Infant Nutrition

The first 12 months of life is the fastest growth period in a human’s life – a baby’s weight can triple by twelve months. Ensuring your baby is well nourished is critical for normal growth and development.

Breast milk or infant formula should be the sole source of nutrition up until about 6 months. At around this age your baby will be ready to start learning to eat solid foods.

Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt contain over ten essential nutrients and are an important part of a growing baby’s diet. Yogurt and cheese can be introduced to the baby’s diet from around 8 months of age. Choose regular fat varieties as babies need the extra energy for growth at this time in their life.

Milk can be introduced in small amounts from about 8 months on cereal or in things such as custard. However, milk should not replace breast milk or infant formula as the main milk drink until 12 months.

More information on infant nutrition and the introduction of solids can be found in Dairy Australia’s ‘Infant Nutrition’ fact sheets (see ‘relevant documents’) which contains the following topics:

• Nutrition for babies
• When should food be first offered?
• What foods should be offered first?
• When can dairy foods be offered?
• What should the food texture be like?
• How much food should be offered?
• Should low fat foods be offered?
• What about fruit juice?
• What about lactose intolerance?
• Growing from infants to toddlers