What is the most nutritious and healthy thing to eat after your baby is born? The answer, of course, is breast milk. Secondly, baby formula is also a good choice. However, babies can't always feed, when can they eat like adults? In fact, before the baby can eat with adults, there is also a transitional period of diet, that is, eating complementary foods.
There is a misconception in the minds of the older generation that the sooner the child eats, the better, and this is not the case. Some people will remind you that you can eat complementary foods when your baby is 4 months old, otherwise nutrition will not keep up. So some babies start eating rice cereal at four months, and start eating fruits, eggs, and even meat at five months.
The normal age of your baby's intake of complementary foods
According to the Recommendations of the World Health Organization, babies under 6 months of age can only eat breast milk or infant formula, and parents with conditions are best able to feed their babies until they are 2 years old.
The baby's 6 months to eat complementary food is not empty, there is a scientific basis. When newborns are 4 months old, their gastrointestinal function is mature and they can digest food other than milk. Secondly, when the baby is 6 months old, the body begins to develop motor functions related to eating, so the time of food supplementation cannot be added earlier than 6 months.
Adding complementary foods early when the baby's physical and psychological development is not yet mature will not only make the baby reject the complementary food, but also have a negative impact on the baby's health.
What are the dangers of the baby eating complementary foods too early?
Some parents believe that as long as the child can eat it, it is okay to eat complementary foods in the early months, and even make the baby grow stronger and sleep more soundly. In fact, these fallacies and heresies are not supported by any scientific basis. Whether it is breastfeeding or milk powder, it is unscientific to give the baby complementary food as early as 6 months. Let's take a look at the baby's early eating of complementary foods, what impact on the child's health.
1. Malnutrition
For babies up to 6 months, breast milk is the most nutritious natural food, containing all the nutrients and water needed for a baby to develop. Even if the mother is physically abnormal and cannot breastfeed, the alternative is infant formula, and it is not to add complementary foods in advance.
The baby's stomach space is very small, eating some complementary food can not eat enough milk, with low-nutrient complementary food to replace high-nutrition breast milk, will only lead to malnutrition, more than worth the loss.
2. Excess nutrition
If parents add complementary foods to their children prematurely, the amount of milk intake has not decreased, which can only mean that the child's appetite has become larger. Problems of overnutrition such as advanced development and obesity will follow. Studies have shown that babies who start breastfeeding and complementary feeding as early as 6 months old have a 6-fold increase in the probability of obesity at the age of 3.
3. Destroy the parent-child relationship
Newborns are insecure, and a good parent-child relationship helps to build a strong attachment relationship between parents and children, alleviating the fear and anxiety of newborns. When breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby is conducive to the establishment of a parent-child attachment relationship. The premature addition of complementary foods will inevitably lead to less time for breastfeeding, reduce the chance of skin-to-skin contact between mother and child, and inevitably destroy the establishment of parent-child relationship.
4. Contrary to the law of infant development
The premature addition of complementary foods is contrary to the normal development of the newborn's body and has a great impact on the baby's physical health. Three- or four-month-old babies do not contain salivary amylase in their saliva, so they cannot digest carbohydrates in food at all. Secondly, eating complementary foods requires the baby to have neck stability and sit independently to complete this action, and the 4-month-old baby obviously can't do it. In addition, the 4-month-old baby's tongue pushing reaction has not disappeared, and the baby will not only spit out the meal when feeding, but also swallow it.
5. Affect health
In babies 6 months ago, the body's immunity is basically obtained through breast milk. In addition to breast milk, not to mention complementary foods, there are many bacteria in even drinking water. These bacteria are harmless to adults and children, but they are pathogenic for babies who cannot get immunity from breast milk.
When your baby can eat complementary foods, the body will send these signals
Once your baby has the ability to eat complementary foods, they will also tell us through some body language. If parents find that their baby has these behaviors, this is the best time to add complementary foods to the baby.
1. Weight
Height and weight development, as important indicators of the physical development of newborns, can also be used as a basis for judging the addition of complementary foods. If your baby is already weighing more than twice as much as he was born, parents can consider adding complementary foods. However, there is also a premise, the weight must not be less than 6 kg.
2. Interested in eating
If the parents are eating, the baby begins to stare, and even grabs the food and swallows the action, it means that the baby is ready to eat.
3. The tongue push reflex disappears
The tongue-pushing reflex is an instinctive reflex of newborns. In order to avoid choking due to foreign bodies entering the mouth, babies will involuntarily make tongue-spitting movements when exposed to solid food. When the mother finds that the baby's tongue pushing reflex is gone, it is time to add complementary foods.
4. Physical preparation
If the baby can sit firmly on his own, the small head is no longer shaking, and even when he can accurately deliver things to his mouth, it also means that the baby is ready to eat complementary foods.
In addition to these correct signals, there are also some infant behaviors that are often mistaken by parents as signals to add complementary foods.
1. Eat hands
Many parents see that the baby keeps eating hands, and they think that the baby wants to eat. In fact, eating hands is a manifestation of the baby's entry into the appetite period, and the baby understands his body by eating his hands and obtains psychological comfort, which is not a signal to eat complementary foods.
2. Frequent begging for milk
There are also some mothers who see that their babies are always hungry, frequently begging for milk, and even waking up several times at night to drink milk, and they will think that their children should eat complementary foods. In fact, these behaviors can only say that the child's body is developing rapidly and needs to drink more milk, and it does not mean that the child should eat complementary food, and the mother only needs to feed it a few times.