When it comes to babies, it’s very important to understand the different types of foods they should consume. Their development isn’t just about the physical and mental, but also the nutritional aspects. This will help protect their health and safety and can have a huge impact upon their physical and mental growth.
Baby food that you purchase in the supermarket or from specialist food stores will be grouped into age groups or development stage. Each age or development group comes with certain foods that are appropriate. These are as follows:
Birth to Six Months
The first thing to consider when feeding your new born baby is whether to breast feed or use formula. Lots of research has been conducted into the effects of both methods. Many medical and health organisations including the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend breast feeding because it is the best nutritional choice for babies and infants. It can help defend against infections and a number of chronic conditions, as well as prevent allergies.
However, not every single mother will be able to breastfeed and so they will seek alternative methods. Formula milk is an excellent option as this will meet your baby’s nutritional needs. The decision as to whether you breast feed or use formula is based upon your own circumstances, your comfort level and lifestyle as well as any medical conditions you may have. Breastfeeding or formula should be used for the first six months and then longer if the mother and baby are both willing.
Six Months to Nine Months
You don’t have to wait until six months to start feeding your baby solids; you should try after four months. You’ll know if they don’t want to accept the food as they will spit it out, but after a while they will start to swallow the food. It’s important to introduce solids to avoid nutritional deficiencies and to avoid them being reluctant to have solids later on in their development.
The types of foods come as iron-fortified and single-grain infant cereal and can be found in any good supermarket or specialist food store. Each jar or pot of baby food is clearly labelled with the development years so you’ll be able to see if it suitable for your baby to consume. From here you can move onto multi grain cereals.
Nine Months to Twelve Months
Once you have introduced all of the different types of infant cereals and iron-fortified foods, your baby can begin to try more interesting baby food. Start by giving them other grain foods, such as bread or toast. From here you can then move onto fruits and vegetables. It’s probably best to start with vegetables and mild tasting foods, such as carrots. Once they’ve become accustomed to the taste you can then try sweeter and tastier fruits. Always use a small amount first, just to make sure they’re not allergic to what you’ve given them.
Choking is a huge hazard for babies and toddlers. Therefore the food they consume should never be larger in diameter than your little finger. If it is, make sure you cut it up so it’s safer and easier to consume. Once they have been eating fruit and vegetable solids you can then move onto dairy products such as meat and cheese, this can be introduced after six months but it really depends on their development. From nine months onwards you can feed them between 2-4 table spoons of dairy products a day. Introduce cow’s milk after yogurts and cheese and always use whole milk and not the pasteurised kind.
Meats and alternatives can also be introduced after six months. Mashed or strained meat as well as fish can be consumed as 1-3 tbsp per day. After nine months you can introduce diced or minced meat as 3-4 tbsp per day.
By: Vincent A Rogers
http://www.nurseryvalue.com/pushchairs/default.aspx
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