How to Craft a meal plan for babies?

At 6 months

This is the beginning. The baby is still on Breastmilk/Formula and thats a complete meal in itself. So our objective is to introduce solids. Key is to introduce a lot of ingredients and test allergens early.
To make it easy, here is a simple meal plan for 6th month.

At first week start with the single ingredient. The best time for giving the meal is between 10am and 12pm.

At second week, We are introducing Moong dal Moringa dal for protein and iron which is important for babies

If the baby is not taking solids well, then we can continue to offer 1 meal till end of 6th month. If the baby is enjoying solids and if you are a working mother who plans to wean between 1-2 yrs, then we can increase to 2 meals. 1 meal + 1 snack in the week – 3.

In the week 4, for snacks introduce an allergen either egg or nuts. Introduce one allergen for 3days.

7th month onwards,

The baby is ready for more textures, variety and finger foods.

India has vast spread of cuisines, so suggesting a meal plan would be tough. So here is a simple thumb rule from LilCoo.

There are 10 food groups. Check out the chart to understand what these food groups are.

How to craft a nutritious meal plan for my baby?

Plan the meal plan in the way it should either have 5 food groups per meal or 7 food groups per day.

Keep rotating what you pick from each food group across the days.

Here is an example –
Breakfast – Idli & sambhar
Snack – Avocado
Lunch – Moringa leaf khichdi
Snack – Boiled Eggs
Dinner – Roti & Dal

We have covered 8 Foods groups covered for today –
Starch, millets and tubers (idli, roti, rice in khichdi), Pulses and lentils (sambar, dal, khichdi), Fruits (avocado), Veggies (vegetables in sambar and khichdi), Fat (avocado, egg yolk), Green leafy (moringa leaves), Meat and egg (boiled eggs), Herbs and spices (seasoning in sambar, khichdi, dal).

There you go, mumma! A well balanced meal is crafted by you for your little one 🙂