Baby Nutrition Care

Pregnant woman who drink very little milk, have a greater risk of giving birth an infant with low birth weight. A research shows that this is related to the vitamin D in the milk.

Pregnancy is a special time when one must pay attention to a healthy and balanced diet in order to reduce the risk of micronutrient deficiencies. In this case, vitamins and minerals play their roles and contribute their importance for the proper conduct of the pregnancy. Women who want to get a child, be sure to do well to look at a sufficiently high intake of vitamin B9, also called folates, and if necessary takes supplements. A deficiency of vitamin B9 at the time of conception and in the very early stage of pregnancy increases the risk of growth retardation because of severe deformity.

Vitamin D is not the only vitamin required for proper development of the baby. A new study shows that vitamin D is very important and it is the main factor that causes the giving birth of babies with low birth weight.

It is relatively easy to demonstrate this. The researchers carried out an experiment on a group of pregnant women where their daily consumption of milk was recorded. Then, the birth weight of their babies was also recorded after giving birth.

It was remarkable that the weight of babies for the women who drank milk during pregnancy was higher. The mothers with less milk consumed per day (250 ml), averaged 110 g less compared with mothers consumed with more milk. The study even noted that with each additional glass of milk a day, the weight of the newborn was 41 g increased.

This effect is due to the vitamin D in milk and not to other components mainly from specific proteins and calcium exists in the body. The pregnant women are recommended to drink enough milk during pregnancy. If necessary, they are advised to discuss with their doctor whether or not they need a supplement. On top of that, regular milk drinking habit at the time of menopause is also favorable. This is because vitamin also contributes to the strength of calcium in the bones and protects against the risk of osteoporosis.

Avocados are considered one of the best first solid food for babies.  Creamy and rich when mashed, they offer a texture that young ones are likely to enjoy.  Apart from that, they’re sodium-free , cholesterol-free and are a great source of healthy nutrients like fat (babies need it for physical and brain development), fiber, potassium, vitamins (A, B1, B2, B6 and C), folate, phosporus, magnesium, iron and various other minerals in smaller amounts.  More than a few people haved referred to the nutrient-filled avocado as the “perfect fruit”.

When picking an avocado for feeding your baby, you want one that is ripe enough to be tasteful but not too much to potentially upset your child’s stomach.  Look to get one that’s firm to the touch but isn’t too hard not to yield when pressed.  When opened, the meat should be green turning into a buttery shade of yellow going into the center.  To prepare avocado, separate the meat from the seed and peel, cut it up in slices and mash it.

You can mix the mashed avocado with a variety of food types including milk, applesauce, peaches, pears, yogurt and other healthy fruits to vary your baby’s snacks.  You can also refrigerate it and serve cold if your child likes it that way.  Citrus fruits like lemon juice can also work well, although they’re usually not advisable for babies under one year due to their acidity.

I’ve heard some parents claim soy products are better for babies than similar ones made from milk and dairy.  Some, however, claim otherwise, insisting that soy will only help stimulate increased growth of fat cells.  When it comes to this argument, neither parent is wrong nor right.

Formulas based on either of the two should provide comparable nutritional value, making an argument on each other’s merits a difficult proposition.  In general, though, baby formula based on dairy is recommended by more pediatricians for its closer similarity to breast milk.  A soy-based formula is usually prescribed when the baby is potentially allergic to dairy or suffers from lactose intolerance.

The biggest difference in the composition of soy, which is often cited as the main reason to avoid it, are compounds called phytoestrogens.  Many researches are currently being done on its effects on babies and it is frequently the subject of hot debate.

Milk generally has a higher quality of protein than soy, apart from naturally containing calcium. Save for those differences, however, all their nutrient contents – whether fat, carbohydrates, calcium, calories, cholesterol or vitamins – are usually the same.

So which one is better?  Personally, I would go with dairy although there is absolutely nothing wrong, as far as science can tell, from soy-based baby products as well.  Thousands upon thousands (maybe millions even) of healthy children have been raised on either of the two.

In China, the total number of children sickened from dairy products tainted with melamine grew to 53,000. Nearly 13,000 children have been hospitalized and 4 have died. The root cause of this incident is that Sanlu and at least 6 of the other 22 companies that have produced milk tainted with melamine were exempted from government controls, because they were believed to have high quality standards, and with the obligation of carrying out regular checks on their own.

What is melamine? Melamine is a white, crystalline powder made from urea, a readily available raw material that is produced from ammonia and carbon dioxide. More than 95% of melamine production worldwide is used as a raw material to make amino-formaldehyde resins. In addition, melamine is known to be excreted in animal urine, and believed not to accumulate in the body of animals. When exposure levels are much higher, as was the case with cats and dogs, the melamine and its compounds appear to cause the formation of crystals in the kidney systems, resulting in kidney damage.

Melamine alone is of low toxicity, however animal studies have suggested that kidney problems occur when melamine is present in combination with cyanuric acid, a potential impurity of melamine. This combination has formed crystals in the body and was not fully dissolved in urine, the melamine gathered in the kidney, gunking up the organ and forming stones. The level of melamine found in the contaminated infant formula has been as high as 2 560 miligram per kilogram ready-to-eat product, while the level of cyanuric acid is unknown.

In 2007, melamine was found in wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate exported from China and used in the manufacture of pet food in the US. This caused the death of a large number of dogs and cats due to kidney failure. By itself, melamine is not known to be highly toxic, so scientific investigators now think it is a mixture of melamine and another chemical—cyanuric acid—added to the Chinese wheat flour that is causing crystal formation in the kidneys of cats, dogs and other domesticated animals.

According to the news, the incident of China’s Milk Scandal has affected thousand and thousand of infants and toddlers in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Four deaths have been blamed on the toxic milk powder, which causes kidney stones and agonizing complications. More and more infants and toddlers have been hospitalized after the incident was disclosed.

I was understood that one of the milk suppliers of Sanlu, the China’s biggest maker of infant milk powder, has added nitrogen-rich melamine to watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk. This nitrogen-rich melamine has caused kidney stones and agonizing complications to the infants and toddlers after drinking the milk.

Besides, some of the dairy products manufactured in China are also contaminated with melamine. Countries like Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products.

This incident has reminded us the importance of breastfeeding. This will rule out the possibility of letting our babies to drink contaminated milk. Additionally, there are other benefits of breastfeeding your baby.