As a parent, you must take a number of precautions about your infant’s diet. The best food for an infant is mother’s milk. Normally, an infant is considered as a baby of age 0 – 1-year-old. People even consider preschoolers as infants. Let us categorize infants in different age groups and discuss their diet and precautions taken.
0-4 months: From the day of birth until the infant is 4 months, there is no better food for the child than the mother’s milk. Mother’s milk contains all the essentials that a child needs in balanced amounts. The temperature, thinness of milk, germ-fighting and immunity enhancers, and many other factors ideal for the infant are present in mother’s milk. At this time, an infant is not ready to digest solid or semi-solid foods; therefore, continue breastfeeding until 4-5 months. Even if the baby gets diarrhea, continue breastfeeding. It is best to continue breastfeeding the child up to the age of one year, but in this age, it is not possible.
5-6 months: You can now introduce your child to semi-solid food. At this age, the baby is not completely ready to ingest semi-solid food but is partially all right. Try to feed the baby with cereals like wheat, maize or mashed fruits like apples. Make sure you dilute the food with either mother’s milk or water. Feed the infant porridges. Feed the infant small amounts to a time, until it no longer is hungry. Do not force feed your infant, as it might initially not eat and might throw up. This happens because the infant is used only to sucking. The infant’s food intake will gradually increase. Do not stop breastfeeding.
When your infant opens his/her mouth while feeding or the eyes follow the spoon means, your baby is now ready to taste and eat new food. Always feed your baby on your lap, this gives them the feeling of security.
7-9 months: After the baby gives the positive response to the semi-solid food, you can now bring in mild solid food. Extremely small and fine pieces of fruits and vegetables, soft cheese, thin pieces of chicken should be the child’s meal. Initially, the child might not be very happy biting the
food and might not eat. Therefore it is advised not to stop breast-feeding.
If your baby is hungry every 2-4 hours and wets the diapers 4-6 times a day, it means, your baby is getting food and fluids in the right quantity. Other indication could be baby’s weight increase.
10-12 months: The food in this period is not so different, but a little variation in the food is required. The bigger chopped piece of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits could be given. Cereals, mother’s milk and fruit juices diluted with water are recommended as liquids.
Always introduce new foods after every 2 weeks. This helps you spot the food types that cause allergies or illness to your child. Maintain a high level of hygiene. Always boil water; always feed lukewarm food.
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