Every baby is unique. Each child advances at his or her own pace and time. Pay attention to your child's developmental stages and feed according to those skills. The amounts of food to offer your child given in this chapter are just a guide; each baby is different and your child may eat more or less than these recommended servings. Your job as a parent is only to offer the foods to your child. Pay attention to your child's feeding cues to know if she is finished eating or wants to continue to eat. Here is a guide for feeding advancement for the first year through toddler eating.

Birth to Four Months

Your baby should have a rooting reflex which means that he turns his head toward you to eat. Your baby should also be able to suck and swallow liquids. Babies at this age should only be taking breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula. His schedule will be sporadic but overall his daily intake of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula should be 21 to 24 ounces. Your infant does not need any additional water or juice — these are not needed in the first year of life. Breast milk or formula can provide all the hydration that your infant needs under age one.

Five Months

Your baby can hold her neck up and begin to sit with support. At this age, babies should be drinking only breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula. She will begin to spread out her feeding and feed about four to six times per day. The overall goal amount of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula is about 24 to 34 ounces per day.

Six to Seven Months

Your baby is starting to reach and grasp for objects. He has also been experimenting with moving his jaw up and down. Your infant should continue to drink 24 to 34 ounces of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula per day, but this is the appropriate time to introduce iron-fortified rice cereal in addition to breast milk or formula. Your baby may eat about 4 tablespoons per day of cereal. Only introduce rice cereal with a spoon, as it is not appropriate to put rice cereal in a baby's bottle. You can also begin to introduce 4 tablespoons of vegetables and 4 tablespoons of fruits per day. Only introduce one new food at a time and wait four to seven days between each new food to monitor your child for potential allergies.

Eight to Nine Months

Your baby can now sit alone without support. She is also developing her pincher grasp and can pick up small items with her thumb and finger. She is getting better at chewing so you can begin to move away from all-puréed foods to a more mashed food consistency. She should drink 24 to 34 ounces of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula per day. She can continue with the grain cereals, fruits, and vegetables and may take about ¼ to ½ cup of each of these per day. It is now appropriate to begin to introduce some soft meat purées. If her pincher grasp is ready, go ahead and give her some soft finger foods such as soft crackers, toast, cereal Os, or teething biscuits.

Ten to Twelve Months

Time to work on independent feeding! Your baby can now begin to hold a cup and will be interested in playing with food and self-feeding. He should still continue to drink 24 to 34 ounces of breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula per day. You can begin to offer small amounts of these in a sippy cup. Fruit juice can also be offered but your child should only have 4 ounces of juice per day. Juice can contribute to overfeeding and obesity so be careful not to offer more than the recommended amount. Continue to expand the variety of cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, soft breads, and finger foods. Babies will take about ¼- to ½-cup servings of each of these per day at this age.

Over Twelve Months

Your child has now been introduced to all the types of food groups. The goal is to continue to offer your child and your family a wide variety of textures, tastes, and food experiences. Playing with food is a normal and developmentally appropriate way to learn to accept new and different foods. Encourage playing with food.

Specific amounts of food that your child should eat are hard to prescribe. Toddlers' eating is sporadic and unpredictable. Children have days that they eat large amounts and days that they just pick at food. This is normal. Over time, your child will get the nutrients that she needs to grow.

Toddler and Preschool Patterns and Portions

Here are some guidelines on toddler eating portions, but keep in mind that every child is different. Notice that their serving sizes are much smaller than adult portions.

• GRAINS AND BREADS: 6 servings per day

  Serving size: ¼ to ½ slice of bread or ½ cup of grain

  Example: 1 to 2 slices of bread + 1 cup of cereal per day
  Recipes: Blueberry Pancakes and Quinoa Bean Salad (page 124)

• VEGETABLES: 3 servings per day

  Serving size: ¼ to ⅓ of a cup

  Example: ½ cup cooked vegetables + ¼ cup of beans
  Recipes: Roasted Carrots and Grilled Summer Vegetables (page 222)

• FRUITS: 2 servings per day

  Serving size: ⅓ of a cup

  Example: ⅓ cup of apple + ½ a banana
  Recipes: Carrot Pineapple Salad and Blueberry Sorbet (page 232)

• MILK: 2 servings per day

  Serving size: 8 ounces of milk or 1 cup yogurt

  Example: 8 ounces whole milk + 1 (8 ounce) yogurt
  Recipes: Banana Yogurt Milkshake and Pink Milk (page 152)

The goal is to transition to whole milk at one year old. Toddlers should stay on whole milk until the age of two and then can be switched to a lower-fat milk. Toddlers need two servings of dairy per day, or about 16 ounces. If your child cannot tolerate dairy, they should eat two servings of calcium- and vitamin D–fortified dairy substitute.

• PROTEIN: 2 servings per day

  Serving size: 1 to 2 ounces meat, 1 egg, ½ cup beans or tofu

  Example: 1 egg + 2 tablespoons tofu at lunch + 2 tablespoons meat at dinner
  Recipes: Tofu-Stuffed Shells and Barbecue Meatloaf Muffins (page 182)

Children under the age of two need to get a high percentage of their calories from fat for adequate brain development. For this reason, you should not limit the fat your child consumes under the age of two. Choose healthy fats from avocados, olive oil, and canola oil. For children over the age of two, you can begin to lower fat in the diet but children should never be on an extremely low-fat diet.

Children also need adequate amounts of zinc and protein in their diet. These nutrients can be obtained from two servings per day of meat, bean, or legume protein sources. Serving sizes for this age group are about 1 to 4 tablespoons of meat, and ½ cup of beans or legumes.