NEW 2019 Feeding Infants

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Infant Meal Pattern includes 2 infant age groups; Birth through 5 months and 6 months through 11 months.

Babies may get hungry at times outside of typical mealtimes. They may need to eat more or less often than older children. Babies may also eat smaller or larger amounts from day to day. For this reason, physicians and dietitians recommend that babies be fed on demand, which means feeding them when they show signs of being hungry.

The practice of recognizing and understanding when a baby is hungry or full and responding to those signs. Responsive feeding is related to all forms of feeding including breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and offering solid foods.  This describes;

An infant who gets excited when he or she sees food, rooting, makes sucking noises and motions, or sucks on lips, hands, fingers, toes, toys or clothing, moves head towards spoon or tries to bring food to his or her mouth, reaches or points to food, opens and closes mouth is signaling that he/she is hungry.

Over time, a baby is able to control his or her large and small muscles and to digest certain foods. A baby is “developmentally ready” to eat solid foods with varying textures when certain abilities can be observed.  A baby’s feeding skills are a good clue of what food textures the baby may be ready to eat.

An infant who sucks slowly or stops sucking, turns head away, falls asleep, pushes food away, seals lips together, looks around and does not pay attention during a feeding is signaling that he/she is full.

When a spoon or solid food is placed in the mouth, the food is quickly pushed out of the mouth on the tongue. This reflex is an important reason for waiting until a baby is developmentally ready for solid foods.  This describes;

Rooting, suck and swallow, tongue thrust, gag reflex, pincer grasp, and palmer grasp are examples of an infant’s feeding skills.

The CACFP infant meal pattern includes food components and amounts that must be offered to the baby for a meal or snack to be reimbursable under the CACFP. The baby does not have to eat all the food offered in order for the meal or snack to be reimbursed.

An infant between birth and 5 months should only be fed breastmilk, iron-fortified infant formula, or a combination of both.

An infant between 6 months and 11 months, and developmentally ready, must be offered all of the additional components listed in the Infant Meal Pattern for every meal and snack served.

Communicating with parents of babies can help you know when the baby is developmentally ready for solid foods.  Use the “For Parents: Is Your Baby Ready for Solid Foods?" handout on page 12 to help you talk to parents about solid foods.

Breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for babies.  There are many benefits to breastfeeding which include; breastfed babies may have: lower risk of asthma, fewer stomach problems like diarrhea, fewer infections that cause vomiting and diarrhea, fewer ear and lower respiratory infections, lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), lower risk of becoming obese, babies taste different flavors in breastmilk based on what the mother eats. This may help babies accept new flavors from solid foods more easily, and skin-to-skin contact during breastfeeding may help moms and babies bond.

The CACFP will reimburse a day care home provider for an infant’s meal or snack when the mother comes to the day care home and breastfeeds her infant.  The day care home provider should offer a private space for the mother who comes to the home to breastfeed the infant.

Did you know?  For children age 1 year and older, breastmilk can be used to meet the CACFP fluid milk component of a meal. A written request from the parent is not required.

Juice, even 100% juice, does not credit towards a reimbursable meal or snack in the CACFP infant meal pattern. Doctors recommend not giving juice to children under 12 months of age.

Solid foods are foods that are easy and safe for a baby to eat once he or she is developmentally ready, usually around 6 months of age. Solid foods can be pureed, mashed, ground, or finely chopped to allow a baby to swallow the food without choking. Solid foods are also known as complementary foods.

When a baby is not developmentally ready to eat solid foods, he or she: is not able to sit in a high chair and hold his or her head up, may not be able to move his or her tongue to help swallow the food, and may not open his or her mouth when foods come towards him or her.

Feeding solid foods before a baby is developmentally ready may increase the chance that he or she will: choke on the food, drink less breastmilk or infant formula than needed in order to grow, be overweight or obese later in life.  Feeding solid foods before a baby is ready: does not help the baby sleep through the night and does not make the baby eat fewer times in a day.

Delaying the introduction of solid foods beyond the time when babies are developmentally ready may prevent them from eating the variety and amounts of food they need. This may increase the risk that babies will: not get the nutrition they need, especially iron and zinc, not grow normally, reject foods when they are given at a later age, have delayed speech and motor development.