The quality and quantity of breastmilk can only meet the growth and development needs of infants within 6 months, and other foods must be added after 6 months to make up for the lack of breastmilk in order to meet the nutritional needs of children.
I. Adding principles
The principle of adding complementary foods should be gradual, that is, from one to many, from a small amount to a large amount, from thin to thick, from fine to coarse, and at the same time should be less salt and not sweet, avoid greasy.
1.One to many
Initially add to the child’s paste-like food can be used rice flour or homemade thin rice porridge. From the first day of feeding the first food, you should carefully observe the child’s demeanor, stool and skin. If the child’s spirit and appetite are normal and there is no diarrhea, constipation or rash, the second food can be added after 3 to 5 days, and so on. Otherwise, the addition of food should be suspended.
2.Small amount to large amount
As the infant’s nutritional needs and digestive and absorption capacity are increasing, food should be added from little to much. At the beginning, add one supplement daily; at the age of one, add three supplement daily; at the age of two, in addition to breast milk, children can eat five times a day. Not only the number of times increases, but also the amount of each time should be gradually increased.
3.From thin to thick
Take cereals as an example, from thin porridge to thick porridge, from thick porridge to soft rice, which is the typical evolution from thin to thick.
4.From fine to coarse
Refers to the process of adding the particles of pureed food from small to large. Such as from pureed meat, minced meat to diced meat, meat slices.
5.Less salt and not sweet
The kidney dilution and concentration function of small infants is poor, too much salt intake can lead to kidney damage, especially less than 8 months old infants, the food should not add salt. In addition, infants should add less sugar in food, too much sugar may lead to diarrhea, causing obesity.
6, avoid greasy
Mainly refers to avoid fried food. Because the high temperature will destroy nutrients, and the formation of high-fat food after frying is not easy to digest, there is a strong sense of satiety, the child’s eating will have a negative impact.
Second, the nutritional view of complementary foods added
1, food diversity
Provide comprehensive nutrition, no one food has all the nutrients.
Provide a variety of delicious, appetite.
Provide rich perceptual stimuli such as taste, smell, vision, touch, etc., to facilitate the early development of children.
Avoid the formation of bad eating habits such as picky eating and partial eating.
2.Balance
The principle of food balance refers to the balance between dietary supply and the physiological needs of the body, and the daily balanced diet for infants and young children under 3 years old is milk and milk products, cereals, vegetables and fruits, meat, beans, eggs, poultry and fish, and oil and sugar in decreasing order. Among them, milk is the main source of nutrition for infants and children. By eating according to this ratio, children can get reasonable nutrition.
3.Adequate amount
Adequate nutrition refers to the intake of nutrients to meet the needs of the body, but not to endanger the health of the body. Infants and young children are in the fastest growing stage of life, the demand for various nutrients is the largest, and the digestive system is still immature, chewing, gastrointestinal peristalsis, enzyme activity, digestion, absorption and other abilities are poor, once improper feeding can lead to a variety of nutritional diseases or digestive system diseases. Such as indigestion leads to growth retardation, overfeeding leads to obesity and so on.
4.Maintain healthy weight
50% of the daily calories produced by infants and young children’s diet are used to maintain life, i.e., basal metabolism, 20-30% are used for growth and development, and 10-15% are used for exercise. Therefore, in addition to an appropriate diet, it is also necessary to strengthen exercise to maintain a healthy weight. Lack of exercise can cause overweight, obesity, and even sleep disorders, poor mood and other problems.
Third, the method of adding complementary foods
The addition of complementary foods should emphasize the principles of accessibility, accessibility and affordability of food. The addition of complementary foods should be combined with the physiological maturity of infants.