Parenting Guide on Food for the First Year of your Baby

A DAILY FOOD PLAN. In the interest of meeting individual needs, babies' diets should not be rigidly standardized. However, the first year should see a gradual transition to the following broad pattern. This means working toward including in the diet,daily, suitable portions of foods selected from each of the following groups:

Milk group, including cheese and ice cream

Meat group, including beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, eggs (dry beans, peas and nuts as occasional alternates for older children and adults).

Vegetable-Fruit group, including a dark green or deep yellow vegetable (for vitamin A value) and citrus fruit or other good vitamin C source, daily.

Bread-Cereal group, emphasizing the whole grain, enriched or restored varieties.

This daily food plan is a practical one to follow. It's so general, it can be used for persons of all ages, and in accordance with national, regional or social food patterns and individual likes and dislikes. It is a simple, flexible and enjoyable way of consuming an adequate diet without worrying about individual nutrients.

Milk. Traditionally, milk is the principal food of babies and plays a major role in the diets of young children. This food, provided by Nature of young mammals, furnishes a wide variety of important nutrients. Whole milk contains significant amounts of vitamin A, riboflavin and thiamine. It is the best practical source of calcium and a good source of phosphorous. The proteins in milk are present in liberal amounts and are of excellent quality, well utilized in the growth of infants and children. Milk contributes many trace minerals and several of the lesser known vitamins.

It would be difficult to argue against the "rightness" of human milk for human babies. Most mothers who wish to can breast feed but many factors can influence this personal choice. It is well to make a tentative choice between breast and formula feeding well before the baby is born. Either methods gets off to a better start with advance preparation. The final decision for or against breast feeding should rest with the mother and her doctor.

Today. most babies can be expected to thrive on formula feeding if that choice is made. The availability of "clean" milk and improved standards of food handling in homes have made it safe from a sanitary standpoint.

Your baby's doctor should prescribed and approximate schedule for artificial feeding. His directions will be based on your baby's own nutritional and digestive needs. He might prescribe a formula made by mixing definite proportions of evaporated or fresh milk, water and sugar. But he is more likely to specify one of the convenient "premodified" milk formulas on the market today, which for most babies only need diluting with an equal amount of boiled water. Many physicians today prefer the formulas with added iron for routine use.

Despite its nutritional excellence, plain cow's milk doesn't qualify as a "perfect food". Even in the generous quantities usually fed babies, it fails to supply sufficient vitamin D, vitamin C, thiamine and iron. That's why doctors recommend the introduction of "supplementary foods" before a baby's body stores of these nutrients are depleted. 

Your Baby has a hard Time Pooping, How can You make it Easier for him?

A child's abdominal muscles are not fully developed until the age of one. So before then, expect him to have a harder time pushing. In the meantime, you have to be conscious of his poop schedule. It takes some babies every two or three days to poop. Every child has his own schedule. If this is his own growth spurt time, he will consume almost everything he eats. Breastfed babies absorb breast milk completely.

If you child is still having a hard time. Gently giving him an abdominal massage on his left side, where the large intestines are. You may also try using a glycerin suppository to tickle his anus. This will create a reflex, causing your baby to push.

Practical Guide on your Baby's First Solid Foods

Pediatrician recommend waiting until baby is around 6 months before introducing solids. Some doctors recommend ride and cereal, mashed or pureed vegetables or fruits. Discuss your options with your pediatrician and ask for the pros and cons of each food group. What's more important is to give baby three to five days to get used to one food before introducing a new one.

What you can do:

1. Take out those bibs! For the baby's first solid meal, he should be made to sit upright.
2. Feed him only when he's hungry. Schedule the meal one hour after nursing.
3. Give him only one solid meal a day.
4. With each mouthful, give only enough food to cover the tip of a teaspoon. Also expect much of the food to ooze out as everything from eating from a spoon to the texture of non liquid is very new to baby.

Breast Myth

I have a friend who have just given birth to a healthy baby girl. and she would always tell me that every morning she would always drink plenty of milk so that she will produce more milk for her baby. We'll im kinda not sure of what she's telling me is true, so i did a research at the lib, and found a clippings about common myth about breastfeeding and saw the answer their, so i inform my friend so that she would know that what shes doing is not true. Here are 6 common breast myth i found on the clippings.

MYTH 1 Some women fail to produce sufficient milk.
FALSE: Most women do have enough milk supply. If a baby fails to gain(or even loses) weight, this is more likely the result of the baby not latching properly onto the breast or not feeding often enough. It is common for newborn to feed eight to 12 times in 24 hours.

MYTH 2 A mother must drink milk to make milk.
FALSE: A healthy diet of vegetables, fruits, grains and proteins is all that a mother needs to provide the proper nutrients to produce milk. Calcium can be obtained from a variety of nondairy foods such as dark green vegetables, seeds, nuts and fish. No other mammal drinks milk to make milk.

MYTH 3 Mothers who have had cosmetic breast surgery cannot breastfeed a baby.
FALSE: Many women who have had breast augmentation or reduction have gone on to breastfeed. It is important that women consider the issue of breastfeeding before going under the knife, as some procedures reposition the nipple and areola. In these cases, breastfeeding may have to be partial rather than exclusive.

MYTH 4 Mothers who breastfeed cannot consume alcohol or spicy food.
FALSE: Usually the body digest and processes all the food a mother eats before the body makes the breast milk. An occasional glass of wine or beer would not hurt a nursing baby and the same goes for spicy foods. There is also no conclusive research to support the theory that mothers who consume gassy foods(such as beans and broccoli) will have a colicky baby.

MYTH 5 Breastfeeding is a great alternative for birth control.
FALSE: While in many instances ovulation is suppressed during breastfeeding, only abstinence will ensure that no little surprises happen. Nursing mothers can safely take low dose birth control pills or use barrier methods of contraception without harming their baby.

MYTH 6 A breastfeeding mother should space her feeding so that her breast will have time to refill.
FALSE: A lactating mothers body is constantly making milk. Her breasts function in part as "storage tank" some holding more than the others. The faster the breast emptied, the faster the body makes milk to replace it. Conversely, the fuller the breast, the more production of milk slows down. If a mother consistently waits until her breast are full before she nurses, her body may get the signal that it is making too much and may reduce overall production.