Hi,

My baby has just turned 5 months old. She has been exclusively on breastmilk till now but i' ll be joining work after 2 weeks and hence have to introduce solids now. Iam quite confused about what to start her with. All the good internet sites and baby care books say no salt, no sugar till one year and starting with rice, cereal, fruits etc. they also recommend organic foods and that proteins should be started little later. But everyone in India seems to start with dal ka paani (which is protein) and most people also add little salt and sugar in the food. I don' t know what to do. Does anybody have any suggestions based on your experience. Also want to know what should be her daily diet now considering I' ll start work in 3 weeks. Can I give solids 2-3 times a day and in what quantities?

Another problem is that when i start work 3 weeks later, I' ll only be able to feed the baby mornings and evenings...I have also frozen some breastmilk for use when i join office and will try expressing in office everyday so that she can continue getting breastmilk. Though I don' t know if I' ll have the energy and time to do all the expressing etc once I join. How much milk does a baby need at 6 months along with some solids? What can I substitute it with? Formula, cow' s milk or is it really worth the effort to express and keep breastmilk? Noopur Gulati replied. Hi worried mom:-),

Just saw your post. Even my baby is 6.5 months old. I joined back my work when he was 5.5 months old. Here are some tips for you:
1. Start giving her other feeds than BM at least 2 weeks befor you join work as it takes time for babies to adjust to this change and also you can observe their response to other feeds.
2. Start with Cerelac (Rice or Wheat) or sabudana kheer once a day and observe her response for 2 days. Just start with 1 spoon on first day. If she is reacting fine. you can keep on doing the same for next 5 days. Increase the no. of spoons by 2 after every 2 days.
3. Three-four days befor joining, you can start giving cerelac or sabudana kheer twice a day. In beetween, formula milk can be given.
4. You can start giving her banana also.
5. Regarding expreesing milk in office, i don' t know that what kind of working hours you have. It will be good if you can express milk and keep it refrigerated in office. But just don' t rely on this milk. You will have to tune your baby as you are a working mother.
i hope these tips will be helpful for you.

regards,
noopur prao replied. let me start with the last question. yes.. it is worth the effort to express BM milk and feed it to your baby. This is the best food for her @ 5 months.
But once u start working your milk supply may reduce or u may not be able to express BM so better get her used to formula now itself, give just one feed for starters and later if your BM is not enough u can increase the formual feeds. Many BF babies do not accept formual easily, so start now..

At 6 months dont give here cereal more than twice a day. Major part of her diet should be milk ?(BM or formula not cows milk)

Not everybody starts with dal paani. In my \" personal\" opinion a few spoons of dal panni is ok.. but not a complete feed.. it is mostly water and does not give the baby much nutrition. Start with Rice ceral or Raagi.

Salt & sugar is again a question of personal choice. Start without it.. if your baby accepts her food great !!! If not add a little to enhance it' s taste. You can also add a little fruit to sweeten her ceral if u want to avoid sugar

Good luck to u