Hesperian Health Guides
The Best Food for Your Young Child
The first 6 months
Give breast milk and nothing else.
BREAST IS BEST because breast milk contains the ideal combination of foods that the child needs, is clean, and is always the right temperature. Also, breast milk contains antibodies from the mother that protect the baby against infections.
Therefore, breast milk is especially important for children more likely to get infections, such as a child with Down syndrome or a child who often chokes on her food and might get pneumonia.
Breast milk is healthier for babies than other milks or formula.
If the baby cannot suck, a mother can milk her breasts:
and then give the baby her milk with a cup and spoon. See "Removing Milk by Hand" in Where Women Have No Doctor.
WARNING! Avoid baby bottles whenever possible. They often spread infections. Cup and spoon feeding is safer.
After 6 months
Continue breast feeding and also begin to give the baby other foods—juices and fruits rich in vitamins, mash of green leafy vegetables, beans (boiled, skinned, and mashed), peanuts (skinned and mashed), egg yolks, and other local staples such as rice, corn, plantains, or cassava.
Small stomachs need food often. Feed children under 1 year old at least 5 times a day—and give them snacks between meals.
If the child has trouble eating solid foods, do not keep giving only milk or formula or rice water. Even mother’s milk alone is not enough after 6 months. Mash or grind up other foods to form a drink or mush.
By 8 months to 1 year of age the child should be eating the same food as the rest of the family — even if it has to be mashed or turned into liquids.
HIV and breast feeding
If a woman has HIV, sometimes this infection can pass to the baby through her breast milk. But medicines called anti-retrovirals (or ART) can keep the mother and baby healthy. A woman whose HIV is well controlled by ART is unlikely to pass the infection while breastfeeding. Talk to a health worker about starting ART and take it consistently.
Even for mothers who are not on ART, breastfeeding is often the safest way to feed their babies. Without access to clean water and a regular supply of infant formula, a baby is more likely to die from diarrhea, dehydration, and malnutrition than to get sick or die from HIV passed through breastfeeding.
Give only breast milk for the first 6 months, as this is best for a baby’s nutrition and protection against illnesses. If you have enough food to give your baby, you can make that the baby’s main food after 12 months. But you can continue to breastfeed as long as the child wants.