Read through the month-by-month calendar to learn more about feeding your baby during the first year.
Birth - 4 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Plain boiled water (after cooling), as needed.
- Hold your baby when you feed him or her.
- Look at your baby and say loving things as he or she eats.
- A happy feeding time makes your baby feel safe and secure.
- Use a fresh bottle for each feeding.
4 - 6 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Infant cereals - rice, barley, oats.
- Hold your baby when you feed him or her. Feed your baby cereal from a spoon.
- Start with one teaspoon of cereal twice a day.
- Add a little more cereal at each meal, up to three tablespoons at a time.
- Add new foods, one at a time. Wait a week before trying the next kind of cereal.
6 - 7 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Infant vegetables - plain, strained or blended.
- Infant fruit - plain, strained or blended.
- Fruit juice or water - from a cup, with your help.
- Start with one teaspoon twice a day. Slowly add more food, up to four tablespoons of each food at a time.
- Your baby is ready to drink from a cup when he or she begins to sit with support, grab for the spoon and reach for the cup.
7 - 8 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Introduce other infant cereals.
- Lean meat - plain, strained or mashed.
- Fruit juice or water - from a cup, with your help.
- Start with one teaspoon twice a day. Slowly add more food, up to four tablespoons of each food at a time.
- Your baby is ready for more iron-rich foods and is learning new flavors and textures.
8 - 9 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Vegetables - mashed.
- Fruit - soft.
- Fruit juice or water - from a cup, with your help.
- Do not add salt, fat or sugar to your baby's food.
- Your baby can choke on small, hard foods. Never give your baby popcorn, chips, raisins, grapes, nuts, seeds or hot dogs that have been cut into round slices.
9 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Finger foods - cut foods into bite-sized pieces.
- Toast and crackers - plain, dry.
- Vegetables - lightly cooked.
- Fruit - peeled and soft.
- Meat - soft, lean and tender.
- Fruit juice or water - from a cup, with your help.
10 - 12 Months
- Feed breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
- Foods from the family table.
- Cut foods into bite-sized pieces.
- Vegetables.
- Fruit.
- Cereal and bread.
- Lean meat, chicken or fish.
- Dry beans and peas.
- Mild cheese.
- Fruit juice or water - from a cup, with your help.
1 Year
- Whole milk - from a cup.
- Whole egg - cooked, yolk and white.
- Wean from bottle.
- One-year-olds are messy eaters. Be patient. Offer simple foods to eat with fingers, spoon or fork.
- The amount of food eaten is different from day to day.
- The amount of milk your baby drinks from a cup will be less than the amount of breast milk or formula from a bottle.
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