Newborns without special circumstances, it is recommended that breastfeeding and timely supplementation of vitamin D. If breast milk is insufficient or can not be breastfed when the choice of infant-specific formula feeding.
The newborn period is a transitional period when the baby changes from relying on the mother’s nutrition inside the uterus to relying on food nutrition outside the uterus, and breast milk from the mother is the best food to complete this transition. Newborns have a high demand for energy and nutrients, but the digestive and excretory organs of newborns are not yet mature, and their ability to digest and absorb food and excrete metabolic wastes is low.
Breastmilk provides high quality, comprehensive, adequate and appropriately structured nutrients to meet the infant’s growth and developmental needs, while perfectly adapting to its immature digestive capacity and promoting the development and functional maturity of its organs. No other form of food feeding is comparable to breastfeeding.
Breast milk is low in vitamin D. Breastfed children do not receive adequate amounts of vitamin D through breast milk. appropriate sunlight exposure promotes the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin, but sunlight exposure may not be the most convenient means of obtaining vitamin D for infants as young as 6 months of age. Daily vitamin supplementation should be initiated a few days after birth.
When it is not possible to exclusively breastfeed an infant due to certain metabolic diseases of the infant, certain infectious or psychiatric diseases of the breastfeeding mother, or insufficient milk secretion, it is recommended that formula milk suitable for infants within the age of one month is preferred, and it is not advisable to directly feed infants with ordinary liquid milk.
During the neonatal stage, parents should not add nutrition to their newborns at will, but supplemental food should be added in a timely manner when they reach 6 months of age to provide the nutrients needed for growth and development.