Since having children, young expectant mothers have begun to learn and understand parenting-related knowledge, such as asking which milk powder is better, and what complementary foods the children eat when they are older is more helpful for development. It is indeed very important to supplement complementary foods in a timely manner. Today I would like to introduce to you a complete method, time and benefits of adding complementary foods to babies, so that more babies can benefit.

Time for baby to add complementary food
The baby's gastrointestinal function is not perfect, so parents must pay more attention to the diet, especially when adding complementary food. If you add solid food to your child too early, it may affect your child's gastrointestinal function and cause digestive problems in the future. Therefore, parents should not only understand the practice of complementary food, but also know when it is most suitable for children to add complementary food.
Consult a professional pediatrician about the timing of adding complementary foods to your baby. Under normal circumstances, you should gradually introduce solid foods by the time your child is six months old. At this time, the child's digestive system has developed well and can absorb the nutrients contained in the complementary food well.
It's worth noting that no matter how anxious you are, you can't give your baby solid food when he's four months old. At this time, the child cannot absorb solid food, and adding it too early will affect digestion and may even lead to constipation or diarrhea. However, supplementary food is not allowed to be given to children for more than eight months, lest children become accustomed to breastfeeding and become too resistant to eating supplementary foods. I didn't expect that adding complementary food to the baby is so important, right?
How to add complementary food to babies
Everything related to the healthy growth of your baby deserves our attention. Even if the introduction of solid food is not a big deal, young parents should pay enough attention, such as understanding the precautions for adding solid food to their baby.
Add complementary foods to children from fine to coarse. It was also introduced just now that the child's gastrointestinal development is not perfect for several months, and the food that is too rough cannot be digested. Therefore, when adding complementary foods, we must start with more refined complementary foods. You can choose fine rice noodles, it can be recipe rice noodles or homemade rice noodles. It's best to mix the two together.
Introducing solid foods to your baby needs to be prepared in the right way. In terms of ingredients, you can choose fruits and vegetables that are good for digestion and rich in nutrients, but one thing you must remember is that even if your child likes to eat complementary food, everyone should not let your child eat too much at one time. Because until the child is one year old, the staple food should be cow's milk, which is required whether breastfeeding or formula feeding.

The principle of adding complementary food to babies
When introducing complementary foods to your baby, you must follow the relevant principles. Do not give too much amount and variety at the beginning, so as not to burden the stomach.
1. The baby should add complementary food from single to diversified
Some inexperienced parents often make this mistake when adding complementary foods: they add a variety of complementary foods to their children at the beginning, and as a result, the children become allergic after eating because of gastrointestinal discomfort. In this regard, I would like to remind everyone that adding complementary foods should follow the principle of single to diversified. In addition, every time you add complementary food, you should first observe whether the child is allergic.
2. The baby should add complementary food from thin to thick
When adding solid food for the first time, you should prepare liquid solid food to prevent your child from indigestion after eating solid food. Liquid complementary foods are easier to digest. After the child accepts it, the viscosity of the complementary food can be gradually increased. After all, the child's stomach also needs a process of adapting to complementary food.
3. The amount of complementary food added to the baby should also be from less to more
When adding baby food supplements, not only the ingredients and preparation methods, but also the amount of feeding should be paid attention to. The first time a child is given solid food, it should start with a small spoonful of food. If your baby adapts quickly, you can gradually increase the dosage. Never let your child eat too much at one time.
Does baby food need salt?
We usually add an appropriate amount of salt to the meals we eat, but most parenting doctors have repeatedly reminded parents that before the child is one year old, never let the child eat salt! This reminder makes many parents wonder why they can't eat salt? Does not eating salt mean that the child has no energy?
In fact, the reason why humans eat salt is to allow the body to absorb enough sodium. Infants and young children can get enough sodium content from milk powder, so they do not need special salt. On the other hand, infants and toddlers under the age of one do not have a perfect sense of taste. When they eat, they can't taste much. Even without the addition of salt, complementary foods are still a very tasty food for children.
Not only children under one year old should avoid salt, but children over one year old do not need to force salt in their diets. After knowing that the purpose of eating salt is to supplement sodium, some parents start to worry again, will not eating salt lead to sodium deficiency? of course not. In our life, many foods are rich in sodium. As long as the child eats a normal diet, there is no need to force salt, and there is no sodium deficiency.

Six benefits of baby food supplements
Benefit 1: Complementary food cultivates baby's taste habit
6 months to 2 years is a critical period for your baby's taste development. If during this period, the baby has the experience of tasting various foods, he will be happy to accept various foods in the future. If we give him simpler foods, the baby's taste development may not be developed enough, so he will develop resistance to foods and tastes he has never experienced.
Benefit 2: Complementary food trains the baby's chewing ability
Swallowing and chewing is an innate ability. However, the completion of this action requires coordinated movements of the tongue, mouth, cheek muscles and teeth, an ability that requires repeated stimulation and constant training of the mouth and throat. Gradually adding solid foods is the best way to develop your baby's swallowing and chewing skills.
Benefit 3: Complementary food promotes tooth development
The addition of complementary foods and teeth is complementary and interdependent. Timely adding and changing the form of complementary food provides sufficient nutrition for the eruption and growth of teeth, and the eruption of teeth promotes better chewing by the baby to facilitate absorption and utilization.
Benefit 4: Complementary food promotes language development
The addition of complementary foods can promote the development of sensory perception during chewing, including the development and improvement of the olfactory and swallowing nerves among the 12 pairs of cranial nerves in the human body. That is to say, adding complementary food is not only related to whether the baby can get enough nutrition, but also very helpful to the baby's intellectual development, especially language development. Because of the different hardness, shape and size of food, the baby's tongue, teeth and mouth can be trained to cooperate, promote oral function, especially the development of the tongue, and mature the "hardware" of language expression.
Benefit 5: Complementary food promotes intestinal development in babies
After the food your baby eats is chewed in the mouth and initially digested by the stomach, it must be digested again in the intestines. The gut breaks down food into various nutrients, which are then distributed to the baby's body. Therefore, the gut is a transit point for nutrition. Its development plays a vital role in the growth of the baby.
Adding complementary foods to babies of a certain age, the benefits that mothers can think of is to give babies more opportunities to be exposed to various foods, let them develop good habits of not being picky eaters, not partial eclipse, and let the baby grow up strong from an early age. He thrived under the loving care of his mother.