How to feed your baby well

Are you comparing your baby’s adorable little cheeks with the beautiful cheeks of the baby in the aisle at the grocery, outside your pediatrician’s office, and on the cover of every parenting magazine you spot? And are you wondering if they are getting enough to eat and how to help your baby gain weight?

Many parents do. But here is what you need to remember: over the first few days after your baby is born, they’ll lose some weight. A breast fed baby loses between 6-7%, by the end of the 2 weeks most babies will have regained this weight and by the end of the first year, you’ll probably notice that your baby has tripled weight.

To grow that much, babies need a lot of nutrients—more than at any other time of their life.

The first two years of life are a critical period since rates of malnutrition usually peak at this time with consequences that persist throughout life. This period is also important for optimal growth, health and development it is during this period that children become vulnerable to growth retardation, micro-nutrient deficiencies, and common childhood illnesses.

0-6 months

For the first 6 months of life breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies.

If you are breast feeding your baby, figure on feeding them every 2-3 hours that is 8-12 times every 24 hours or every time the baby wants to… cause who’s counting?

Some babies may show an interest in solid food at around four months but best practice is to wait until the 6 months marker to introduce it to your baby.

Before 6 months babies have a sucking reflex enabling them to draw milk from the mother’s breast. However after the 6 months infants develop a chewing reflex that enables them to swallow soft porridge. As a result you should not be afraid that the food will choke the child, as often assumed. Hence, timely introduction of complementary feeding, at 6 months, is important so babies can grow healthy and strong.

For babies 6 to 24 months

After six months breast milk alone is no longer sufficient to meet the energy as well as the micro-nutrient requirements, such as iron, of the growing baby.

Breast milk can provide half or more of the energy requirement between 6 up to 12 months and one third of the energy requirement and other nutrients between 12 up to 24 months of age.

Thus, complementary feeding is needed to fill the gap between total nutritional needs of the baby and the nutrients provided by breast milk. Always give breast milk first before giving other foods for children 6-12 months.

Complementary feeding is giving suitable foods in addition to breast milk to babies. These foods should complement, not replace, breast milk. Breast milk continues to make important nutritional contributions. Thus, continued, frequent, and on-demand breastfeeding until 2 years of age or beyond is crucial.

Children 6 up to 24 months are at an increased risk of illness and malnutrition. Continued breastfeeding protects them from illness and malnutrition.  Besides nutrition, breastfeeding continues to provide closeness, comfort, and contact that help development

Complementary foods should be introduced at 6 months. At this age, babies‟ digestive systems are mature enough to digest different foods. Both early and delayed introduction of complementary foods have negative consequences. During the period of complementary feeding, a baby gradually becomes accustomed to eating soft family foods

A complementary food should be thick enough so that it stays on a spoon and does not drip off. Generally, foods that are thicker or more solid are more energy- and nutrient-dense than thin, watery or soft foods.

A child’s stomach is smaller than an adult’s, so a child cannot eat as much at one meal. However children’s energy and body building needs are great. It is important that children eat frequently to provide for all their needs.

Examples of balanced baby foods

• A thick porridge made out of a flour of maize or cassava or millet or soya. Sugar, oil, milk, groundnuts, eggs and fruits can be mixed into the porridge.
• Mashed food; a mixture of food like matooke , potatoes, cassava, posho( maize or millet) and fish, meat, beans, ground nut and/or sim sim paste. Also vegetables like greens, pumpkin, carrot, eggplant, avocado or tomato should be mixed in the baby food

Think of the following charcteristics when giving complementary foods to your baby: F= Frequency , A= Amount, T= Thickness(consistency), V= Variety( different kinds of foods), A=Active/responsive feeding, and H = Hygiene ( FATVAH).