Infant Nutrition

It has been long known that it is important to establish healthful nutrition practices and habits during childhood year and early adolescence. Diet and physical activities are important for these development years which will later set the stage for life-long habits like the difference between strength of health and illness during later years.

For and infant, the optimal growth, health and behavioral development period will be from birth to 2 years but it is also a peak age for their growth to flatter for example, deficiencies in a certain micronutrient and some common childhood illness like diarrhea. In addition, nutrition insufficiencies occurred during this age will have direct and long-term costs which include delayed motor and metal development and also associated with impairments and academic performance, work capability, reproductive outcomes and overall health during their adolescence and adulthood years. Therefore, sufficient nutrition is needed to achieve for a child’s to have full human potential.

There are studies supported that exclusive breast-feeding for the first 6 months of life and the continuation of breast feeding together with suitable complementary feeding up to 2 years old or more. Breast feeding is known to be a nutritional diet as well as has immunologic benefits for an infant. Moreover, nowadays the scientific evidence showed that breast feeding may also have a protective effect against childhood obesity. Hence, breast feeding is highly encouraged all over the world. While breast feeding is encouraged, iron-fortified formulas for infants are also acceptable if the mother cannot breast feed her baby.

In addition, complementary feeding is suitable when breast feeding alone is not enough to provide sufficient nutrients in the infant’s diet and when other solids and liquids are required other than breast milk and take it in along with breast milk but the developmental of the readiness for complementary foods varies among infants. There are some experts suggested that parents should introduce the first complementary foods in the baby’s diet between 4 and 6 months of age. According to them, parents should feed their baby with simple, fundamental foods first. For instance, a single-grain and iron-fortified baby cereal will do. Semi-liquid ground rice cereal is normally suggested due to the gluten-free property and seldom related to the allergic response where gluten is a protein that can sometimes cause allergic reactions in infants.

The iron in fortified baby cereal can aids in preventing iron-deficiency anemia which is a common nutritional disorder during infancy. Once infants can handle that, then they can slowly move up to mashed foods. When they reach the age around 7 to 10 months, thinly chopped foods is applicable.