Helping your wee one stay well as the weather gets cooler

Top Tips Once your Baby is on Solids:

• To help your baby stay healthy over the colder months, a balanced diet is important. Continue to offer iron-rich foods, and vitamin C rich fruit and veggies right through the first year and beyond.
• Including high vitamin C fruit and veggies at meal times help your baby absorb more iron.

Most babies (and toddlers) will get colds, coughs and sniffles –it’s a fact of life. Their immune system isn’t fully developed so although they may be prone to getting the sniffles, mild illnesses like colds actually helps your baby build immunity against the bugs.

Although a healthy diet won’t guarantee your baby will never get sick, a good intake of essential nutrients from food including iron and vitamin C, is very important , and if they do get sick- may help them get over it more quickly.

(Babies get enough vitamin and minerals from a healthy diet, so they don’t need supplements unless prescribed by their doctor)

A couple of key nutrients every baby needs are iron and vitamin C:

Iron is an essential mineral, and if your baby’s low in iron they can become tired, prone to infections and even have difficulty learning.

By around 6 months, your baby’s natural iron stores are running low and they need to get the extra iron from food. That’s why it’s important not to delay solids – and to offer iron-rich foods early on.

Infant cereals like baby rice are an excellent first food as they’re fortified with iron. Prepare rice cereal with your baby’s usual milk – either breast milk or formula for a familiar taste. For older babies, try iron-rich cereals like baby muesli which has more texture and flavours!

As your baby starts to get the hang of solids, offer other iron-rich foods like cooked pureed red meat, chicken, fish, & legumes and green leafy vegetables.

Iron from meat, chicken and fish is easier for baby to absorb than iron from plant foods. But vitamin C, as well as being important for immunity, helps your baby absorb more iron from non-meat foods!

Fruit and veggies like apples, oranges, berries, kiwifruit and broccoli, tomatoes and capsicum are a rich source of vitamin C. Include these at your baby’s meal times to help iron absorption.

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