INFANT FEEDING INSTRUCTIONS
In
the first year of life, infants undergo periods of rapid growth
when good nutrition is crucial. In fact, nutrition in the
early years of life is a major determinant of healthy growth
and development throughout childhood and of good health in
adulthood.
Your baby should be fed only breast milk
or formula for the first 4-6 months. However, breast milk
and formula cannot provide all of the nutrients and calories
that will allow your infant to continue to thrive. From the
age of 6 months until approximately 2 years of age, your child
should gradually be introduced to different types of foods
as they gradually transition from a diet centered on breast
milk or formula. This transition period helps the child to
slowly become accustomed to eating adult-type foods and familiarizes
them with a wide range of textures and tastes.
Most infants begin the transition from liquid
to solid foods with the introduction of infant cereals. This
is given by spoon and not in the bottle unless your physician
instructs you otherwise. After your child takes cereal well
for a few days, you can begin to introduce vegetables, then
fruits. We like to suggest vegetables for the first few foods
because some children will become used to the sweetness of
the fruit and reject the vegetables later. Do not start more
than one new food every few days so that if your child develops
a reaction you know which food caused it.
After your infant has had some experience
with several different foods, you can begin to offer 3 meals
a day, with 2 or 3 different foods at each meal. Allow your
child to experiment with different flavors and textures. Between
6 and 8 months breast milk or formula are still the primary
part of the diet and should be offered first. As the child
gets older and incorporates a variety of foods in their diet,
you can let your child have their fill of each food and finish
the meal with breast milk or formula.
Many parents like to give juices, but juices
have no nutritional value. Offering solid fruit to your child’s
diet would meet nutritional needs for growth and development.
There is no nutrition in fruit juice that can not be gotten
from the solid fruit. In addition, many infants will fill
up on juice, and refuse the better nutrition of solids later
in the day. It is a good rule to limit juice to 4 ounces per
day diluted half and half with water. Put it in a sipper cup
only, so that the child does not become "hooked"
on juice bottles.
Avoid feeding battles with your child. Many
problems with eating disorders and obesity that develop later
in life can be avoided by allowing your child to develop an
awareness of their own appetite
.
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