Baby Nutrition and Feeding Milestones (0-12 Months)
Alimentation from 0 to 14 Months
Breastfeeding (0-14 months):
- Provides the ideal amount of protein to meet the organism’s needs.
- Reduces the risk of allergies or intolerances.
- Fats promote healthy brain development, prevent high cholesterol, and protect against chronic conditions.
- Adequate amounts of mineral salts help avoid water retention and prevent anemia.
- The Q-factor improves the defenses of the digestive tract.
- Promotes close contact between mother and baby, affecting emotional and psychological maturation.
- The baby eats what they want and need, helping them observe their own pace.
Artificial Feeding:
- Used when breastfeeding is not possible or as a necessary complement to alimentation.
- Adapted formulas are used, with compositions as similar as possible to breast milk, based on modified cow’s milk.
- Classes: Initiation milk (1) is used from birth, followed by continuation milk (5th month onwards).
- Formula milk is less digestible than breast milk due to its proteins, and may generate more allergies or intolerances.
- Milk provides all the necessary nutrients. At the end of this period, introduce juices diluted with water.
Alimentation from 4 to 12 Months
Complementary Feeding:
- 4 Months: Phasing in additional foods. This is a critical moment for the acquisition of food habits.
- 5/6 Months: Before transitioning from initiation milk to continuation milk, introduce complementary foods.
- New foods address nutritional needs, and the baby progressively experiences different tastes and textures, defining preferences and food aversions.
- Introduction should be progressive and sequential. Wait 1 to 2 weeks before introducing a new food.
- Offer a variety of flavors, using a spoon and alternating between sweet and savory. Start with thicker purees and progress to liquids.
- Purees can include strawberry, melon, and peach. Avoid fruits that commonly cause allergies.
- Continue with vegetable purees or soups, to which you can add protein and fat (40 grams of boiled or grilled and crushed meat or fish).
- 6 Months: Add tablespoons of milk or porridge to the bottle, substituting one milk feeding.
- Up to 12 months, the daily quantity should be 500ml of milk or derivatives.
- 9 Months: Introduce porridge with gluten-containing cereals. With the introduction of gluten, include rice, pasta, bread, and biscuits.
- 6-8 Months: Get used to grinding food without whole pieces in the mouth.
- 8 Months: Change the position for eating. While seated, the baby has a free hand.
- 12 Months: Introduce basic foods into the diet: vegetables, egg yolk, and dairy products.
- 12-14 Months: The diet is similar to that of an older child.
Meal Planning and Menu Programming
The goal is to establish a balanced diet that accounts for nutritional value and meets the necessary nutritional and energy requirements of each age. A basic menu can be adapted to different ages by adjusting the quantity or texture.
Process:
- Schedule main courses first. Second courses (meat, fish, eggs) provide protein.
- Program starch dishes combined with other elements.
- Garnishes should not be a main dish.
- Garnishes can be raw, boiled, or stewed.
- Choose fruit desserts according to the menu.
- Include dairy products at least three times a week if there is a salad.
- Bread and water complete the menu.
Other Important Aspects:
- Sensory aspects contribute to sensory development and are useful for creating good habits.
- Texture and mastication are important.
Adapting Menus:
- Salt Addition: Basic menus are unsalted, to be corrected as needed.
- Sugar Presence: For diabetics, provide an adequate supply of desserts.
- Textures: Offer pureed or bland textures.
- Religious Options: Exclude pork meat and derivatives.
- High Cholesterol: Meet heart-healthy eating patterns.
- Acute Digestive Discomfort: Offer a soft menu with white rice, cream, carrots, chicken, white fish, and apples.
Difficulties in Eating Habits
This is a learning process.
- Lack of Appetite: May be due to heat, exhaustion, illness, unattractive food, or negative experiences related to food, which may predispose the child to refuse food.
- Never Having Enough: Generally, feeding needs are self-regulated, so there is no need to worry, but it is important to help set limits.
- Rejection of New Textures and Flavors: Selectivity of appetite is associated with loss of appetite and eating habits established from the beginning. The mother’s attitude is perceived as fostering or rejection and affects the child’s relationship with food.
- Mealtimes should be relaxing and enjoyable. Do not force the child to eat, but find the reason for the lack of appetite.
- If there is no appetite, reduce the quantity, vary the feeding, presentation, and consider the child’s needs and preferences.
- Food should not be used as a bargaining chip.
- There should be consistency between behavior and verbal recommendations. The adult is the basic model.