Feeding Babies

Children stomach is very sensitive. What you feed them has an impact on their growth and development.

It is not only the nutrient content, but also thickness of food that matters.

So, during development and growth of your child it is important to feed them both nutritious and good consistency foods.

Listen what grandma is telling about baby food…

Do you know consistency and thickness of food can be 3 types? Solid, semi-solid and liquid.

• Solid food: Well cooked rice, vegetables, roti, chapatti, bread varieties – with almost no liquid contents.
• Semi solid food: Soup, smoothies, porridge, khichadi, mashed banana, oats in milk, blended carrot and lentils, mashed potato etc. with some liquid content.
• Liquid food: Juice without pulp, water, barley water, rice water, milk, butter milk,

Babies don’t have the swallowing ability to handle solid foods until they reach 4 to 6 months of age. Semisolid foods contain soft particles that your baby can mash with her gums.

Here are suggestions for moms what type of foods they can give the baby.

1. Between 3 to 4 months: Semi solid food is critical. Semi solid foods contain soft particles that your baby can mash with gums.
2. Between 4 to 6 months: Include and introduce baby to cooked vegetables
3. Between 7 to 8 months: Fruit with yogurt, bread pieces – remove crust, khichadi, carrot, biscuits
4. Between 8 to 10 months: Start feeding baby different types of food – increase the quantity. – See whether baby is developing any allergy, constipation, other health changes or dislikes any types of food.

Some additional points to remember:

Avoid home-grown spinach, beets, green beans, squash and carrots, which can contain high nitrate levels. If you give your baby cereal, mix it with formula or breast milk, not whole milk; babies younger than 1 year of age don’t digest the proteins in milk well.

Allergy symptoms normally appear within a few minutes to two hours after eating an allergenic food. If your baby breaks out in a rash or hives, begins to wheeze or has trouble breathing, develops diarrhea or acts like he has a stomach ache, he might be allergic to some food. Talk to pediatrician about the food and allergy.

One more point – don’t push baby to be in clean plate club. Let him make a mess. It is natural that baby’s food will be outside on the body more than he can swallow. To avoid weight problems – let your baby dictate how much he wants to eat. As a mother, you must watch your baby’s weight and then, feed accordingly. Encourage baby to eat using hands and sit with baby to eat. Encourage baby to try a variety of foods. Do not show your distaste towards your choice of food through facial expression. Babies are smart and they understand your facial expression.

Listen to grandma: Healthylife.Werindia.com

Image credit: <a href=”https://depositphotos.com/category/transport-auto.html”>Father feeding his little son with baby food at home – null</a>