Feeding Guide for the First Year
Making appropriate food choices for your baby during the first year of
life is very important. More growth occurs during the first year than
at any other time in your child's life. It is important to feed your baby
a variety of healthy foods at the proper time. Starting good eating habits
at this early stage will help set healthy eating patterns for life.
Recommended feeding guide for the first year:
Do not give solid foods unless your child's physician advises you to
do so. Solid foods should not be started before 4 months of age because:
- breast milk or formula provides your baby all the nutrients that are
needed to grow.
- your baby is not physically developed enough to eat solid food from
a spoon.
- starting your baby on solid food too early increases the chance that
he/she may develop a food allergy.
- feeding your baby solid food too early may lead to overfeeding and
being overweight.
Guide for Formula Feeding (0 to 5 Months)
Consider the following feeding tips for your child:
- When starting solid foods, give your baby one new food at a time -
not mixtures (such as cereal and fruit or meat dinners). Give the new
food for five to seven days before adding another new food. This way
you can tell what foods your baby may be allergic to or cannot tolerate.
Egg whites are more likely than egg yolks to cause an allergic reaction.
Most physicians recommend that you wait until after one year to introduce
whole eggs.
- Begin with small amounts of new solid foods - a teaspoon at first
and slowly increase to a tablespoon.
- Begin with dry infant rice cereal first, mixed as directed, followed
by vegetables, fruits, and then meats.
- Do not use salt or sugar when making homemade infant foods. Canned
foods may contain large amounts of salt and sugar and should not be
used for baby food. Always wash and peel fruits and vegetables and remove
seeds or pits. Take special care with fruits and vegetables that come
into contact with the ground. They may contain botulism spores that
cause food poisoning.
- Infant cereals with iron should be given to your infant until your
infant is 18 months old.
- Cow's milk should not be added to the diet until your infant is 1-year-old.
Cow's milk does not provide the proper nutrients for your baby.
- Fruit juice (100 percent juice, without added sugar) can be given
when your baby is able to drink from a cup (around 6 months or older).
- Feed all food with a spoon. Your baby needs to learn to eat from a
spoon. Do not use an infant feeder. Only formula and water should go
into the bottle.
- Avoid honey in any form for your child's first year, as it can cause
food poisoning.
- Do not put your baby in bed with a bottle propped in his/her mouth.
Propping a bottle has been linked to an increased risk of ear infections.
Once your baby's teeth are present, propping the bottle can also cause
tooth decay. There is also a risk of choking.
- Help your baby to give up the bottle by his/her first birthday.
- Avoid the "clean plate syndrome. "Forcing your child to
eat all the food on his/her plate even when he/she is not hungry is
not a good habit. It teaches your child to eat just because the food
is there, not because he/she is hungry. Expect a smaller and pickier
appetite as the baby's growth rate slows around 1 year of age.
- Infants and young children should not eat hot dogs, nuts, seeds, round
candies, popcorn, hard, raw fruits and vegetables, grapes, or peanut
butter. These foods are not safe and may cause your child to choke.
Most physicians suggest these foods be saved until after your child
is 3 or 4 years of age. Always watch a young child while he/she is eating.
Insist that the child sit down to eat or drink.
- Healthy infants usually require little or no extra water, except in
very hot weather. When solid food is first fed to your baby, extra water
is often needed.
- Do not limit your baby's food choices to the ones you like. Offering
a wide variety of foods early will pave the way for good eating habits
later.
- Fat and cholesterol should not be restricted in the diets of very
young children, unless advised to by your child's physician. Children
need calories, fat, and cholesterol for the development of their brains
and nervous systems, and for general growth.
Feeding Guide for the First Year (4 to 12 Months)
Click here to view the
Online Resources page of this Web.
|