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Suzie - 7 months

Lucy, 25 years old, housewife, and baby Suzie, 7 months

“Suzie had been eating her first foods for about a month when we decided to introduce more variety to her diet. The paediatrician told us she shouldn’t eat anything with too much sugar or salt in it. After all, we don’t want her to develop bad habits! She’s really enjoying discovering new food, and we make sure the ingredients are balanced and varied. That way, Suzie can learn to enjoy healthy eating now – and later in life.” 

Stage 2: New tastes

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After the first weeks of weaning at around 6 months old, the baby reaches a new important milestone of development. There are several behavioural changes that indicate the baby’s readiness to experiment with new, more complex tastes.

For instance, the baby may:

  • sit up in a high chair
  • start to crawl
  • turn head towards sounds
  • pick up objects and put them in mouth
  • begin progressively to transfer objects from one hand to the other.

Signs of readiness for more complex tastes include:

  • showing good control of lips and tongue
  • beginning to be able to chew
  • gradually starting to hold food and put it into his mouth
  • beginning to drink from a cup held by an adult
  • breathing more slowly
  • beginning to show likes and dislikes for foods
  • making a bolus (by moving food from front to back of mouth) and swallowing it
  • keeping lips closed when offered food he/she does not want 
  • holding bottle with help
  • moving upper lip to accommodate spoon

Nutritional needs

 

Sugar intake

There is no specific nutritional or metabolic need for the addition of sugars to baby foods, as ingredients containing natural carbohydrates / sugars already provide enough energy for use as weaning food. The immediate effect of high intakes of added sugar is a fast increase of blood glucose level and insulin secretion, while scientific evidence points to dental and weight problems in the long term. It is also worth noting that, contrary to popular opinion, there is no medical reason to favour the use of fructose as a substitution for sucrose.

Salt (sodium) intake

In the body, sodium plays an essential role in regulating fluid volume and blood pressure. However, babies have a limited renal capacity, meaning they can not so easily conserve fluids and excrete solute load. Consequently, their intake of salt (sodium) needs to be moderate. Healthy infants progressively increase their ability to excrete sodium. Studies have shown that a high sodium intake is associated with higher blood pressure, which in turn is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebral diseases. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommends target salt levels for children depending on their age.

 

In brief

  • milk is still an important part of the diet but intake decreases slowly to about 500 ml per day
  • baby should be exposed to different tastes to accustom him/her to a variety of foods for healthy eating habits later in life.
  • new foods should be introduced gradually while the baby continues eating products adapted to earlier stages.

The baby’s daily intake should respect the following recommendations:

  • total energy needs of approximately 650-850 kcal/day
  • total protein needs of 9.4-14 g/day
  • fats of 35-45% total daily energy (about 30g/day) with balanced n-3:n-6 ratio (4-10)
  • 95 g/day of carbohydrates with limited added sugar (below 10% of total daily energy intake
  • low or no added salt
  • low or no added sugars (below 10% of total daily energy intake)
  • avoid allergenic ingredients
  • appropriate ingredients

arrow  Learn more about Nestlé's stage 2 Baby Food products.