Here is the diet for my 6 mo. old baby. Morning rice cereal - 5 spoons with 2 spoons of steamed mashed apple mixed together. Noon 4 ozs of formula. Late afternoon 3-4 oz of a vegetable sweet potato. Evening breas milk 4 ozs. Night around 9 pm 6-7 spoons of kichidi made with rice, dal, vegs like carrot, beans , potato, leafy vegs, ghee. late night around 12 am formula 4 ozs. 4-5 am and 7-8 am 4 ozs of breast milk each. I have the following questions:
1. Considering the baby is 6 mo. and 1 week old and weighs only 14 pounds (25%) is this diet fine to promote healthy weight gain? Is there anything I need to change? I already gave her oatmeal in the mornings and plan to change to barley instead of rice cereal after next week. Also the afternoon food am planning to give squash for a week and after that peas. How much of these should I give and also is it ok to give only them or mix with something?
2. When I gave sweet potatoes she enjoyed it and there was no rash or so of a reaction but in her potty there was a lot of sweet potato that came out. It happens always when we feed this to her. Should I consider this a reaction?
3. How can I include fruits in her diet? IS it ok to include with the breakfast like I said above? Can I start giving pomegranite to her? How do you all use this fruit for the babies?
4. We feed her in the night as advised by dr. also due to her aversion to milk in the mornings and due to her weight. Also she was born 6 wks early. She has a twin brother who is better in weight and I follow the same routine for him except that he takes only one feed during the early morning around 4. He has breakfast after that. I dont wake him up or he doesnt ask either. I want to know if his diet plan is ok as well.

Please help me let me know. Hetal replied. Hi,

you cant add nething extra to your baby diet,,right now your goal at 6months is to introduce and introduce only !
once your baby starts accepting the foods,,you will be working on fat levels which is at 8months completion,,,by then your baby will be eating almost all vegies, fruits and all single grains cereals.

acc to your plans,,follow it,and after you change her to barley ,the next week onwards, start offering her combinations of oatmeal + rice, barley+rice. avoid offering oatmeal + barley,,or offer it in mornings without formula with some fibr fruit ! it will avoid ne mild constipatn probs.

offer first introduction of ne food with 1 tablespoon always,mostly before noons,,,and thn increase it to full feed like in late afternoon is your vegie time !
it is better to introduce ne food in its original form first, so that your baby is introduced to its natural flavours..avoid ne additivies,salt etc in first week of ne new food introduced...

2. check my post on how food affects bowels:

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=670&table_name=dis_bowelbladder

this is not the reaction,,some foods like orange,red, greens tend to show its colour..talk about it to your dr at your next well child checkup..there is nothing to worry..limit those foods as of now,,or offer in combinations with other foods,,like sweet potatoes with some fibr like spinach.see if it still gives that colour or texture...
if your baby is crying, feeling uncomfortable while passing those bowels,,its then,,you should be worried,,and make sure the smell is not really bad/foul smelling,,smell so bad that you cant handle !,,
if so, it could be that vegetable/food have triggerd bacterial overgrowth ! bacteria stays in our system,,some fruits and vegies trigger its growth in certain type of environment !
if so, your child needs your dr attention....
check the post above..it has it all...
also check the other posts by neetu, good collection !

3..yes, include fruits in breakfast.when you include in breakfast, or add in them to cereal replacing formula. dont mix up formula with fruits or bm with fruits along with cereal !!!!! dont mix 2 irons in one feed ! offer 1 iron plus 1 vit c for max benefits...( like banana with some pear or diluted pear juice ! )and avoid formula..in that case..use juice or water !!!
or best is offer the seperate serving of fruits,, ! in laternoon time,,where you are offerng sep serving of vegies...
avoid offering pomgegranite as of now..offer after 1 year..the seeds are hard to digest for them and they are too early for its juices...
offer other fruits there are so many fruits to offer,,check it as below :

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=7329&table_name=dis_feeding

4...diet plan is ok right now to 8-9months all you have to do is intrduce ! while feeding her at night,make sure to keep her elevatd...

for diet plans for 6months old, check this out :
http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=6593&table_name=dis_feeding

http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=6452&table_name=dis_feeding

good luck