Baby Nutrition Care

Baby food is very convenient but it will never be a substitute for real food when your little one is starting to grow.  For children aged 7 to 12 months, a strict diet of baby food can lead to sustained eating problems as they grow even older.

Growing babies need to receive the textural stimulation available from solid food if they’re going to learn how to chew and swallow properly.  Baby food doesn’t quite have what it takes to help them learn it – and the little ones can end up depending on the soft and easy-to-go-down bottled preparations longer than they should be.

When starting babies on solid food, it’s important to choose nutritious meals and snacks.  They don’t have a lot of space to fill and as such can only consume small amounts of anything you prepare.  If your baby needs to gain weight, opting for nutrient-filled servings becomes all the more important.  The more healthy ingredients they can take away from those small portions, the more their tiny little frames can develop.

As a guideline, each meal should see one baby-sized serving of a protein rich ingredient, one serving of food from grains, one from dairy and two from either fruits or vegetables.  If you can’t get all that in one cooking, you can supplement what was missing with similarly-healthy snacks in between their regular feeding.

For protein, small slices of chicken, beef, liver and fish cooked over a frying pan will do.  Boiled eggs and tofu chunks, both similarly easy to prepare and sliced for easy consumption, should work great as well.  For dairy, you can give them grated cheeses, yogurt and cream cheese.  For grains, you can start them on slices of bread, pancakes, small pieces of pasta and baby cereal.  Ripe and peeled fruits like mangoes, bananas and melons are almost always a hit for little taste buds.  With vegetables, make sure to start them on cooked items first before letting them try grated raw ones like carrots and cucumber sticks.

Babies aren’t too fussy with what they eat and should be welcoming of a wide range of tastes. Vary what you give them so they grow more tolerant of a broader range of foods.  They aren’t going to appreciate fancy dishes so keep preparations simple, preserving the actual taste of the food rather than masking it in a whole host of flavorings.

Tofu, part of the legume family, is coagulated soymilk – the method by which it is made is similar to the way that cheese is made from milk. It is also called “soybean curd” or “bean curd”. It first appeared in China in the 2nd century BC and is now a staple food in China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Korea.

There are two types of tofu :

1. Hard / firm tofu – This has a firm texture, very similar to cheese. It is usually sold packed in tubs of water and is generally used as a “mock” meat, or in recipes needing a consistency that holds together well.
2. Soft / silken tofu – This has a texture similar to custard and is usually sold in a box or in foil. It is often used for desserts, soups, smoothies and sauces.

Tofu contains almost all of the nutritional benefits of the soybeans. It contains good amount of calcium, iron, fatty acids, fiber and other important nutrients. It is also high in complete protein. When it is mixed with grains, for instance, it forms a complete high quality protein. 4 ounces of tofu provide about 9.2 grams of protein. Calcium, fatty acids and protein is higher in firm tofu. These elements make it the perfect choice as a nutritious food for babies.

You can start including tofu into your baby’s diet eight months after his or her birth. Be careful to introduce it gradually though, since a number of babies react to it rather nastily, soy being a ‘potential allergen’. Look out for running nose, vomiting tendencies, wheezing and reddening or watering of the eye. In case you suspect your baby is breaking into an allergy of some sort, contact your pediatrician immediately.

It is very easy to incorporate tofu into your baby’s diet because it has very little taste of its own. Instead, it absorbs the flavors of any foods it comes into contact with. Initially, you could try blending tofu with cottage cheese or avocado, for a simple, nutritious meal. Soft tofu creamed with fruit would make a delicious dessert for baby. Alternatively, tofu can be cut into chunks and served to your baby raw, as a healthy finger food.

Given the health benefits and the high adaptability of the item, tofu will soon become an indispensable part of your baby’s diet. And even while he eats it unaware only you will know how it will make him bigger and stronger.

Marmite is a nutritious food that should be introduced to your toddler. My son likes it very much. It is a dark brown-colored savory spread made from the yeast that is a by-product of the brewing industry. It has a very strong, slightly salty flavor. The most common use is as a spread on toast or in sandwiches. It is generally spread very thinly because of its strong flavor. In addition, it can be mixed with porridge and fed to your toddler.

It contains the following ingredients :

• Protein
• Carbohydrate
• Fat
• Fibre
• Sodium
• Niacin
• Thiamin
• Riboflavin
• Folic acid
• Vitamin B12

Some pregnant women may be advised or choose to restrict milk consumption and may not take appropriate supplements. We hypothesized that maternal milk restriction during pregnancy, which can reduce intakes of protein, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin D, might represent a health risk by lowering infant birth weight.

Milk is an important source of vitamin D, calcium, riboflavin, protein and energy during pregnancy, yet many women choose or are advised to avoid drinking milk for a variety of reasons, including the prevention of allergies in their children. Limiting milk intake compromises the quality of the maternal diet; women who avoid milk may not obtain adequate levels of vitamin D, calcium, protein or riboflavin. Milk restriction is a risk factor for pregnancy-associated hypertension. Low vitamin D intake is associated with neonatal rickets and decreased birth weight. Inadequate consumption of riboflavin is associated with decreases in weight, length and head circumference of babies at birth.

Although most nutrients in milk may be replaced from other foods or with supplements, vitamin D is found in few commonly consumed foods except for milk fortified with the vitamin. Dermal conversion of the precursor cholecalciferol to activated vitamin D is a seasonally unreliable source, particularly when the exposure of skin to sunlight is limited, and may not compensate for low nutritional intake. Under optimal conditions, 15 minutes of daily exposure of the hands and face to sun is required to produce adequate vitamin D, but this conversion is reduced by the prolonged winter season at more polar latitudes, by use of sunscreens with a sun protection factor (SPF) above 8, and by ozone air pollution. People whose skin pigmentation is dark are more vulnerable than others to insufficient vitamin D conversion.

According to a study, women whose daily consumption of milk during pregnancy was 1 cup (250 mL) or less consumed less protein and vitamin D. As a result, they gave birth to smaller babies than did mothers who drank more milk. The conclusion is every 1-cup increase in daily milk consumption increased birth weight by 41 g; 0.000001g increase in daily vitamin D intake increased it by 11 g.

Clinicians should be alert to the effects of milk restriction and its associated reduction in vitamin D intake, and encourage pregnant women to maintain milk consumption. Adequate intake of vitamin D is especially important during winter months.

The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends that children age 1 to 3 years get about 40 calories per inch of height a day. This means that your 32-inch-tall toddler ideally should eat about 1,300 calories a day for normal growth and weight gain.

You should prepare balanced meals and healthy snacks for your toddler. Well balanced offerings, especially during snack time, will help you to overcome the inevitable lack of food intake during a meal. For example, if your toddler does not drink all of his milk at breakfast, give him cheese for a snack. If your toddler refuses to eat his meat at lunch, give him tofu bites dusted with Cheerio or Granola crumbs for a snack.

In these examples, while you may lament at the lack of calcium and protein intake during breakfast and lunch, you have taken the opportunity to “make up for it” during snack time!

Toss out the idea that your toddler will suddenly be eating “like the family” does! Remember, your toddler is still in a stage of slow-then-rapid-then-slow growth and is going through many changes! We find that feeding your toddler becomes less complicated and frustrating when parents realize what a serving size for a toddler really is.

When planning and serving meals to your toddler, try to have him/or her consume the following on a daily basis.

• 2 to 3 cups of calcium – milk (or yogurt, cheese or other calcium rich foods).
• 4 servings of fruits and vegetables. (Serving size: one tablespoon per year of age.) One serving should be high in vitamin C and another in vitamin A.
• 4 servings of grains – bread and cereal. One should be an iron-fortified baby cereal. A serving is about 1/4 to 1/3 an adult portion (1/4 slice toast, 1/4 cup pasta).
• 2 servings of proteins – meat, beans, eggs, tofu, or peanut butter. A good serving of protein should be served at every meal. One serving equals 1/2 ounce.