We present you the basic principles of healthy nutrition, with which your baby will grow properly. Also, here you can read tips such as feeding the baby with non-milk products, as well as introducing and combining new products.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHY NUTRITION
A proper and various nutrition of a child since birth is invaluable for its proper growth, development, and health protection. With an adequate food adjusted to age, the child grows and develops properly. The best food from birth is breast milk which fully satisfies the needs of a baby.
When to start with solid food?
The introduction of solid food should start in the period between the 4th and 6th month (from the 17th to 26th week) according to the recommendation of the paediatrician that examines the baby at the counselling centre. Solid food includes all groups of foodstuffs except for breast milk and formula and it is introduced gradually in the infant’s nutrition. By the end of the first year, a baby should and can taste all flavours, and the more food it likes in the first year, the better and more variously it will eat later during childhood.
How to introduce new foodstuffs?
New foodstuffs are introduced one at the time in small quantities, several teaspoons for the first day, and the quantities are gradually increased. It starts with cereals allowed for that age in the morning hours. Rice and corn are recommended to be first in feeding infants due to their minimal allergy potential. Fruit and vegetables are introduced fresh or boiled, in the form of compote, and they can be given in the form of puree or ready-to-eat mushes. Getting used to one type of food should last 3-4 days. If the baby refuses to eat, the same food should be offered in the following days as well. After the feeding, the baby should nurse and be allowed to eat as much milk as it wants.
How to combine new foodstuffs?
Out of fresh foodstuffs, the allowed fruit and vegetables in season are introduced, and one-ingredient mushes are introduced as already prepared baby food in jars (e.g. apple, peach or carrot). The already introduced food to which the baby has not had any reactions can be combined. In time, the mushes with more types of fruit and vegetables, or combined with meat, cereals and dairy, are given. Ready-made food used in the babies’ nutrition should have a strictly controlled quality, be organic, no sugar and salt added, and prepared in the sterile environment.
Food should be various, adjusted to age, and should include the allowed foodstuffs for certain age. Food should not be additionally seasoned with salt, no oil or sugar should be added. One solid meal is introduced in the beginning, in time the baby has two solid meals, and by the end of the first year the child should have three main meals and two snacks. Healthy nutrition should be continued during the entire childhood and it should be as various as possible with carefully selected ingredients.
What is important at selecting store-bought baby food?
Store-bought mushes and purees are an ideal food for babies due to their strictly controlled quality and advantage of being used outside. They represent an excellent solution when the fruit and vegetables are not available in season or when Mom does not make it to prepare a meal. They contain necessary vitamins and minerals, iron, magnesium, calcium and selenium in the values adjusted to the babies’ needs. It is important that baby food does not contain additives, preservatives and GMO and that it is produced in a controlled, clean environment. It is important that no additional sugars are added to store-bought mushes, but that the technology itself helps preserve the sweetness of the product.
Store-bought mushes and purees are an ideal food for babies due to their strictly controlled quality and advantage of being used outside. They represent an excellent solution when the fruit and vegetables are not available in season or when Mom does not make it to prepare a meal. They contain necessary vitamins and minerals, iron, magnesium, calcium and selenium in the values adjusted to the babies’ needs. It is important that baby food does not contain additives, preservatives and GMO and that it is produced in a controlled, clean environment. It is important that no additional sugars are added to store-bought mushes, but that the technology itself helps preserve the sweetness of the product.