Foods will gradually become more important as a source of nutrients as the amount of breast milk or formula consumed by your baby decreases between seven and 12 months. It's still important to give your baby up to 1000 ml of breast milk or formula each day. As he develops, your baby will move to three meals a day and will be enjoying family meals around 12 months.

What Does My Baby Need?

Energy

Babies are growing fast and need foods that are a good source of calories (energy). Advice for older children and adults to eat a low-fat diet doesn't apply to babies. That's why low-fat versions of foods are not suitable for weaning, i.e. low fat milk and yogurt.

Protein*

Lots of protein is needed for babies to grow as they should. The best sources of good quality protein are meat, fish, eggs, and cheese. Vegetable protein is not as complete and if you don't feed meat, care needs to be taken to combine foods to give the right blend of protein.

Vitamins

Foods that are a good source of Vitamin C should be included. Note also that Vitamin D is made by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Your healthcare professional will advise you about vitamin supplements, if required.

Minerals

Iron and Calcium are particularly important at this stage of your baby's development.

The Importance of Iron

By six months your baby's natural store of iron will have been used up and so an important part of weaning is to introduce iron-rich foods such as cereals, meats and fortified baby foods. Offering drinks or food containing Vitamin C at the same meal as iron-containing foods will help with the absorption of iron.

Iron is vital to your baby's well-being, essential for healthy blood, growth and development. In fact, because he is growing so fast, he needs more iron as a baby and toddler than at any other time in his life, so it is very important that your baby's food and drink provide an adequate supply of iron.

For ingredients and key nutrients in Heinz^® Infant Feeding Products please click here.

For Key Nutrients at a glance please click here
*Milk, egg whites, fish and nuts should not be fed to babies during the first 12 months.