EARLY NUTRITION…
(BABY’S FIRST FOODS).
Good nutrition means getting the right amount of nutrients from healthy foods in the right combinations. Having nutrition knowledge and making smart choices about the foods you eat can and will help you achieve optimum health for your little one over their lifetime, and be a key to avoiding obesity, illness, and many of today’s most prevalent chronic diseases.
Nutrition is just one key to growth and development as well as maintaining good health for your little ones. Good health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being — a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
Offering your baby a varied diet is a great way to ensure your little one is getting all the vitamins and nutrients they need to grow and develop. Every spoonful you feed them is should be packed with nutrients.
Weaning is however the most important transitional phase for a baby as they start tasting and eating foods that aid their growth and development. The need to wean babies generally starts from the age of 6 months and can go on till that of 12 months to 2 years depending on the baby’s intake, and the type of weaning foods and portions. But since their stomach is still very delicate, they need food which is easy on their digestive system. The foods that parents can start with once a day are cooked and mashed vegetables, soft fruits, and baby cereals mixed with breastmilk or formula. New, nutrient-rich foods mean that your baby has now access to all the nutrients required for growth and development. With breastmilk no longer being the only source of nutrition, your baby’s body can have its share of iron, protein, minerals, etc., from a varied set of food items.
Natural weaning or “baby-led weaning” occurs when your baby starts to accept a larger quantity and wider variety of solid foods while still nursing on demand. With natural weaning, you must take note of your baby’s behavioural cues and go along at their pace. Babies who are weaned naturally usually tend to stop breastfeeding only between the ages of two and four years.
Planned weaning or “mother-led weaning” on the other hand, occurs when mothers themselves decide to start the weaning process. This could happen for a number of reasons – insufficient milk production, their return to work, and so on.
Finally, a “partial” or “gradual” wean combines the best of both worlds for you and your little one. Here, one or more solid food feedings are substituted with breastmilk from time to time. This works well for working mothers who still want to continue to breastfeed.
However weaning your baby from 6months of age is extremely important as they begin to need nutrients from real foods such as iron which has already diminished at 6 months of age.
It is however important to note that several nutrients play a crucial role in growth and development depending on the age of your child, for example from ages 6-12 months Fat, protein and other micro nutrients are key for your little one at that stage. While from 12 months carbohydrates, protein and fat as well as other micronutrient plays an important role at that stage. This is also very important to get our baby Meal plan to guide, help and assist you in choosing variety of foods from each nutrients to help your little one growth.
There’s nothing more frustrating than having to think of what to give your child, especially when you opt for a healthy nutrition for you little one, Seeing what your little one is eating for a couple of days, week/month written down can alert you to any patterns of bad habits you may want to change ,adapt rather make you want to prepare foods rich in essential nutrients that your child needs for growth and development. This might as well often give you the push to try new things or change things round a little more often,which can only be a good thing for your little one to explore new foods, texture as well as varieties of nutrients. Buying only what you need for your child’s meals that are already planned out, and not being swayed by bulk special offers, can avoid throwing out lots of food you haven’t been able to eat in time (before the expiry date) which will also save money over time.
Babies as well as toddlers can be fuzzy when they are hungry, which can be so stressful for mum’s, but getting things figured out, which is vital key and that is why it is important to get a healthy meal plan for your baby in other to get their meals figured out.
It is however very important to note that nutrition play a vital role In strengthening the immune system, which is our body’s natural defence that helps fight viruses, bacterial, fungi, infection etc especially that of our little ones whose immune system are still developing.
Remember your little ones needs all the nutrient they can get from real foods.
Let’s raise healthy kids together.