nutrition and first foods

THE FIRST YEAR

Nutrition and first foods

Valuing parenting, staying at home vs. day care

NUTRITION AND FIRST FOODS

What is the right time to introduce solid food? Earlier than four months, the baby does not have the enzymes or the right swallowing reflex for solids. At five or six months, the baby is usually able to swallow solids, and is able to digest starches and fats. By then, the baby may have doubled their birth weight, and they may start to be constantly hungry. At this time, they are also often putting everything they can in their mouths, and some babies will show that they are interested in adult food by watching attentively as you eat.

Feeding the baby by Evert Pieters

A baby's first foods should be very simple, fresh, and ideally, in season and homemade. With homemade foods, you are able to judge the freshness and readiness of them and adapt their consistency to the baby's needs. Introducing one thing at a time in small quantities, one thing for a few days, then adding the next thing for a few days and so on, will make sure the baby reacts well to each new food. At this time, it's more about getting used to eating food, than eating a whole meal, since babies are still getting their main source of nutrients from milk.

Some good first foods are organic apple, pear, peach, carrot, squash, and, fennel, which can be cooked and pushed through a sieve or a hand operated baby food mill. Then oat and rice flour can be used alternately to make warm cereal. For the first months of solids, it's best not to add much salt, oil or sugar, especially since the tastes are new to the baby.

There are many different philosophies on what to feed and not feed a baby the first year. My own inclinations are to avoid processed foods, refined sugar, aim for organic or biodynamic, and to stay away from intense proteins such as meat and eggs.

A recent study showed that children with high levels of pesticides were more than twice as likely to develop ADHD.[1] This is yet another incentive to wash our fruit and vegetables and to buy organic. The following site has an informative slide show of the important foods to buy organic:

http://www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/slideshow-organic-foods

See The importance of breastfeeding and colostrum

Diet and nutrition after one

How to make decisions

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Gabrielle and Jean

See Guide to Child Health in Recommended Reading

ARTICLES

Cook - Cooking for Children.htm

Spock - vegetarian diet.htm

Lambert, Louise - Rituals at meals.htm

Caplan -The Early Childhood Years - Feeding, Nutrition and Eating Habits.htm

Johnson, Susan, M.D. - Flaxseeds, fish oils and neural development - link

[1] University of Montreal and Harvard University Pesticide Exposure May Contribute to ADHD, Study Finds ScienceDaily May 17, 2010, researched May 2010 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517132846.htm>

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CLOTHING AND CARE FOR THE BABY THE FIRST YEAR FROM ONE TO THREE RECOMMENDED READING, LINKS ARTICLES