Infancy is the most rapid stage of growth and development, and the demand for nutrition is increasing day by day, after 6 months of age, simple breastfeeding can no longer meet their nutritional needs. Therefore, in the process of infant growth and development, it is important to grasp the best time to add complementary foods in a timely manner. In the process of adding complementary foods, we should pay attention to the types of complementary foods and the way of adding them, to achieve a balanced diet and the principle of food diversification. A, the scientific basis for adding complementary foods 1, to meet the nutritional needs of infants Investigation shows that the average lactation of a well-nourished mother is 700-800ml / d, this amount can only meet the overall nutritional needs of infants from 0 to 6 months. 800ml of breast milk can provide about 560kcal of energy, while 6-month-old infants need about 700-900kcal of energy per day, breast milk can only 80% of the infant’s needs at this time. In addition, the iron reserve for the baby during pregnancy is exhausted by 4 months of age. 2.Learn to eat food to prepare for weaning The process of gradually transitioning infants from simple breastfeeding to having all their nutritional needs met by food other than breast milk is called weaning, and this period is called the weaning period. The foods added to the infant during the weaning period are called weaning foods or complementary foods. Weaning is a long process in which the continuation of breastfeeding, called the weaning transition period, usually begins after 4 or 6 months of breastfeeding until the child is 1 year old or even older. In this process, infants can gradually recognize foods other than breast milk, chewing and swallowing training, etc. 3.Adapt to the needs of the infant’s digestive system and psychological development After 4 to 6 months of age, the infant’s digestive system gradually matures and can gradually adapt to new foods. With the hardening of the gingival mucosa and the eruption of milk teeth, feeding infants with soft semi-solid food is conducive to the eruption of milk teeth and the training of infants’ chewing function. In terms of feeding tools, the initial change from using bottles to small spoons and bowls should be made to facilitate infants’ mental maturity. 4.Cultivate good eating habits The scientific implementation of complementary food addition, so that infants are fully exposed to, try and feel a variety of foods, is necessary to establish the correct eating behavior. Second, how to scientifically implement the addition of complementary foods Adding complementary foods can timely meet the increased nutritional needs of infants in the process of growth and development. When adding complementary foods, the best time to add them should be grasped, and follow the reasonable adding principles and the correct adding order. The addition of weaning foods should be adapted to the infant’s gastrointestinal tract function and digestive enzyme capacity. Weaning is a gradual process, weaning can only be done when complementary foods are added on time and the infant has adapted to them, otherwise it will cause digestive disorders, malnutrition and other consequences. The so-called scientific implementation of complementary foods is to correctly grasp the best time to add complementary foods, follow the reasonable principles of adding and the correct order of addition. 1, the best time to add complementary foods Generally speaking, infants grow to 4 to 6 months later, the amount of breast milk secretion and the nutrients it contains can not fully meet the needs of infant growth and development, should be timely and reasonable to add food other than breast milk to meet their nutritional needs; mixed feeding or artificial feeding of babies 4 months later can be added to complementary foods. However, due to individual differences in infant growth and development, the time to start adding complementary foods cannot be generalized. Generally, we can refer to the following situations: (1) the infant’s weight growth has reached twice the birth weight; (2) the infant has the performance of not having enough to eat, for example, the baby was able to sleep until dawn, but now often cries in the middle of the night, the number of breastfeeding increases to 8-10 times in 24 hours or eats more than 1000ml of formula, or is hungry again less than 4 hours after eating about 250ml of milk; (3) the infant (4) The infant shows interest in eating, such as grabbing the spoon or chopsticks when others are eating, or trying to add food to the baby’s mouth and swallowing it when it is placed near the baby’s mouth, and appears to be happy and tasty; (5) The tongue-stretching reflex has subsided. If parents feed their babies food, babies will often spit out what they just fed into the mouth, called the “tongue reflex”, which is a kind of instinctive self-protection. This reflex generally disappears only around 4 months, tongue reflex fade before adding complementary foods; (6) infants reach 6 months of age, the growth acceleration period. 2, the principle of adding complementary foods (1) gradually adapt, one to many: try new foods, one at a time, each complementary food should go through a 5-7 day adaptation period, to adapt to this food, then try a second food, and then gradually expand the variety of complementary foods added. Generally, start by adding rice flour and egg yolk, and add foods that do not cause allergies as much as possible. During the addition process, it is necessary to pay attention to the infant’s digestive tolerance and mental condition. If you find that your baby has an allergic reaction, such as rash, diarrhea, vomiting, etc., you need to find out what food is causing it and stop adding it at the same time. (2) Any new food should be given from little to a lot: only a small spoonful on the first day, two or three more spoonfuls on the second day, and then slowly increase the amount when the baby gets used to the new food. (3) The texture of food should be from fine to coarse, from thin to thick: at the beginning, make the food into puree or juice to facilitate swallowing; when the milk teeth erupt, the food can be coarser and harder. Start with liquid, gradually transition to semi-liquid, then to soft solid food, and finally feed solid food. (4) Add complementary foods, still mainly breastfeeding: while adding complementary foods, should be combined with more breast milk and formula. It is best to add complementary foods in between breastfeeding because it does not affect the infant’s milk intake, and it is easiest for the infant to taste new flavors and accept new foods when he or she is half-full. (5) Each new food should be tried many times before it is accepted: When an infant refuses to eat a new food several times, stop for 2 weeks and try again, do not force the infant to eat; (6) Added foods should be as light as possible: Add foods with only a little salt, do not add MSG and other condiments to avoid increasing the load on the kidneys. (7) Infant complementary foods should be prepared separately, the food should be fresh, and the preparation process should be hygienic: Infant complementary foods should be prepared and eaten as soon as possible, and commercially available convenient complementary foods that are not finished must be put into the refrigerator in time to make sure they are not contaminated before they are consumed next time. Refrigerators are not completely safe, and bacterial infections can occur. (8) Infants are very different from each other and need to be flexible in the variety and quantity of complementary foods added, which vary from person to person and not uniformly. (9) Each time a new food is added, close attention should be paid to the digestive situation, such as stomach distension, vomiting, stool abnormalities or other conditions, the feeding of such complementary foods should be suspended. When the gastrointestinal function returns to normal, then from the beginning of the amount or a smaller amount of feeding. If the child is ill, all kinds of complementary foods should be stopped (with the exception of fruit juices) and resumed after recovery from illness. (10) It is best to add complementary foods when both the baby and parents are in a happy mood. Tension, unhappy atmosphere will destroy the baby’s appetite and interest in eating, is not conducive to the development of good eating habits. 3, the order of adding complementary foods first simple after mixed, first liquid after solid, first cereals, fruits, vegetables, after fish, eggs, meat. Never give your baby fish, meat and other foods that are not easily digested when you first start adding complementary foods. It is important to add appropriate complementary foods according to the age of different months. The following table lists the recommended order of adding complementary foods and the nutrients supplied. Third, correct the common misconceptions in the addition of complementary foods 1, early or delayed addition of complementary foods for the health of the baby 4 months of age, the development of infants’ digestive organs are immature, low salivary amylase content, should not be added prematurely rice and flour food, and cereal phytic acid will affect the absorption of iron in breast milk, easy to cause anemia in infants; premature addition of rice flour can also lead to insufficient protein intake, affecting physical growth and On the other hand, when infants are full of food such as rice paste and milk cake, the amount of sucking breast milk will be reduced accordingly, and they often cannot suck the milk secreted from the mother’s breast, resulting in a gradual reduction of breast milk secretion. Adding complementary food too late, on the one hand, will affect the infant chewing and swallowing function and the eruption of milk teeth, on the other hand, it is also easy to cause the infant to suffer from iron deficiency anemia. 2, always worry that the baby is not full, think that the more you eat the better General 6 months of the baby’s stomach capacity of about 200ml, after eating breast milk, may only drink a dozen milliliters of relatively thick liquid (such as soup, juice, etc.), or eat a few dozen grams of solid food. Parents should not always measure their children by their own feelings that only one or two spoons are too little. On the one hand, you can measure the amount of complementary food you eat according to your baby’s weight growth, and on the other hand, let your baby decide for himself, so that the normal physiological regulation can play a better role. 3, weaning is to stop drinking milk, completely replaced by complementary foods This view is wrong, weaning refers to the cessation of breastfeeding, rather than weaning off dairy foods, whether breastfeeding or artificial feeding of infants and toddlers can not be completely weaned off dairy foods, dairy foods should be part of the diet of infants and toddlers. Moreover, weaning is a process, and the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding proposes to add complementary foods while continuing to breastfeed until 2 years of age or older. 4, egg yolk is the only food to supplement iron Many parents add the most to their babies is egg yolk, thinking that egg yolk is not only rich in cholesterol, protein, vitamin A, but also rich in iron, the only food to supplement iron. In fact, although the iron content of egg yolk is high, it exists in the form of non-heme iron, and the bioavailability of iron in egg yolk is very low, only about 3%, because the high phosphorus protein of egg yolk has an interfering effect on the absorption of iron. So do not neglect to supplement other iron-rich foods, such as fish, pig liver, chicken, duck, pig blood, etc. 5, refined white rice and flour is a good complementary food Finely processed milled cereals are mostly lost vitamins, minerals, fiber, only starch is retained. The so-called nutrition in the infant rice flour is enhanced in the later processing, absorption is not as good as the natural state. The vitamin B1 content of grains and cereals is very high, parents should reasonably add some coarse food to the baby, such as oats, millet, corn, etc. boiled into a paste to feed, etc. 6, bottle-fed rice flour, milk paste and spoon effect is the same Some parents are too much trouble, simply put the rice flour, milk paste into bottles for babies to drink, do not know that learning to eat supplementary food for babies is a new attempt, not only to get more nutrition, but also to stimulate dental and oral development, training chewing and swallowing function, therefore, should adhere to the spoon, cups and small bowls to feed the baby, so that the baby to step on a new growth ladder The starting point of the new growth ladder. In short, the scientific addition of complementary foods should adhere to the principle of balanced diet and variety of foods, adopt the correct feeding method, cultivate good eating habits of babies from childhood, and avoid partial and picky eating. Do not impose your parents’ food preferences on your baby.