|
Feeding is one of your baby's first pleasant experiences. Always use breast milk or a commercially prepared formula. Do not feed an infant evaporated milk or cow's milk. Feeding is a wonderful time for both baby and parent. Baby receives nourishment from food that helps him grow strong and healthy. It is a cozy time when your baby will feel safe and secure.
When preparing to feed your child, choose a favorite chair and try to get as relaxed and comfortable as possible. Make sure your baby is warm and dry and as comfortable as possible too. Hold him in your lap with his head slightly raised, resting in the bend of your elbow. Whether breast or bottle feeding, hold your baby comfortably close. Never prop a baby when taking a bottle. Never put your baby to bed with a bottle. Doing so could cause ear infections, nursing bottle mouth and/or tooth decay.
How often and how much to feed depends on your baby. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to feed whether you are breast or bottle feeding. The usual spacing between feedings is three to four hours. It takes about two and half hours for digestion to occur and approximately two and half-hours for breast milk to replenish. Feeding your baby at least every four and a half to five hours in the daytime is generally a good rule. Unless recommended by your doctor, don't wake baby up at night.
Your baby's appetite increases when he is experiencing a growth spurt. The first growth spurt occurs at two to three weeks. It usually takes a couple of days for supply and demand to get regulated. The best thing to do is to nurse more often. Another growth spurt occurs again at three months.
Pacifiers
Pacifiers can reduce infant stress and fussing and therefore, can help rather than interfere with breastfeeding. When infants fuss and nutritive sucking is inappropriate or unavailable, a pacifier is a calming and beneficial alternative.
Other Foods and Liquids
Don't worry if your baby doesn't take much water when offered. He gets plenty of water in milk or formula. Juice and foods are not needed usually until about six months of age. Your pediatrician will advise you when to start.
Check with your local water department to find out if your water has fluoride in it. If it doesn't, your baby's pediatrician can give you vitamins that are supplemented with fluoride. Most experts agree it is vitally important to provide developing infants with an excellent dietary source of iron. Iron plays a critical role in infant brain growth. An iron deficiency can result in a shorter attention span and sluggish motor and mental development. Human brain growth spurts last from halfway through pregnancy until about the second birthday or even a little later.
To prevent iron deficiency, consider the following:
- Delay introducing cow's milk until at least one year of age.
- Make sure your baby receives a balanced diet after bottle or breast milk is discontinued.
- Introduce iron rich foods gradually when your child is six months to two years of age. Excellent sources of iron include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans and iron-enriched bread. (Note: Iron in spinach is not well absorbed.)
During your baby's first four to six months, there is no nutritional reason to start babies on solid (strained) foods. Breast milk or infant formula is perfectly adequate up until this time.
As your baby grows, your doctor will prescribe cereal, eggs, vegetables and meats to be added according to your baby's needs. The following suggestions will help introduce your baby to new foods:
- Give very small amounts of any new food, a teaspoonful or so, at the beginning.
- Try introducing rice cereal first. Then try other cereals (except for wheat), vegetables, fruit and meat (in that order) at one-month intervals.
- Introduce starches (potatoes, rice, pasta, and bread) after your child is regularly eating fruits, vegetables and meat. Move on to finger food (zwieback, teething biscuits, graham crackers and toast) and table food, as your child seems ready.
- Never force the infant to eat more of a food than he takes willingly.
- Anyone feeding the infant must be careful to avoid showing in any way, a dislike for a food.
- Offer only one new food at a time and allow him to become familiar with the taste and texture before giving the new food.
- Use a very thin consistency when starting solid foods. Gradually add more as the baby learns how to use his tongue in propelling the food back. The fact that the infant spits out his first feedings of solid food doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't like it. It is new to him and may mean that he hasn't learned the tongue movements necessary in swallowing the food.
- In the beginning, use foods of smooth consistency when the baby is able to chew, gradually substitute finely chopped foods for strained foods - usually at eight to nine months.
- Avoid giving your child desserts. These are low in nutritional value and promote obesity and tooth decay.
- Homogenized milk may be given after nine months. Intake should not exceed 24 oz./day. After age two, 2% milk (not skim milk) is probably better.
- Variety in choice of foods is important. Everyone tires of constant repetition of foods (infants included).
- Developmentally, the baby is not ready to eat until about four to six months of age. He has a normal reflex that is called a tongue thrust. This causes the baby to push the food out of his mouth. Many parents think the baby doesn't like what he's being fed when this happens. This is not the case. Baby has no control over this. It disappears around six months of age allowing baby to retain food in his mouth and easily swallow it.
- When the baby starts using his hands, give him some finger food to handle while you are feeding him. He will be less likely to try to take the spoon away from you.
- When the baby eats finger foods well, allow him to feed himself as much as possible. He will develop coordination more quickly and generally stops when no longer hungry. Messiness is a normal part of development at this age and a certain amount should be tolerated for the baby to learn.
- Vitamins and fluoride: Breast-fed infants are generally given a fluoride supplement. By age six months, breast-fed infants also need additional iron in their diets, either in the form of iron-fortified cereals or multi-vitamin preparations with iron.
>> Baby Nursery Checklist
>> Vaccines & Immunizations
>> Infant Feeding
Breastfeeding
Baby Care
Crying and Stress
Newborn Appearance
Toys and Games
When to Call the Doctor
Older Siblings
|