The Young Infant and Food
by Doctor Laurence H. Miller on 11/06/12Milk, human milk, is the perfect food for the newborn. Milk is an excellent food for young infants. Milk is a good food for older infants. But milk is only a fair food for toddlers and older children. (And this isn't even considering the potential problems associated with COW'S MILK.)
Why is that? Because, once a child is old enough to eat other foods, over feeding milk will interfere with the hunger that is necessary for the child to want to eat other foods, and thus get the benefit of their nutrients, nutrients which are NOT present in milk.
Since a one year old only needs about 500 mg of Calcium daily, they NEED less than a pint (16 oz.) of milk daily.
Pediatric nutritionists advise not starting foods other than milk until five or six months. But how should we introduce them? Generally we begin with cereals, and then certain fruits and vegetables. After that, we offer meats and then yogurt.
We finish the first year with fish and orange juice.
Guidlines are simple. New foods should be introduced every few days. So that if baby has a severe allergy or reaction to a few, it will be easier to identify which one is responsible. I advise starting a new food early in the day, before noon. ( So the family doesn't have to deal with an allergic reaction when baby is already in bed.)
It makes sense to only give one or two tablespoons of a food on the first day you offer it. Then after a day or so, you can give as much as a small babyfood jar.
Foods should be offered once or twice a day, depending how well baby accepts it.
The schedule I advise is as follows:
At about the fifth month, begin cereals and basic fruits
OATMEAL APPLESAUCE
BARLEY Mashed ripe BANANA
RICE
If there is any question of baby having INFREQUENT bowel movements, I avoid rice for at least a few months.
After several days on a food, another new food can be mixed in with it. So, you can introduce applesauce by adding it to the oatmeal baby has been enjoying this week.
Each month following, we offer a new class of foods. I'll group them together here:
Additional Fruits: Peaches, Plums, Apricots, Pears, and PRUNES.
(I placed prunes in capitals to emphasize that they are a FOOD, not a MEDICINE, and an excellent way to keep baby's stools soft and flowing!)
Many parents today prepare fresh pureed fruits and vegetables for their child. I wholeheartedly encourage this. Pureed Pears with the skin left on is also great for keeping stools soft and easily passed.
Yellow vegetables: Carrots, Sweet potatoes, Butternut Squash ("Bird's Eye" makes a wonderful frozen product, "Cooked Winter Squash" that's already pureed and heated in the microwave. Be careful it's not too hot!) and Beets.
Beautiful, purple-red beets are easily prepared: Clear away skin with carrot-peeler. Then slice and boil/steam for about ten minutes. Puree and eat. They are SOO good AND good for you!
Green vegetables: Green peas, Green beans and Spinach.
Meats: Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Lamb.
Dairy: Yogurt can be adult brands. You'll want to serve baby plain or vanilla and mix in baby's favorite fruits OR vegetables.
Fish (at about ten months old). Mashed salmon and sardines are the best. We have to be careful with tuna because of documented toxic MERCURY contamination. Reportedly, "chunk lite" variety is the SAFEEST and higher concentrations of mercury in Solid white/Albacore, and Ahi tuna.
It's advised to withhold egg until after the birthday. The majority of babies eating it earlier will be fine. But it is a highly allergic food and I personally have seen a ten month old infant severely ill with hives on her second exposure to eating eggs. She required emergency room care.
Honey should never be given to a baby under one year old. If botulism spores are present, they could be toxic to an infant while not being harmful to an older toddler.
Juices should not be given to babies. They are a poor source of nutrition, providing carbohydrates/sugar and nothing else. Parents are conned into offering them because they "have vitamins". But they corrupt a baby's taste buds so that they reject real fruits and vegetables since those foods begin to "taste wrong". IF you think a baby is thirsty, water is fine.
(Please make sure to look over my piece on CHOKING FOODS in an earlier blog)
Comments (2)
