Bringing Up Babies Right

The first year of a baby is very crucial. This is when a lot of developments take place in him. Breast-feeding and mother's care play a vital role during this time. Mother's milk offers the infant the best nutrition. That's precisely why the American Academy of Pediatrics appeals to the mothers all over the world to breast feed their bables as long as possible. Proper nutrition for your baby also means feeding him or her the right food in right quantities at the right time. It is not advisable to begin with solid food since the digestive system of the baby is yet to develop fully. Solid foods at a tender age increases the risk of allergies or digestive problems in the young ones. It is always safe to seek a paediatrician's advice on this matter. The diet for infants should provide the necessary nutrients and energy to ensure normal growth and development.

Balanced Diet

A balanced diet is one which contains all nutrients like energy, proteins , fats, vitamins, minerals etc that ensures your child's growth and proper maintenance of his health. The bottom line is quality and not quantity. Unfortunately, not many mothers are able to breast feed their infants in order to choose the right diet. Milk and milk products constitute important sources of energy, proteins, calcium and vitamins for infants. The right baby food should have adequate calories, fat and other nuturients. Babies need fat for proper cognitive and behavioural development. They require up to 50 per cent of energy from fat. Sugar is the best source of calories besides being easily digestible.

Infant Appetite

Not all babies have similar appetite. Therefore their intake also varies. According to National Council of health Statistics(NCHS) the body weightof a 3-month old baby boy should be six kilograms and height 61.1cm. The weight of a baby girl of the same age should be 5.4 kg and the height 60.2cm. A six-month old baby boy should weigh 7.8kg(height 66.66). As long as your child's growth is as per the schedule there's no need to worry about his or her intake.

Vitamins

Before introducing your child to baby food make sure that it has all the vitamins. Vitamin A is useful for vision; Vitamin B1 acts metabolism and also plays a role in neuromuscular transmission; vitaminB2 helps in setting right the riboflavin deficiency which causes problems like ulcers of the mouth, inflammation in the food pipe and intestine; Vitamin C helps in building resistance against common infections; vitamin D provides calcium and phosphate and helps in the growth and development of bones; vitamin E is a very useful anti-oxident and also helps in combating oxygentoxicity in pre-term infants; Vitamin K is essential for normal clotting of blood.

Infant Formula

Though breast-feeding is still the best formula is a good substitute. Infant formulae are either liquids or reconstituted powders. They have a special role to play in children's health as they are the only source of nutrients apart from mother's milk. Infant formulae contain iron and vitamins that are considered nutritionally complete meal for babies. Before buying them one has to take care to check the ingredients, nutrients level, expiry date etc. All these are mentioned on the container.

Baby food manufactured by the leading companies are Lactogen, Carelac, Farex and Nestum. Lactogen-1 is for infants below six months. It is a milk based supplement. Farex include apple, mixed fruits, vegetables,egg, wheat and milk as ingredients. Lactogen-2 is another ideal milk supplement for infants. Nestum is rice and milk based cereal which has large sources of vitamins. Cerelac is wheat based careal with milk, orange and apple supplements. Dexrice has a baby food supplement with a mixture of rice and milk for infants from the age of four months.