Milk powder and breast milk are irreplaceable nutrients. However, as the baby's months grow, the nutritional requirements will also change. Especially after four months, a single breast milk, or milk powder, can no longer meet their growth needs, then it is necessary to add complementary foods.
For babies, complementary foods are a new kind of experiment, which is the preparation work before receiving food and chewing food. Through complementary foods, babies will take in more nutrients, and the process of eating complementary foods will also stimulate their teeth, mouth, and ability to chew and swallow, paving the way for their future health.
However, for Bao Mom, it has fallen into a misunderstanding: thinking that eating complementary food is that the nutritional content of breast milk is declining, so it takes the way of eating complementary food to let the baby eat a full stomach.
One thing that needs to be clarified here is that eating complementary foods is not only to eat a full stomach, but also has more other functions. Therefore, in the matter of eating complementary food, Bao Ma must be cautious and stick to it tirelessly, rather than choosing to give up halfway.
Speaking of eating complementary foods, Bao Mama's biggest doubt should be when it is best to add?
To be precise, after the baby is half a year old, it is the best time to add.
If you add complementary foods too early, it is easy to affect the baby's nutrient absorption, but also increase the burden on the stomach and intestines, affecting digestion. Then there is the fact that it is easy to change the baby's diet structure, adapt to the complementary food call, for milk powder, breast milk, but there is no more demand.
Of course, it is also wrong to add complementary foods too late, which can easily affect the healthy development of the baby. Because about half a year old, it is an important stage of the baby's taste, chewing and tooth development, which requires the stimulation of external food. In the future, there are likely to be terrible consequences of difficulties in eating, difficulties in weaning, and inability to keep up with nutrition.
Therefore, the time of food supplementation, the mother should combine the baby's age to give the best judgment and implementation plan.
Next, there is another confusion of the mother, why does the baby not like to eat complementary foods?
On the day of the sixth month, he specially gave Zeze a complementary food, a piece of rice noodles containing iron, but the baby did not eat it, and even some rejection. Next, after several days in a row, Zeze was very resistant, and he did not have a strong interest in other complementary foods, which made his mother particularly anxious.
In fact, it is normal for the baby to show that he does not like to eat complementary foods, and the mother should give enough understanding. You know, before accepting a new thing, everyone's body and mind will show temporary discomfort.
The focus at the moment is to find out why the baby does not like complementary foods in order to get through the current difficulties
Reason 1: Complementary food is not correct
Adults know that if you like something, you will eat two more bites, and if you don't like food, you can do it without opening your mouth. Don't look at the baby's young age and can't express it, but they are smart and will resist in their own way. The biggest reason is that the complementary food is not right and does not meet the taste needs of the baby.
Most mothers will choose rice noodles as an entry point, but there are too many rice noodles in the market, raw materials, and varieties. If you are not careful, you may choose the type that the baby does not like, and the phenomenon of resistance will occur.
Change the method: change the variety of complementary foods, find the style that the baby likes, and easily solve the problem of food not being right. If it is a big baby, you can also change the shape of the complementary food to attract them through the external image.
Reason two: eat more milk
After adding complementary foods, whether it is milk powder feeding or breastfeeding, the number of feedings should be adjusted appropriately. Imagine this: the baby's belly is very small, if the milk powder and breast milk have been filled, where is the extra space to absorb other foods?
The purpose of eating complementary foods is to gradually adapt to this process in the next transition, from breastfeeding to eating food. Originally, the baby was somewhat resistant to complementary foods, after all, he was accustomed to the taste of milk powder and breast milk, and if he still maintained his original feeding habits, he was naturally not interested in complementary foods.
Change the method: Try to reduce the number of feedings from the initial five times a day to four times a day, with complementary foods instead. After the baby gradually adapts, you can increase the number of complementary foods in small numbers and times.
Reason three: The baby has no sense of involvement
When eating breast milk and milk powder, the baby can also "make trouble" at will. But when eating complementary foods, many mothers choose to feed them in order to keep them clean. Even, a small dining chair was specially prepared, and only "poor Baba" could sit on it and wait for feeding.
This process makes the baby feel particularly uncomfortable, even a little uncomfortable. Although the mother is well-intentioned, it restricts the baby's freedom, but makes them feel that eating complementary food is a painful thing.
Change the method: Please give the baby the thing of eating complementary foods to complete, just so that you can take the opportunity to exercise their various abilities. Even if it's dirty, it doesn't matter, Bao Mom is more diligent.
Written at the end: For the baby, complementary food is no small matter, so the mother should seriously find the reason and help them fall in love with the supplementary food early. Only in this way can we ensure that more nutrients are absorbed and that a healthy body is maintained.