Wen 丨 Forest Mommy
What should my baby eat for the first bite of complementary food?
This generation of mothers must be categorically said, plus iron rice noodles.
Babies should eat rice noodles first when adding complementary foods, after all these years of everyone's popular science, it has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people...
However, recently, the Chinese Nutrition Society released a new version of the 2022 "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", in which the six guidelines clearly stated in the second chapter of the second part, "Infant and Young Child Feeding Guidelines", seem to "subvert" this.
Infant and young child feeding guidelines are divided into two parts, one is the breastfeeding guidelines for infants aged 0-6 months, and the other is the feeding guidelines for infants and young children aged 7-14 months, of which there are several points that mothers need to pay attention to:
Infants and young children continue to breastfeed after 7 months;
Complementary foods must be added at the beginning of 6 months;
Start with iron-rich slime-like foods such as minced meat, liver mud, or high-iron rice flour;
There are two things that are different from before:
First of all, after 6 months, "must" add complementary foods, before we all said "should" 6 months to add complementary foods, it is obvious that this suggestion tone is stronger, that is to say, the baby's addition of complementary foods can not be later than 6 months;
Secondly, the 6-month-old baby can eat meat puree and liver mud;
Maybe many mothers will have questions when they see this, why is it different from what was said before? The first bite of complementary food is not eating rice noodles? Eating puree meat at 6 months, can the baby digest it?
Let's talk about these issues
Compared with the previous version of the new dietary guidelines, the tone is much stronger, formerly called "recommendation", now called "guidelines", as can be seen from the name, it is more referenceable, but also shows that this "guidelines" are more scientific and credible.
From 2016 to 2022, people's living standards and eating habits have undergone many changes, at the same time, people's understanding of nutrition and diet is also evolving, the concept and guidance at that time after a period of practice, there will be a certain feedback, and it is normal to make adjustments according to these changes.
Secondly, although the dietary guidelines propose that the addition of complementary foods can start from meat puree and liver puree, it is not wrong for us to eat iron-containing rice noodles in the first bite of complementary foods, and rice noodles are not uneaten.
Moreover, many of the previous practices of Bao Moms have also deviated. For example, we say that animal food should be added around seven months, but many mothers will feel that 7 months is a bit early, and will eat meat supplements for their babies at eight or nine months...
In this regard, Professor Wang Zhiyan, an expert in the infant and young child feeding guideline writing team, said:
"This is mainly to take iron supplementation as the highest priority consideration, in the mainland 7-24 months old infants and young children, the incidence of anemia is very high, mainly iron deficiency anemia, iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia will damage the cognitive development and immune function of infants and young children, we need to break through the original rigidity of thinking, think that complementary food is rice flour."
After the baby is born, over time, the stored iron in the body will gradually run out, and the iron content in breast milk is relatively low, including the fortified iron in formula milk, the absorption rate is not high enough, so at 6 months, the iron deficiency in the body will be more serious, so it is necessary to supplement the baby's iron through food, which is also the reason why supplementary foods must be added at 6 months.
The main iron-rich foods in food are animal foods, such as lean pork, beef, animal liver, animal blood, etc., and its absorption rate is also the highest, and the absorption rate of iron elements in these ingredients can reach 15%-35%;
Green leafy vegetables also contain iron, but the iron in vegetables belongs to non-heme iron, and vegetables often contain both oxalic acid and phytic acid, which will inhibit the absorption of iron;
Fortified iron rice flour also contains iron, but the absorption rate is relatively inferior to that of meat supplements.
Consideration of the baby's digestive ability is the reason why mothers postpone the addition of animal complementary foods.
So, can a 6-month-old baby digest meat?
Meat is rich in protein and fat, relative to rice flour, fruit, in the stomach and intestines stay longer, and the so-called indigestion, and food traits, including the amount of food the baby eats has a lot to do.
So at the beginning we have to give the baby a slimy meat paste, and we don't need to add too much at a time.
There are also mothers who are worried about meat allergies.
Generally speaking, pork, beef, including pork liver, is relatively not a food that is easy to be sensitive, but when we add it, we still have to follow the principle of adding one at a time, adding 3-5 days at a time, and observing more during the period to see if the baby has indigestion and allergies.
If the child eats and does have accumulated food, allergies, etc., it is still necessary to adjust in time and decide what the supplementary food should eat according to the child's specific situation.