Chapter 1 Development stages and eating behaviors for thefirst and second year of life Newborn (0– 6 months)In the first four to six month of life, infants have tongue extrusionreflex so it seems like a baby refusing solid food by using his tongue to pushthe food out. Due to the tongue-thrust motion, breast milk or formula are the onlything going into your babies’ tummy. Eating skills in this period includes suckle,suck and swallow liquids. Sucking hands is a sign that an infant is hungry and cryingis the late sign of hunger.
He may open mouth during feeding, indicating desireto continue. When satisfied, he stop sucking and turn their head away from thenipples or fall asleep. Supportedsitter (6 – 7 months)Between six and seven months your baby might start to sit alonewith some support and show interest in puts hands and toys frequently in mouth.Your baby might be ready to try some food tastes and signal that they showssigns of chewing movements. Tongue does not protrude but get an ability to backand forth as food enters mouth. Instead of splitting food out, they can keepfood in mouth and swallows it. In this period, breastmilk does not provideenough nutrition for infants so they seem still hungry after breast feeding andcry for more food. When seeing food approaching, they lean forward and try toreach the food and open mouth.
When no longer hungry, they start to loseinterest in foods and move their head towards a spoon and turn away from aspoon.Supported sitters are often ready to Stage 1 of complementary foodwhich are puree. Independentsitter (7 – 8 months)At this stage, your baby can sit independently, like topick up and bring food to mouth.
They probably have some teeth present so it isan adequate time for leaning to chew and bite. Stage 2 complementary food,which have larger pieces in food than in puree, can be introduced to your babyat this time. It seems they are excited to explore finger foods and how to usespoon. When hungry or want more food, they will open mouth and move towardspoon, try to grab food or point to food. When satisfied, they will hold mouthshut, push food away or turn away from spoon. Crawler (8– 12 months)Most of babies learn to crawl between 8 to 12 months andmay pull self up to stand.
They develop an ability to transfer items from onehand to another and tend to put everything in their mouth. Your baby can now beacquainted with moving jaw in a chewing motion and swallow food more easily.They do not try to push food out of mouth with tongue any more. An extendedrange of food with varied texture and flavor has a great appeal to your baby.More teeth come in so they can bite well and can chew soft lumps. Stage 3complementary food is introduced at this age with chunky texture. The sign ofhunger is when your baby shows a lot of excitement to see food and try to reachor point to food. They will slow down eating, push food away when no longerhungry.
Beginningto walk – independent toddler (12 – 24 months)Between 12 months and 2 years, toddlers can stand alone and learnto walk, run and climb. In this period, they also begin to imitate the eatingbehavior of adults and other children and they are probably going to havecapacity to feed themselves with a spoon. They also can drink fluid from astraw and hold cup with two hands and take swallows. Chewing skills gain moreimprovement and a variety of textures can be bitten through. In these years,toddlers begin to distinguish foods by sight, smell and taste, and they mightstart to name a food or reject it when they want or do not want to eat.
In this stage, toddlers also begin to use verbal expression to askfor their desired food when hungry. It can be words or sounds, combines phraseswith gestures, such as “want that” and pointing. They may join in family foodbut the texture of some food should be altered to prevent choking of toddlers. Chapter 2 Complementary feeding (solid) and joining familydiets Why should avoid to introducecomplementary foods before around six months of age?Young infants may display an enthusiasm for food you areeating at an early age, yet that does not imply that you should give him ataste. The complementary foods can be safely introduced by the age of sixmonths but not before four months. At this stage, most of average infants arephysically and physiologically ready to adapt to such foods. The considerablearea of development includes chewing, swallowing, digestion and renal function.
As mentioned above, young infants have tongue-thrust reflexwhich protect them against choking. When any unusual substances come into thetongue, it is naturally pushed outward instead of back. Since four to sixmonths, this reflex steadily lessens which give the infant a chance to tasteand swallow the food to the stomach. The teeth eruption also change the eatingbehavior from sucking to chewing and biting. Therefore, infants can experiencea various range of food with different textures. Until the infant is four to six months, their body is notable to produce sufficient level of enzymes to deal with starchy food forexample pancreatic amylase.
Additionally, it is vital to perceive that frombirth until somewhere between four to six months, babies have something whichis known as an “open gut”. This “open gut” enables proteinsto pass straightforwardly from the small intestines and into the circulatorysystem. This procedure happens to permit antibodies from a mother’s breastmilkto enter the infant’s circulation system. However, the bigger particles fromstrong substances can likewise go through which may cause allergies or illness(molecules can carry pathogen along with them).Another reason not to introduce complementary food beforesix months of age is due to the limited renal (kidney) function in earlyinfancy.
Once your baby reach this stage, their renal function is adequately matureand enable to cope with complementary food which contain higher levels ofminerals and salt.Risks related with late introduction of complementary foodsHowever, if your baby starts to get acquainted with solidfoods later than this time, he might face the risks of iron deficiency, growthfaltering and micronutrient deficiencies because breastmilk does not meetenough nutrient quantity for infant development. Therefore, in order tomaintain an adequate development, your baby need another source of nutritionfrom food supply. The benefits of extended breastfeeding beyond period ofexclusive breastfeedingBreastfeeding is the healthiest start for your baby fromnewborn until when complementary food is introduced. Breastfeeding is furtherrecommended to continue until 12 months of age and beyond, for as long as youand your baby desire. Despite the fact that your baby gets most of hisnutrition from solid food after first year, breastmilk still gives manynecessary advantages. Breastmilk provides energy, essential fatty acids andfat-soluble vitamins. It also contains numerous defensive factors like secretedIgA that assistance to protect infants from the effects of microorganisms andother harmful substances in the diet.
The infant’s own immune system developsafter birth, and during early life mother’s milk can help combat some childhoodinfections. Studies demonstrate that breastfeeding toddlers are sick less thantheir peers.Beyond that, breastfeeding nourish the mother and babyrelationship and promote neurological development, both of which are vital forchild development. How to introduce complementary food (solid) andprogressing to family foods?The aim of complementary feeding is to support your baby to getthe sufficient nutrition when breastmilk is no longer enough to provide theseneeds. The transition from breastfeeding to family food start around 6 monthsto 18-24 months of age. This period is extremely vulnerable when children havethe highest risk of malnutrition.
Therefore, infants should receivecomplementary food timely, around six months onwards, with adequate amount,frequency, consistency and nutritional values that meet the requirement of thegrowing child.However, breastmilk remains the most essential nutrient source foryour baby in the first year of life. Thus, complementary feeding must not takepart in your baby’s diet in a way that will dramatically decrease milk intake.This can be accomplished at first by giving milk feed before givingcomplementary foods, which is used to fulfill at the end of the meal. As soonas your baby is nine months old, milk feeding can be offered aftercomplementary feeding. The quantity of milk can be gradually replaced bycomplementary foods but still play a prominent part of your baby’s until he isat least one year of age.
The introduction of complementary food is successful when itovercomes your baby’s aversion to new eating experience, which is a commonreaction in most infants. Solid food should prepared in various way to helpyour baby to enjoy different taste as well as texture. Chapter 4 Organic complementary for the best start Organic eating and your babies: the benefits Organic food labelling Food label 100 PERCENT ORGANIC. This term can be applied to mark anyproduct that contains 100 percent organic ingredients (excluding salt andwater, which are considered natural). ORGANIC. This term can be applied to mark any product that makeup of a minimum of 95 percent organic ingredients (excluding salt and water).Up to 5 percent of the ingredients may be nonorganic agricultural products butare accepted to use in organic products. MADE WITH ORGANIC INGREDIENT.
This term can be applied to mark any product that comprises at least 70 percentorganically produced ingredients (excluding salt and water). The organicingredients must be identified (e.g., organic alovera).SPECIFIC INGREDIENT LISTINGS. The Organic foods are affordable Children under the age of one should not drink honey due to thepresence of intracellular botulinum in the honey.
After one year, only a smallamount is allowed in necessary. Research shows that in the soil and dust thereis a germ, which during the bee harvest process, often carries the pollen andbile that have the bacteria on the nest, causing the honey to be contaminated,the newborn in the ring 6 months are very susceptible to this type of bacteriaand appear to poisoning such as constipation, fatigue, poor appetite. In addition, the honey may have a certain hormone content, iftaken for a long time, can cause children to get up early. Therefore, whetherthe baby is over one year old, should not drink honey arbitrarily.
Wait untilchildren are over 10 years old, they can drink more, drink as much as adults.
