took her child to a community hospital for a physical examination, and met a mother who brought her baby for a physical examination for the first time and showed off to others: her breast milk is very sufficient, even if the baby does not eat complementary food, it is completely enough for the baby to eat, so currently baby has not eaten complementary food for eight months.
Now that someone has started it, let’s talk about adding complementary foods to babies.
1. No matter how good breast milk is, it cannot always be eaten as food. Complementary foods must be added in a timely manner.
After a baby is six months old, breast milk can no longer fully meet the baby's nutritional needs, and the missing nutrients must be obtained from complementary foods .
Therefore, complementary foods should be added to the baby at the appropriate time.
It is not good to add complementary foods too early or too late.
If it is too early, the baby's gastrointestinal function is not very good. Complementary feeding will increase the burden on the baby's gastrointestinal tract, and it is also prone to the risk of food allergies.
If it is too late, the baby's nutrition will not be comprehensive , causing the baby to miss the sensitive period of learning to swallow and chew, which may affect the development of the baby's jaws and teeth and make the baby ugly.
Generally, complementary foods are added around months , no later than 8 months !
2. Don’t eat the wrong first complementary food for your baby.
html The nutrients missing in breast milk after 6 months include iron .Because the iron content in breast milk is relatively low, the iron content in the baby's body is basically exhausted after six months.
If iron is not supplemented in time, the baby will be prone to anemia, which will damage the baby's cognitive ability and immune function. The period from six months to one year old is the period when the baby is most prone to anemia.
So the baby’s first priority now is iron supplement .
html The daily iron content required by babies aged 07-12 months is0mg, but 97% of the iron comes from complementary foods.Therefore, the baby's first complementary food should be iron-rich food .
In the past, doctors would recommend that the first complementary food is egg yolk, and later they would recommend eating high-iron rice noodles. The
2022 version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that babies should continue to be breastfed from the age of six months, but complementary foods must be added. Start with iron-rich paste foods such as meat puree, liver puree, and iron-fortified baby cereal powder.
In other words, the baby's first complementary food can be iron-rich meat puree, liver puree, or high-iron rice noodles.
3. Other principles for adding complementary foods to babies
① Babies under one year old should still take milk as the main food.
Although complementary food has been added, complementary food is complementary food after all, and cannot take over the role, allowing the complementary food to exceed the amount of milk .
It is necessary to ensure that the daily milk volume of 7-12-month-old babies is not less than
2-18-month-old babies is less than② The amount of complementary food eaten by the baby should be from small to large, and the state should be from thin to thick.
Baby eating complementary food requires a step-by-step process.
The amount should be from small to large, for example, only eat one meal on the first day, only 3 spoons each time, to 4 spoons, 5 spoons, and then gradually increase from one meal a day to two or three meals a day.
The state of complementary food should be fluid at first, then gradually turn into paste, from thin to thick, then to granular, and finally to lumpy.
③ Do not add any condiments, but do not include fat.
Complementary food for babies under one year old should be as original as possible, without adding condiments.
In fact, food supplements contain a certain amount of " natural condiments ". The baby's taste buds are also very sensitive and can taste the original flavor of the food. Whether it is the sweetness or saltiness of the food, it can be maximized in the baby's mouth. The baby tastes enough to taste .
On the contrary, if additional food is added, it will easily make the baby become heavy-flavored , and it will also increase the burden on the baby's kidneys.
For babies after one year old, add as needed.
But the oil is different, and the baby needs to be added after 6 months.
The 2022 edition of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" shows that if a baby under six months of age is breastfed, about 50% of its energy comes from breast milk fat; the appropriate intake of fat for a baby between 7 and 12 months old accounts for about 40% of the total energy throughout the day; and the appropriate intake of fat for a baby between 1 and 2 years old accounts for about 35% of the entire day's energy.
Babies grow very fast after birth, and their energy requirements are higher than those of adults. Oil has the highest energy density and is a good source of fat.
Appropriate addition of fats and oils to complementary foods can provide energy to the baby. It can also provide the baby with DHA, ARA and other essential fatty acids to ensure the development of the baby's brain and retina .
Of course, for your baby's first complementary food oil, you should choose oils rich in linolenic acid and a-linolenic acid . The sources include walnut oil, soybean oil, linseed oil , etc.
Finally, there are differences between babies, and the baby's complementary foods should not be the same as and . Parents can customize unique complementary foods according to the baby's situation, instead of denying the baby all the time to eat complementary foods and eating breast milk as rice.
