Baby feeding at 5 months: we take good habits

Between 4 and 6 months, it is the big step in baby feeding during the first year: the food diversification. Which foods to start with? How to manage the bottles or the feedings in parallel? We take stock.

4-6 months: set up good habits with food diversification

Even if you understand your child’s needs, wait for theauthorization from your pediatrician before starting food diversification. If your pediatrician has given the green light at 4 months, now is the time to put in place good baby eating habits! Otherwise, we wait a little longer, usually up to 6 months at most.

Around the fifth month, babies are usually quite keen on trying new foods, if you have already started to diversify their diet. It is therefore an opportunity to try lots of new things and to set up good habits! ” Pediatricians talk at this age a tolerance window, where baby accepts to taste more food than a little later, when he will start to say no. It is therefore time to taste many vegetables in particular. », Explains Marjorie Crémadès, nutritionist-dietician, specializing in infant nutrition and the fight against obesity.

Bottles or feeds at 5 months: where are we?

On the milk supply side: we keep good habits here too! The intake of small spoonfuls of food diversification is not enough to meet baby’s needs, and it always is milk which remains the main intake of his diet.

If the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for up to 6 months, you may have wanted or needed to switch to baby bottles or have started breastfeeding. mixed breastfeeding. In this case, always choose an infant milk, or an infant formula if the baby has allergies or intolerances, certified by European Union regulations with contributions corresponding to the needs of your infant. The milks of animal or vegetable origin that we consume as adults are not adapted to their needs.

On average, a baby at this age needs about 4 bottles of 240 ml.

What feeding schedule for a 5 month old baby?

We try to make baby respect a rhythm of 4 meals a day and to make sure he doesn’t call for the night… But that’s of course easier said than done, and each baby and parent goes at their own pace! ” I see a lot of parents who are very stressed as soon as the baby does not hit the nail on the head, but if he refuses his mash before 6 months and 15 days, it is far from serious! », Reassures the dietician.

Food: how much should a 5 month old baby eat?

The most important at 5 months in the diet of your child remains his milk consumption, the amount of food being only a small contribution, which aims more at introduce him to new flavors and to prepare it after its feeding.

The quantities of babies at each meal are therefore minimal: we count in tablespoonsor even teaspoons! It is generally the midday meal which is the first to be diversified. You can add 2 tablespoons of well mixed vegetables, 70 g of fruit compote or 10 g of mashed chicken to the bottle or to the baby’s breastfeed. For the texture, it must still be extra-lisse : we keep an aspect similar to that of a bottle of milk.

What vegetable, what meat, what fruit to give my 5 month old child?

From four to six months, the foods that can be eaten by baby are the same. Gradually add fruits and vegetables that are not not too high in fiber for his still immature digestive system, by washing them well, by pitting and deseeding them, and mixing them.

On the protein side, we stay on very small proportions: 10 to 20 g on average at the start of food diversification. It is recommended to favor a less fatty meat such as chicken, rather than ham. You can also start dairy products. 

« It is generally recommended that parents wait two months between the very beginning of the diversification with fruits and vegetables and the first intake of protein, so if you started the dietary diversification at the very beginning, around 4 months, wait around 6 months to provide the first proteins », Advises the nutritionist. She points out that among the easiest proteins to digest, we can think of with red lentils and quinoa, which do not have an envelope and are therefore very digestible.

Puree, yogurt, compote, starch, small pot: examples of menus for a 5 month old baby

At the start of food diversification, at 4, 5 or 6 months, baby only needs very small proportions, teaspoons, or even, at most, tablespoons. The texture should be, for the moment, close to that of your baby’s bottle. The purees, compotes, dairy products or small jars must therefore have a very liquid appearance.

Marjorie Crémadès presents a sample menu for a day from baby to 5 months:

• When awake, a feed if breastfeeding, or if not, a first bottle of 150 ml of water with 5 doses minimum of 1st or 2nd age milk and 2 teaspoons of cereals.
• At noon, 2 tablespoons of cooked and well mixed vegetables and breastfeeding + 70 to 80 g of mashed fruit, or a second bottle with 60 to 70 g of mashed vegetables, 150 ml of water and 5 doses of milk, then 70 to 80 g of fruit compote.
• At snack time, breastfeed or give a third bottle of 150 ml of water with 5 doses of milk.
• At dinner, breastfeeding then 2 tablespoons of cooked and mixed vegetables, or a fourth bottle of 150 ml of water and 2 teaspoons of cereals or mixed vegetables.
• If necessary, early in the morning or late in the evening, breastfeed or give a fifth bottle of 150 ml of water with 5 doses of milk.