Pregnancy And Baby Care Baby Feeding Baby Feeding Guidelines

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The mother however, will have to ensure that she eats healthy, gets a sufficient amount of rest and abstains from alcohol, cigarettes and medications, as the harmful ingredients contain in these substances can be passed on to the child, through the breast milk. Feeding the child with only breast milk is generally recommended for the first four months after child birth.

Baby Feeding Tips

After about 4-5 months the child can graduate to eating other kinds of food in addition to the mother’s milk. Some of the foods that can be fed to the child include semi solid rice cereals (iron fortified) and other kinds of grain cereals such as barley and oats. You can begin by feeding the child a teaspoon of dry rice cereal that has been mixed with 4 teaspoons of breast milk. The consistency can be progressively increased to a tablespoon of dry rice cereal mixed with 4 teaspoons of breast milk.

After 6 months you can introduce strained or pureed fruits and vegetables in to the child’s diet such as peaches, pears and bananas sweet potatoes, squash, avocadoes and carrots. Whenever you introduce new foods to your child, do it one by one and not all together. It is advisable to keep a gap of three to four days to ensure that your child is not allergic to any particular kind of food.

Once the child is about 8 months of age you can introduce additional food items such as diced bananas, teething crackers, non citrus juices, very small quantities of protein such as boneless fish, poultry, pureed meat, eggs and mashed beans. The child may also be fed small quantities of soft cottage cheese, pasteurized cheese and yogurt. Do not feed the child any cow’s milk products till he or she is a year old.