How much should a 5 month old baby eat?

Development of a 5-month-old baby. What should be the baby’s diet and how much sleep should he have? What should a child be able to do at 5 months, how does the development of boys and girls differ?

Before the baby had time to appear to mom and dad, he was already 5 months old. During this short period, the baby becomes stronger and more mobile, and acquires some skills. At the age of 5 months, the baby's weight doubles in comparison with the body weight that was recorded at birth. a child should weigh 6-7 kg ; in 5 months the baby should gain 3-4 kg.

How much should a 5 month old baby eat and sleep?

A 5-month-old child eats 5 times a day with an interval of 4 hours. At one time, the baby should eat 150-200 grams of food. The baby is already ready to eat denser foods, so complementary foods can be introduced to him. Thanks to this, the baby’s body will receive additional nutrients and chewing reflexes will develop. The baby should also eat breast milk.

You need to start complementary feeding with 5 grams of a new product, gradually increasing the dose to 130 grams over several weeks. Complementary foods are given to the baby before feeding with milk. During its administration, monitor the consistency of your baby's stool. To begin with, use one type of vegetables for complementary feeding, then the child can eat a mixture of vegetables. Then you can introduce gluten-free cereals into your diet.

The baby should have stool 1-2 times a day. Let's also say that you have stool once every 2 days. It all depends on the baby’s well-being. If he is not bothered by rare bowel movements, then this is the norm for him. If the child suffers from pain in the intestines, constipation will have to be treated. The baby should urinate up to 25 times a day.

A 5-month-old baby should sleep 14-16 hours. Of these, the baby sleeps 10 hours at night, 2 hours during the day at intervals.

Calculating the volume of infant feeding

To correctly calculate the amount of nutrition for a child, each mother can use a formula that is suitable for both breastfeeding and artificial feeding of children over two months old.

It is necessary to add another 50 ml to 800 milliliters of food per day for each month after two. If we are talking about the nutrition of a five-month-old baby, then the calculation of his daily portion of food is done as follows: 800 ml plus three times 50. Total 950 ml. In this case, to determine a single portion of milk or formula, the total volume must be divided into six feedings. It turns out 158 ml per feeding.

Any mother can use this formula. But exact mathematics does not always work for such children. Therefore these figures are approximate. And if a child does not finish 30 ml in one feeding, and overeats 50 ml in another, and at the same time he feels great and gains weight well, then only for his health.

What should a child do at 5 months: skills and abilities

Curiosity and the desire for independence allow the baby to master skills and learn new things. Everything a baby should be able to do is taught by his mother. At 5 months, the baby can already raise his head and shoulders while lying on his back. If you hold your baby by the hands, he can stand on his feet for several minutes. Some children at this age can sit independently.

What should a 5-month-old baby be able to do? Choose your own toy from all those offered. As a training exercise, you can place toys near the child so that he can reach them. At 5 months you can already give your baby a massage and do gymnastics with him.

The baby's speech also gradually develops. It is not yet possible to pronounce words when the child is 5.5 months old. What should a child be able to do at this age? He can hum for a long time and melodiously. Walking is a transitional process between silence and conversation. The child tries to imitate the speech of mom and dad and pronounces vowel sounds.

Children at 5 months show interest in the babies around them, even the reflection in the mirror arouses their interest, but they do not yet recognize themselves in it.

Since at this age the baby is teething, he needs rubber toys that he will chew. It is important to wash toys regularly.

When a child turns 5 months old, he will be able to distinguish his own from strangers.

Feeding difficulties and problems

In practice, overfeeding of babies often occurs. There are categories of babies who love to breastfeed, and mothers allow this to be done without following a regimen, upon request. And if there is enough milk in a woman’s breast, the baby eats randomly, then he ends up overfeeding. In this case, the baby’s milk does not have time to move from the stomach to the intestines, which is fraught with constant overflow of the first. The stomach stretches, the baby spits up, intestinal colic and diarrhea appear. In this case, the child becomes restless, and the mother cannot understand what is wrong. And most often she begins to soothe the child with her breasts.

Sometimes everything is different. When a woman has little milk, the baby does not get enough to eat and remains constantly hungry. He simply does not have the strength to suck, so he cries or sleeps a lot. And when the baby does not suckle well, the milk flows slower and there is less of it. And if in such a situation you do not start supplementary feeding with formula in time, then the children develop malnutrition, that is, underweight. Another way out of the situation is to establish breastfeeding with the help of teas that increase lactation and diet. Milk in a woman’s breast comes well after eating dates and rosehip decoction. Its fat content is increased by nuts. It is important for mom to always be at rest, get a good night's sleep, and avoid stress. They can lead to the fact that one day there will simply be no milk; it, as they say, will burn out.

If no means or methods help increase the amount of breast milk, then the only way out is to supplement the baby with formula.

As you can see, overfeeding and underfeeding during breastfeeding is possible. How can a mother understand that the baby has enough food? This is determined by the following factors:

The baby's condition. When he is undernourished, he becomes lethargic, sleeps a lot or constantly screams. So he demands food.
Appearance. If the baby does not have enough milk, then an attentive mother will notice that his tummy is getting smaller and the baby is losing weight.
Number of urinations. A healthy newborn urinates 15-20 times per day. Of course, it is difficult to count the number of urinations in a diaper. However, he should not remain dry between feedings. If this is so, then the baby clearly does not have enough food.
The nature of the stool. Malnourished babies often have constipation or pass stool once or twice a day.
Weight. This is the simplest and most accessible method for determining whether the baby has enough food intake. If the child gains weight normally, then everything is fine. For this you need accurate electronic scales. You should not weigh your baby after every feeding. It is better to do this every morning after waking up.

You should know that a child’s daily food intake reaches its maximum at 6 months. After this age, he begins to be introduced to complementary foods. And then the total volume of his food per day continues to increase, and the amount of formula or breast milk decreases.

Artificial feeding at 5 months

Artificial feeding at 5 months is not very varied. As a rule, the child continues to eat the adaptive formula 5-6 times a day, consuming 200 ml of food per meal. To provide a five-month-old bottle-fed baby with all the necessary nutrients, it is recommended to start introducing complementary foods.

Signs that a baby is ready to introduce complementary foods
Organization and introduction of first complementary foods
Table of products for first feeding
Possible difficulties
Preparing food for first feeding

Signs that a baby is ready to introduce complementary foods

At 5 months, the same formula is used to feed the baby as before. If the baby does not spit up, is gaining weight, plays actively and sleeps well, pediatricians advise not to change the brand of formula.

You can give your child water on demand, especially in summer.

Under certain conditions, the baby's diet can be expanded. The following signs may indicate this:

the baby has teeth;
the baby's weight has doubled compared to what it was at birth;
the child learned to sit;
the baby shows interest in adult food;
does not push out the spoon brought to his mouth with his tongue.

These signs may indicate that the infant's diet should be expanded by introducing new foods.

If any of the above signs are not met, you should wait some more time before starting to replace the formula.

Organization and introduction of first complementary foods

Complementary feeding of a formula-fed child at such an early age is possible because children fed an adaptive formula, unlike those who consume breast milk, are accustomed to “foreign” food components.

New foods should be introduced gradually, immediately before the main feeding, from a spoon.

When expanding the menu, you must adhere to the following rules:

At the time of introduction to new food, the baby should be healthy and in a good mood.
On the first day, give 0.5 teaspoon of a new dish.
You cannot introduce two new products at once.
Dishes should have a puree-like consistency.
You should offer your baby a new dish at the same time every day.
After replacing one meal with vegetable puree, you should switch to a five-a-day diet.

Vegetables are best suited for the first complementary feeding, as they are rich in vitamins, minerals, and contain fiber and pectin, which are necessary for an actively growing body.

Useful tips for mothers: NUTRITION AND NOT ONLY BY MONTH

The optimal time to consume a vegetable dish is lunch, so it is best to offer it during the second or third meal, approximately at 10 or 14 hours.

First complementary feeding table:

Day	Grams	Teaspoons
1	3	0,5
2	8	1
3	20	3
4	40	7
5	70	12
6	120	20
7	166	27

When the weight of a serving of vegetable puree exceeds 100 grams, you should start adding 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the dish, which contains healthy fatty acids necessary for the normal development of the child’s body.

Table of products for first feeding

When starting to expand the menu, you can select one of the types of vegetables from the table:

Name	List of products
Preferred Products	Broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, local white and green vegetables
Products that should be introduced very carefully	Pumpkin, carrots
Prohibited Products	Potato

Possible difficulties

If your baby spits out vegetable puree on the first day of introducing complementary foods, this is normal. It is necessary to repeat the procedure on the second and third days. If the baby refuses a new dish more than three times in a row, you need to give him another vegetable puree.

If a five-month-old baby reacts negatively to vegetable puree: a rash appears on his body, loose stools or constipation, and vomiting are observed, the introduction of the new dish should be suspended for 3-5 days, returning to the previous diet.

If after a break the child’s body again gives an undesirable reaction to a new product, this may indicate that he has an allergy.

It will be necessary to continue acquaintance with the new food with another vegetable after a week's break and the symptoms of an allergic reaction have completely disappeared.

When feeding a baby with a spoon, a situation may arise that he chokes on new food, this may mean that his body is not yet ready for adult food. The introduction of complementary foods should be suspended and repeated after 2 weeks.

The main thing is not to give children complementary foods from a bottle, since the baby’s chewing skills do not develop during the sucking process, which can cause delayed speech development.

Preparing food for first feeding

Vegetable purees for artificial feeding of a five-month-old baby can be purchased in the store, or prepared independently. In the second case, you need to thoroughly wash the vegetable, peel it, and rinse it again.

The vegetable can either be boiled in a small amount of water or cooked in a double boiler. After preparing the products, you need to put them in a blender, add a small amount of water and bring them to a homogeneous state.

If the child turns 5 months old in the fall or winter, parents can make preparations in advance from fresh summer vegetables.

To do this, you need to prepare vegetables in the manner described above, package them in convenient containers and freeze. Freezing can be done in ice trays that can hold the volume of vegetables needed for the first days of complementary feeding.

You can freeze food in the quantities needed for one full meal in silicone baking pans.

Once completely frozen, the vegetables can be transferred to a plastic bag and stored in the freezer. The optimal shelf life is 3-4 months, but it can be extended up to 8 months, however, in this case, the prepared vegetables will lose about 25% of their vitamins.

By following all the rules of complementary feeding, parents will be able to ensure that the child’s body quickly adapts to the new diet and will accept new foods well.

After a few days of eating vegetable puree as a full meal, parents will be able to offer their baby new food, adding it one teaspoon at a time to a dish already familiar to the child.