”Baby does not like to eat milk after adding complementary foods, is it time to wean?”
”My baby is not absorbing what he eats and what he poops? What should I do?”
”My baby is a little constipated after adding complementary foods, is it normal?”
Today we will talk about the “abnormal” phenomenon after the baby added complementary foods, and feeding advice.
Milk aversion
Newborns are born with a preference for sweet and salty flavors and reject bitter and spicy flavors. When babies accept a taste that they think is good, such as juice, calcium water, adult meals, etc., they will lose interest in the bland taste of formula or even breast milk. Therefore, when a baby has “milk aversion” after adding complementary foods, it is mostly due to psychological problems.
Feeding advice
1, when adding complementary foods to your baby, do not be too “heavy” to avoid the phenomenon of milk aversion.
2, too early to add sweets or salt, but also lead to baby paranoia, so do not agree to prematurely add juice, vegetable water, calcium water and other flavored liquid.
3. To correct your baby’s anorexia, you should first determine which taste your baby likes, and then use this taste as a guide to gradually restore your baby’s preference for milk.
Diarrhea
Diarrhea is one of the phenomena that may occur in the early stages of adding complementary foods to your baby.
If the intolerance is not serious, you can maintain the added amount for 3 days. If the situation tends to improve, stick to it until it returns to normal before adding more or new foods. In addition, diarrhea can occur not only at the beginning of the addition of complementary foods, but also when eating improperly. For example, the amount of complementary food is too much, the nature of complementary food is coarse, the feeding time is not reasonable, etc. In this case, parents should pay more attention to the milk intake.
Feeding suggestions
1.Change the powdered formula to a special lactose-free formula for 1-2 weeks; if diarrhea occurs in babies who have added complementary foods, there is no need to stop them completely, they can keep feeding rice flour and vegetable puree, because if the complementary foods are stopped, the milk intake is bound to increase.
2, if the baby has more than diarrhea, no improvement and the effect is not obvious after taking medicine, parents should send the child’s stool specimen in a plastic box or plastic wrap to the hospital for examination as soon as possible, in order to determine the cause as soon as possible and find an effective treatment.
Constipation
Constipation in babies after the addition of complementary foods is related to the intake of fiber. Oligosaccharides in breast milk, prebiotics in foods such as powdered formula, and fiber-rich vegetables are all sources of dietary fiber.
Also, constipation is related to the condition of the intestinal tract function. The bacteria in the intestine, mainly Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, can defeat the cellulose in food and produce short-chain fatty acids, accompanied by a lot of water, thus making the stool soft.
Feeding advice
1, to add supplementary food to the baby, food processing is too fine, too fine, the good side is conducive to the absorption of nutrients and growth; the negative side is that the food residue less, so that the intake of fiber is not enough, resulting in constipation. Therefore, the degree of food processing should be suitable for children.
Different processing methods can cause different acceptance conditions. For example, boiled egg yolk is easier to absorb than steamed egg custard, and boiled mashed meat is easier to absorb than mashed meat grinded in a blender. In addition, pay attention to the supply of green vegetables, but also conducive to intestinal health, to prevent constipation.
2, if constipation occurs after taking calcium supplements, this indicates poor absorption of calcium. Not absorbed calcium, in the intestines with not absorbed fat to form “calcium soap”, calcium soap is also the main cause of constipation. The main reason for the poor absorption of calcium is that the calcium in the food is already sufficient, and then taking calcium supplements will lead to the formation of calcium soap. So there is no need for additional calcium supplements during normal feeding in this case.
More raw food in the stool
If you see signs of raw food in your baby’s stool, it means that your baby’s digestive function is not yet mature and that you are providing him/her with relatively coarse food.
Digestive function includes not only the state of gastrointestinal function, but also the ability to chew. If the baby has not yet erupted molar teeth (large teeth), even if he has chewing action, he will not be able to chew. For example, if granular material is visible in the stool, it means that the vegetables are not digested well, but do not stop eating vegetables because of this. Parents can blanch vegetables, especially leafy greens, in boiling water to soften them and chop them up with a knife before continuing to feed them to their babies. After a short “exercise” process, the baby’s gastrointestinal tract can receive.
Feeding suggestions
Parents can exercise their children’s gastrointestinal tract through coarse foods, but coarse foods should not become the dominant food trait during the exercise period. For example, a little rice porridge can be added to rice flour, and a few small pieces of vegetables can be added to vegetable puree.
Adding slightly coarse foods too early is unlikely to affect swallowing, but it will affect the absorption of food in the intestine – the granular material visible in the stool. During the exercise period, parents need to be sure that the proportion of coarser foods is too large and may affect the child’s absorption of nutrients.
Babies do not like to eat complementary foods
For the baby does not like to eat complementary food, may not be the child’s problem, should be mainly due to the mistakes of adults. For example: early start to add juice; adults eat when the child to taste some adult food; give the child frequent health products or unnecessary drugs (calcium, protein powder, colostrum, etc.). This can induce premature development of the child’s sense of taste, causing the child to appear uninterested in formula or conventional complementary foods (rice flour, etc.).
Feeding advice
Parents should start by not adding salt and other condiments to their children too early in their normal feeding and life. Too early and too much salt intake can trigger diseases such as hypertension in the child’s future adulthood.
Adding complementary foods is a gradual process, and each baby is different, so parents may encounter various problems during this process. Even if your baby has diarrhea, constipation or even vomiting after adding a certain complementary food, parents should not panic, first stop this complementary food, followed by more observation to find out the root cause of the problem and help your baby grow with scientific parenting methods!