Feeding a baby and toddler – what, when and how much

Solid food is introduced at around six months — not earlier, because a younger gut and kidneys are not ready and it displaces milk that is more nutritious, and not much later, because milk alone stops being enough for iron and energy.

• The baby can sit with support, holds their head steady, and shows interest in food.
• Start with a smooth soft porridge, mashed vegetables or mashed fruit, once a day, in small amounts.
• Build up to two then three meals a day with snacks by around nine to twelve months.
• Keep breastfeeding alongside — solids are added to milk, not swapped for it, through the first year.
• Introduce a wide variety early. Repeated small exposures are how a child learns to accept a food; being refused once means very little.

Iron stores from birth run down by around six months, and iron deficiency is common in South African children. It matters because it affects concentration and development, not just blood counts.

• Meat, chicken, liver and fish are the best-absorbed sources.
• Beans, lentils and fortified maize meal and bread contribute — pair them with a source of vitamin C, such as fruit or tomato, which improves absorption.
• Tea with meals reduces iron absorption significantly and is a common, avoidable cause in South African households.
• Cow's milk is not suitable as a main drink under one year and, given in large amounts after that, displaces iron-rich food.

The Road to Health booklet plots weight and height at every visit. What matters is the direction of the line over time, not a single point — a child steadily following their own curve is doing well even if the number is lower than another child's.

Refusing food, wanting the same three things, and eating a lot one day and almost nothing the next are all normal in toddlers. Appetite genuinely drops after the first year because growth slows.

1. 1Decide what is offered and when; let the child decide whether and how much. Fighting over the last spoonful reliably makes things worse.
2. 2Offer a new food alongside a familiar one, repeatedly, without pressure. It can take many exposures.
3. 3Do not use pudding as a reward for vegetables — it teaches that vegetables are a chore to be endured for something better.
4. 4Keep mealtimes short, at a table, without a screen.
5. 5Limit milk and juice between meals; both blunt appetite for food that carries more nutrition.

A fussy eater who is growing along their line is a parenting problem, not a medical one. A fussy eater whose line is falling is a medical one.

Say so at the clinic. Malnutrition is screened for at every visit, supplementary feeding programmes exist, and the Child Support Grant is there for exactly this. Clinics deal with this constantly and there is no benefit to managing it privately.