Babies' milk provides all the necessary nutrients

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 251, 19 July 1988, Page 15

Babies' milk provides all the necessary nutrients

For the first six months of life milk alone, either breast milk or formula milk is sufficient to provide all the nutritional requirements and is the most important food to give.

At about four months of age babies often appear hungrier, are awake more and are eager to try out new tastes. Babies can not digest solid food properly before they are four months old. Good foods to start with are ripe well mashed banana, apple puree, or baby rice or farex mixed with breast milk or formula to a very sloppy consistency. Offer the solids after the milk feed and offer only one or two teaspoons for starters. Begin initially after the evening feed, then after the lunch time feed and lastly after the breakfast time feed. About one month later introduce vegetables, try potato, carrot, silverbeet, puha, kumara, pumpkin, parsley and marrow. Use in combinations of two to begin with introducing new combinations three or four days apart. This will make it easier to identify any food that

baby may be allergic to. Avoid giving yellow and orange coloured vegetables every day as this can result in a yellowy tinge to the baby's skin. Cook the vegetables in as little water as possible and moulee the cooking water in with the vegetables. Do not add salt or sugar to baby's food. Baby does not know the difference and it could lead to health problems and obesity later. From about six months of age your baby can be having three solid meals a day. Offer half to three quarters of a cup full of food at each meal depending on appetite. Now is the time to give the breast or formula feed after the solid feed. As baby's appetite for solid food increases milk requirements will drop to around one pint of formula milk or 2-4 breast feeds a day. From about eight

months of age, wheat cereal such as weet-bix, egg yolk (avoid the white until one year of age), cheese, fish and yoghurt can be added to your baby's diet to give variety. When baby has some teeth, can hold things and sit in a high chair unaided teething finger food can be added for chewing. Baby will enjoy a bone (with no splinters) with a small amount of meat on, or a stick of roast meat to suck on. Fruit wrapped in muslin such as apple or orange segment is excellent, or oven dried bread with some grated cheese. Commercial rusks contain a lot of sugar and will stick like concrete on baby's face and everything else she touches so try oven dried bread instead. Watch baby closely when giving finger foods in case of choking. By 10-12 months of age baby can enjoy the same kind of meals as

the rest of the family, offer a wide variety of well mashed or chopped food. Tinned Food Tinned baby food is fine now and again but it can contain a lot of yellow/orange coloured vegetables and it is expensive. It is far cheaper and nutritious to make your own. Meals can be prepared in advance and frozen for convenience. Extra fluids For the first six months breast fed babies generally do not need extKu fluid. For bottle fed babies some extra boiled water is helpful if they are prone to constipation. Fruit juices are not necessary as both breast milk and formula milk contain all the vitamins and minerals baby needs. There is nothing wrong with boiled water. It supplies the extra fluid your baby may need, it is free and it does not contain extra un-needed sugar. Try

offering your baby water or formula milk in a feeding cup from about six months of age. This will get baby accustomed to eventually drinking from a cup. Avoid giving your baby a bottle to take to bed as the fluid sits around the baby's mouth all night and will rapidly lead to severe tooth decay and ear infections. give the bottle before putting the baby to bed. If you are concerned about your baby's diet ask your plunket or public health nurse for advice or telephone the

hospital.

Leigh

Berry

Public Health Nurse Eve Rush Principal Nurse