Nutritional needs for babies 6 12 months

If you are a first-time parent, then you must know that in the first few years, your child has specific nutritional needs to ensure his or her growth. Human milk or formula milk liked the Holle formula USA has all the nutritional needs for babies 6 12 months such as protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.

Average weight gain and growth

Babies that are 6-12 months old will gain around 2-4 ounces of weight per week. Also, note that babies that are on breast milk will gain slightly more weight than formula-fed babies during the first few months of life. But later on, formula-fed babies tend to gain more weight than breastfed babies. Also, the babies that are on formula show an initially slower but continuous increase in weight during the first 6 months. 

If you are doing this with your babies then they would literally weight 3 times their birth weight by their first birthday. In order to check weight gain over time, your baby should be weighed on the same scale with the same amount of clothing. You can also ask your pediatrician if you have doubts regarding your baby’s weight gain. 

6 Nutrients needed for growth

In order to guide your food choices for your baby, focus on the following vitamins and minerals, in addition to all of the nutrients your baby is continuing to get from the breast milk, formula, or both. Here is the list of all the food sources that are rich in these nutrients. Make sure to choose foods that are appropriate for your baby’s age and stages. 

Iron

Iron is a nutrient that’s essential to your child’s growth and development at this point in time. They also help to transport oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and helps muscles store and use oxygen. (Source)

Iron can be found in red meat and can also be found in spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables like bok choy, kale, collard greens, and more. It can also be found in beans, tofu, and iron-fortified infant cereals. When you eat this iron-rich food along with food containing vitamin C then the iron absorption improves. 

Zinc

Some infants and children may benefit from adding zinc to their diets. New data suggest that increasing the amount of this mineral may help children reach a healthy height and weight. (Source)

Zinc is usually found in beef, lamb, turkey, shrimp, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, lentils, spinach, quinoa, and yogurt. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin C  helps to build your baby immune function and enhances the absorption of iron. It also helps to make collagen which is needed to heal wounds.  Another benefit of Vitamin C is that is help to decrease symptoms of cold and also the duration of it. It is found in many fruits and vegetables like strawberries, cantaloupe, citrus, papaya, kiwi, mangoes, broccoli, and peppers. 

Vitamin A

Vitamin A helps to maintain healthy vision, skin and bone growth of your little one. It also protects the body from infections. Vitamin A is found in sweet potatoes, carrots, and other orange-colored fruits and vegetables.

Moreover, vitamin A can also be found in dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, chard, and mustard greens. Apart from that, you will also find vitamin A in whole milk, cheese, butter, fish, shrimp, beef, and lamb.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is required to build strong bones and prevent diseases liked rickets. Good sources of vitamin D include salmon, sardines, tuna, fortified cow’s milk, and some yoghurts. Some research recommends that breastfed infants and a combination of breast milk and formula should be given 400 IU of vitamin D supplement in liquid form per day from the beginning of the birth. 

Omega-3

Omega 3 plays an important role in brain function and development. For omega-3, you need to feed them low-mercury oily fish like sardines and salmon along with algae, nuts, and seeds like walnuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds. 

Meal and snack sizes

Meal and snack sizes depend on the age and learning skills of the baby. From 6-9 months of age, the baby is still learning the skills to eat solid foods, so his actual consumption may not be high. So, at this stage, you should try feeding your baby 2-3 meals a day and the average meal size should be only 2-4 tablespoons each.

A good baby food maker comes in handy at this point of time where you can steam and blend the food into purees for your little one. Some big capacity ones will allow you to batch cook different purees at one go and store in the fridge. (Check out also our reviews for the best baby food maker ) 

However, this food amount can vary from child to child and from day to day, so always follow your child’s cues. 

Wrapping Up Nutritional needs for babies 6 12 months

These are some of the nutrients and minerals that your baby needs in order to outgrow. However, remember this transition to foods is in addition to breast milk or formula consumption. Don’t use food in lieu of milk but rather as an increasingly important supplement because your baby is still receiving most of his calories and dietary nutrients from breast milk, formula or both.  

You may also like to check out language and literacy activities for infants 6 – 12 months.