A few days ago we explained what is the supplementary feeding and today we will talk about when to start offering new foods To the babies.
WHO and UNICEF explain in their recommendations that until six months the main and only food of babies should be milk. From then on, children begin to need more nutrients and milk alone may not meet those requirements (babies often begin to need iron - often because of the lack of reserves caused by a too early cord cut - and zinc). That is why they usually require foods that complement milk.
To this we must add that babies, little by little, have to learn to eat. Milk is not the main food of humans, for which a varied diet is recommended, so babies should go eating little things to get closer to the way we eat their parents and the rest of society.
In other words, the interest in eating such and such food is focused on taking new nutrients, but especially when they are assimilating new textures, smells and flavors and begin to feed themselves (with their handyman or cutlery).
You will have noticed that when I talk about needs I focus on nutritional and not caloric ones. It is not that there is no increase in the need for calories, it is evident that as a baby grows it needs more and more energy, however it has been observed that on an energy level a child can receive all the energy he needs from breast milk even up to two years or more (and of artificial milk also, of course, increasing the amount).
In other words, a child could live and grow perfectly drinking only breast milk and taking a specific pharmaceutical supplement, although it would be complicated because the same curiosity of children towards food makes it very difficult for this situation to occur.
In fact, although it seems strange (and illogical) a calorie of breast milk is not supplanted with a calorie of another food. For whatever reason (perhaps a better absorption of nutrients or a better metabolization of them) 1 calorie of food equals 0.5-0.8 calories of breast milk.
By this I mean that the reason for offering a new diet is not "because now it needs more energy or more calories", but, as I have said, provide new nutrients and offer the possibility to learn to eat new foods.
When to start?
We have already commented that WHO talks about six months as the ideal time to start supplementing milk. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), in its 1981 recommendations, still in force, does not specify a specific moment but rather associates the beginning of feeding with a maturation factor.
Personally I like these recommendations more, since they adapt more to the possible and logical differences in terms of development that babies have.
For them a baby is ready to start taking other foods when:
- He is able to sit without help. Come on, it doesn't fall sideways while sitting. This moment, maturationally speaking, is usually between 6 and 8 months.
- Lose the extrusion reflex, which causes children to eject the spoon with their tongue. This reflex prevents them from swallowing things that could reach their mouths since they do not allow anything that they do not have to enter. Therefore, if they are offered food too soon, it is very possible that you throw the spoon, the porridge and everything you try to feed. This reflex is usually lost by 4-5 months (when a baby sticks out his tongue when the first scoop enters, it is not that he does not want to eat, it is that thanks to this reflex he is saving the life of a possible choking).
- Show interest in adult food. It refers to the moment when, being with his parents, the baby tries to take food from others.
- He knows how to show hunger and satiety with his gestures. Seeing the food, the child opens his mouth and moves his head towards the spoon. Once satiated, he closes it and turns his head to the side to say to his parents "that's it, I'm done."
Most of these items occur around 6-7 months. Some children later, others earlier. This means that "not all apples fall at the same time," that is, some children will be prepared before and others will be prepared later.
However, in 1997, in a statement from the AAP on breastfeeding recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to six months and add complementary feeding from that moment, continuing with breastfeeding, at least until the year of life.
Within a few days we continue with the second part of this post, answering possible questions that may arise as a result of what has been explained.
Photos | Flickr, Flickr (benklocek)
In Babies and more | Complementary feeding: What is it? Why exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to six months (I) and (II)
