How to eat right and what to eat. A family have to keep these basics right over a period of time.
For that parents need the knowledge and right intention. Food choices are different in each family. Food habits differ by geographic location , family traditions and individual preferences.
Whatever is ones choice of food the one factor that is constant is the nutritional content in food.
Nutrition in children is perhaps the most thought about topic for parents, specially if you are new to care giving.
Check out an informative article on NIH
Nutritional needs are of course age and lifestyle related.
PCRM’s nutrition guide for clinicians has wonderfully detailed the nutritional guidelines for all ages.
Nutritional requirements start with pregnancy before the child is even born.
Baby first food is when a child is breastfed and if required given replacement feeds.
Babies need fat, folate, protein, carbohydrate, zinc and iron among various vitamins required.
As we all know for newborns, the first nutrition comes from the mother. So diet for breastfeeding mothers is of primary importance for the baby.
If you are a new parent or going to be one, you may want to know a few facts…
Nutrition in children - infants and babies
1. Feeding newborn baby and nutrition in children
After your baby is born and few days after that, generally the baby is on mother’s milk.
Importance of mothers (Diet for breastfeeding mothers) milk cannot be stressed upon more and we all know…baby’s best food is breastfeed…
Many a times a mothers biggest woe is to understand whether or not she is feeding her baby sufficiently and nutrition in children is a vast topic. Every time the baby cries, the mother things baby may need to be fed.
There may be other reasons as well why baby shows discomfort and that needs to be addressed. This is one of the reason why newborn parents need to visit the doctor every now and then.
A typical newborn with normal weight generally needs to have about 30 to 90 ml feeds with around 8 to 12 feeds daily for the first 3 weeks.
As the baby grows, need for amount of feed increases but you need to feed the baby less frequently. You can ask for a baby food chart from your paediatrician as per age of your child OR in most cases your doctor will anyway guide you for the same.
Check out some important facts about feeding newborn baby below.
2. How to start baby on solids
Introducing solids to babies is an event in households.
Recipes for babies have to be time tested, traditional and comfortable meals. Of course we can give a twist to the recipes keeping their nutritional values intact.
In India there is a ceremony to mark this event called “Rice ceremony”. This is a special day and to be remembered. Though the baby doesn’t realise this day much, it is a day to remember for the family and specially parents.
If you are wondering about the right time to introduce solidsto babies, check for what your baby signals.
Depending o your choices and redness of babies, parents introduce solids to babies generally between 4 to 6 months.
Solids are introduced slowly to babies starting with just a table spoon and incresing the amount depending how much babies accept(7 important facts to start baby on solids)
Although you may find different theories, charts and technical information available medically about how much solids to feed at what age, I preferred gong by my babies signals and it didn’t fail me both the times.
It’s up to mothers and babies to make a choice about how much and what to feed as long as baby accepts and age old traditions are followed as they are time tested.
Here we have some important facts about starting baby on solids and sample schedule of a 6 month old. Click below…
Boosting a child’s immunity at these trying times are also as important as giving them nutritional food. Click on these links to know more about Immunity boosting naturally for kids below