Baby’s Perfect Food

In the beginning, infants drink only breast milk or formula, but later, they begin to eat some foods. Therefore, during the selection of infant foods to meet their nutrition requirements and a relaxed environment supports an infant’s health and well-being.

Breast milk has the perfect blend of nutrients in the accurate amounts to meet baby’s every single nutritional needs. Moreover, breast milk is more easily and completely digested than formula milk, so breastfed infants normally need to eat more frequently compared to formula-fed infants. Hence, breastfeeding is encouraged in many other countries including Malaysia. According to experts, feed baby with nothing else which is no other food or water, only breast milk for the first six months of life.

Breast milk’s nutrient composition will change to meet baby’s growing needs. In baby’s first few days of life, mothers’ breasts secrete colostrums which is a thick yellowish substance rich in carbohydrates, proteins and antibodies. As time goes by, the amount of fat will increase the make the baby full and stop sucking. There are research shows that infants or babies who are breastfed by the mother wholly for 6 months have less illness in the first 12 months of life. This is because breast milk contains nutrients and substances that can protect baby from infectious diseases, such as diarrhea, cold or flu, and middle ear infections.

There are many disease-fighting substances in breast milk, for instance, bifidus factor which can help to promote growth of “good” bacteria in the intestines of an infant and thus preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. Lactoferrin helps in binding the iron in the mother’s breast milk so that it is not accessible to harmful bacteria. Lactoperoxidase can kill harmful bacteria, anti-staphylococcus factor inhibits the growth of harmful Staphylococcus bacteria, phagocyte cells will ingest or kill bacteria, lymphocytes and macrophage cells will secrete antibodies which provide immunity to certain diseases, lysozyme helps in preventing infection, interferon inhibits growth of viruses and epidermal growth factor which helps in keeping the lining of baby’s intestines intact as a barrier to stop harmful substances to enter the bloodstream.

There are also other nutrients contained in mothers’ breast milk such as vitamins are sufficient to support a baby’s or child’s growth. However, breast milk has very low level of vitamin D and deficiency in this vitamin will harm bone mineralization. Therefore, parents should let their baby expose to sunlight once in a while. In addition, breast milk also contains calcium which is important for infant bone growth. Breast milk contains small amounts of iron but the iron has a high bioavailability and due to the zinc-binding protein, zinc also has a high bioavailability in breast milk. Breast milk is low in sodium which is good for baby’s immature kidneys.

In order to make sure that your baby meets the nutrition requirements, a mother’s diet is very crucial. Mother should control her diets with healthy eating habits and foods. For example, eat balanced meals or diet according to the Food Guide Pyramid, drink plenty of water throughout the day, eat variety of nutrient- rich foods such as calcium, iron, zinc, folate and vitamins. This is because a mother’s diet can influence the nutrients contents in the breast milk that will be giving to the child. Mother with a healthy diet will provides healthy breast milk to the child or baby.