fed then 200 ml top milk is recommended), 50 g roots and tubers, 25 g green leafy vegetables, 25 g other vegetables, 100 g fruit , 25 g sugar, 10 g fat. Adding extra fat in dal khichri is a recommended practice to ensure 40 en% of fat for infant's growth and decreasing bulk in diet.