The Amount of Liquids Your Baby Should Be Drinking at Each Age

The Amount of Liquids Your Baby Should Be Drinking at Each Age

February 22nd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Babies begin life with a liquid diet of either breast milk, formula or a combination of the two. They should remain on an entirely liquid diet until around six months when solid solid foods are introduced gradually. By a year, your baby should be eating three meals and two snacks a day of table food and drinking milk as a supplement – not a meal. It’s a fast transition for both mother and child, and the most important part of ensuring a smooth transition is determining how much your child should be drinking over that first year.

Birth to Six Months

Breastfeeding

When you breastfeed your baby, you normally don’t have a gauge of how much your baby is actually eating other than the amount of time he spends on each breast. A session of breastfeeding, once established for both mother and child, should take ten to thirty minutes, but can be longer for any number of reasons. As a newborn, your baby might nurse eight to twelve times a day at any interval and this pattern can last up to six months of age.

Bottle Feeding

Formula takes a bit longer to digest, so babies typically wait a bit longer between feedings, and the amounts consumed can vary widely among babies. There is no average amount, but before the introduction of solids, your baby is likely drinking 16 to 32 ounces, or 460 to 940 mL, a day. Some babies drink more or less, and the best way to gauge if the amount is correct is to check your baby’s weight gain and growth over time. Your doctor will be doing this at every appointment.

A more numerical approach to the amount a child should be eating is offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics, -On average, your baby should take in about 2 1/2 ounces of formula a day for every pound of body weight.- This translates to 24 to 36 ounces of formula after four months for most babies.

Six Months to One Year

Around six months you will start introducing solid foods. During this period of introduction, the solid foods are a supplement to the milk-based diet, but over the remaining months, solid food will become the basis of your baby’s diet and he will be supplemented first by breast milk or formula and then by cow’s milk (unless you continue to nurse after this point.)

At six months your child will be nursing on demand or drinking close to 36 ounces of formula per day. This requirement should hold steady over the next few months as you increase his diet in solid foods. As solids become more proficient, milk will actually decrease until he is drinking only about two cups at his first birthday per day. The two cup requirement is an average and is the same for toddlers and young children of all ages.

Tips for Happy Eating

Tips for Happy Eating

February 22nd, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Mealtime should be one of joy and fun – not harping or frustration. To keep mealtimes happy, you should approach each with a sense of fun, not duty. Helping your baby reach his nutritional requirements should be fun – not work.

Prepare and Focus

Prepare all of the necessary items beforehand so that you can focus on your child exclusively during the meal. It’s distracting to be hopping up and down for a missing spoon or bib while trying to bond and enjoy your baby over a dish of applesauce.

Eat as a Family

Nothing will please your baby more than to eat with the family. Pull the high chair up to the table and have your child sit alongside his siblings or with just his parents as they eat each meal of the day. If you aren’t able to feed your baby while eating yourself, you can feed him before dinner and then allow him to sample mashed table foods or play with a cup of water during the actual meal – he’ll simply enjoy being around family. As he starts eating finger foods, eating with the family will become much easier, and it’s nice to have the routine already established.

Never Force

You should never force your children to eat anything. Provide only healthy options for snacks and meals and allow them to eat what they want, when they want. A snack should be small with larger servings of different foods at mealtimes, but grazing, or eating small meals frequently, is perfectly normal for children and many adults. Making food a battleground simply removes any pleasure from the meal all together. If your child is being obstinate about eating any food at all at mealtimes, allow him to go hungry until the next normal meal or snack and serve him a normal portion then. Unless there is a medial issue or he’s filling up on unhealthy snacks, he’ll eat when he’s hungry and forcing it won’t truly help matters.

Make Food Fun

To make mealtimes fun, you should focus on making food fun as well. Have your older toddler help in the kitchen. Older children can make entire dishes on their own and toddlers can help with stirring or adding ingredients. Letting your child help prepare the food makes it much more fun and interesting to eat. Arranging the food colorfully on the plate is also greatly entertaining for children – even adults love eating pancakes designed like smiling faces.

Pay Attention to Signals

Your nonverbal child will send you signals that he is filling up or is no longer interested in his meal. When he starts playing with his food or throwing it on the ground, he’s not hungry enough to eat it and you can remove a source of frustration by taking his plate and offering him a toy to play with instead. This allows him to stay at the table with the rest of the family, but you won’t have to scramble to clean up a huge mess at every meal.

How to Prevent Choking and Gagging

How to Prevent Choking and Gagging

February 20th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

One of the very real dangers that comes with the introduction of solid baby foods in babies is choking. In fact, gagging and choking are among the most prevalent dangers for children of any age. It is impossible to prevent all risks associated with gagging, but you can be prepared and take steps to minimize the likelihood.

Get Trained

Your first step is to take an infant CPR and choking course. Food is by far not the only item that will go into your child’s mouth, so a course on how to handle any object in a choking situation is well worth the time. You can take the course while preparing for your child’s birth or soon after, but it is extremely beneficial to all parents.

A course will show you the correct way to handle a gagging or choking baby – and the procedure changes as your child ages. Knowing what do to in an emergency is just as important – perhaps more so – than attempting to prevent it from ever occurring.

The Difference Between Choking and Gagging

There is a substantial difference between choking and gagging. Many children gag as they learn to control their tongues and swallowing mechanisms. Gagging happens with alarming frequency for many children, although once a month is frequent – not once a day or week. Choking is a situation where an obstruction has entered the airway and can not be easily dislodged. Choking is life-threatening as air supply is being cut-off and knowing how to handle the situation can save your child’s life as there is often no time to wait for paramedics to arrive in a severe situation.

Avoiding Gagging and Choking

Both gagging and choking occur when objects or food obstructs or come too close to the airway. Gagging is a reflex when food comes too close to the back of the throat without swallowing and choking is a true blockage. Gagging is usually resolved by the child coughing or moving the food away from the back of his mouth on his own – interfering too early can make gagging more serious than it is, so watch your child to see if he can clear the problem on his own first.

Feed Small Bites

When spoon feeding your child, offer him small bites. Loading up a spoon might make the meal go faster, but it will also give your baby more food to handle in his tiny mouth. Small bites are easier to handle and allow them to swallow safely.

Avoid Thick Foods

Thick cereals such as rice or oatmeal and other foods such as peanut butter are thick and tend to be sticky inside the mouth. When feeding your baby cereals, make them creamy – not clumpy to be sure they won’t be too hard for your little one to handle. Peanut butter should be avoided for at least one year and then spread very thinly to avoid thick clumps that can be potentially dangerous.

Cut Finger Foods

Finger foods are the first food stage where true choking is a very real possibly. The two worst foods for choking are two childhood favorites – hot dogs and grapes. To make these a finger food, you should cut them, but avoid cutting them across only. Making circles out of the food just makes it more perfect for filling up an airway. Cut the food across into circles and then lengthwise as well to make smaller pieces which are both easier to eat and less likely to exactly fill your child’s airway.

Skip Hard Items

Children and even adults can have difficulties with hard foods such as nuts, popcorn, and hard candy. These items should be avoided ideally until your child is closer to six or seven and then eaten sparingly to reduce risk under close supervision.

Making Your Own Baby Foods

Making Your Own Baby Foods

February 20th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Preparing homemade baby foods is not as difficult as it looks. The good part of preparing your own baby food is that you can control what ingredients that go in. Besides, you can include limitless variety of flavor and texture in the home-prepared baby foods.

When it comes to making your own baby foods, the following tools can be handy.

  • A food processor or handheld blender
  • A wire sieve
  • A potato masher
  • Ice-cube trays
  • Freezer bags

Preparing Homemade Fruits or Vegetables

Most of the ripe fresh fruits, such as banana, avocado, mango, pear and melon, can be served once they are pureed or mashed. You do not need to cook them. Unlike ripe fresh fruits, you need to cook the vegetables before you pureed or mashed them. Here are the steps that will guide you on how to prepare your homemade fruits and vegetables for your baby:

  • Before you cook your fruits and vegetables, make sure you clean them properly. Peel, seed and slice them once they are clean.
  • Place the sliced fruits and vegetables in a small saucepan and cover them with water.
  • Cook the fruits and vegetables until tender.
  • Drain and reserving the cooking liquid.
  • Puree the fruits and vegetables until smooth, or mash using potato masher for a lumpier consistency. Add water or cooking liquid if needed.
  • Place in ice-cube trays and freeze. Transfer individual cubes to freezer bags.

Preparing Homemade Meat

  • Place a piece of meat in the saucepan. Cover the meat with water and bring it to boil.
  • Reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is tender.
  • Drain and reserving the broth. Remove the skins and bone from meat.
  • Puree the meat until it is smooth using a food processor. Adding the broth or water as need to achieve desired consistency. You can use wire strainer to achieve a smooth texture.
  • Place in ice-cube trays and freeze. Transfer individual cubes to freezer bags.

Pureed baby food can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you need to use the food, defrost the frozen baby food overnight in the refrigerator or in a container of warm water.

When preparing your baby food at home, please avoid adding sugar, salt or honey.

Types of Solid Foods

Types of Solid Foods

February 20th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Solid baby foods must be introduced gradually. During the initial transition period, breast milk or formula will continue to be your baby’s primary source of nutrition. As you introduce more solid foods, your child’s intake of breast milk or formula will decrease accordingly. Once they have learned how to swallow solids, the solid food will provide a nutritional complement to his liquid diet.

The chart below shows different types of solid food (in order of introduction)

Foods Birth to 6 Months 6-9 Months 9-12 Months
Breat Milk

Formula

 Feed on cue

Bottle feeding on demand.

 Feed on cue

Bottle feeding on demand.

 Feed on cue

Bottle feeding on demand.
Iron-fortified single-ingredient food NONE Iron-fortified infant cereal (2-4 tbsp / 25-60 ml twice per day) Continue with variety of cereals
Vegetables NONE Pureed or mashed cooked vegetables of all color. (4-6 tbsp / 60-90 ml per day) Mashed or diced cooked vegetables (6-10 tbsp / 90-150 ml per day)
Fruits NONE Pureed or mashed cooked fruits or very ripe mashed fruit.. (6-7 tbsp / 90-105 ml per day) Soft peel, diced fresh or canned fruits. (7-10 tbsp / 105-150 ml per day)
Grains NONE Dried toast or unsalted crackers Cereals, bread, rice and pasta (8-10 tbsp / 120-150 ml per day)
Meat and alternatives NONE Mashed or strained meat, fish or poultry, mashed silken tofu, well cooked legumes or egg yorks (1-3 tbsp / 15-45 ml per day) Minced or diced cooked meat such as fish or chicken. Tofu, beans or egg yorks could be included. (3-4 tbsp / 45-60 ml per day)
Milk products and milk NONE Plain yogurt, cottage cheese or grated cheese (1-2 tbsp / 15-30 ml per day) Diced/grated cheese, yogurt (2-4 tbsp / 25-60 ml per day)

Note:

Please avoid honey, added sugar and salt.

Please consult your physician about when to start nut products.

How Much Formula is Enough?

How Much Formula is Enough?

February 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

It is very difficult for mother to know how much breast milk a baby is receiving during breastfeeding. However, the volume of infant formula intake is measurable. The estimated intake of infant formula is shown as below:

Birth to 1 Week

Infant who is a week old should normally feed on cue for about 6 to 10 times a day. The amount of infant formula for each feed is about 2 to 3 oz (60-90 ml).

1 week to 1 month

The volume of formula consumed will increase with age. So, infant who is older than 1 week need 3 to 4 oz (90-120 ml) of formula each feed. He should feed in every 3 to 4 hours, which is about 6 to 8 times per day.

1 to 3 Months

The frequency of feeding decreases to 5-6 feed per day when an infant is about 1-3 months old. The intake of formula increases to 4-6 oz (120-180ml) per feed.

3 to 7 Months

A 3-7 month old baby should drink 6-7 oz (180-210ml) of formula each time. He should feed 4-5 times a day.

7 to 12 Months

After 7 months, an infant requires 7-8 oz (210-240 ml) of formula, 3-4 times a day.

Note:
Please take not that the size of a baby and the activity level will affect the actual intake of infant formula. The values provided above are estimated. If you have doubt, please check with your birthing hospital or ask your lactation consultant for advice.

Breastfeeding Basics

Breastfeeding Basics

February 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Breast milk is the best baby food for your newborns because it is full of healthy nutrition. Breast milk provides all the nutrients that a baby needs. So it is important to make sure that your baby receives enough breast milk.

How Often and How Long Should You Breastfeed?

Newborn infants should feed on cue in every 2 to 3 hours. They will usually breastfeed for about 10 to 15 minutes per breast at each feeding until they are satisfied. As the baby gets older, the baby will learn to feed more efficiently. Hence the feeding time will be shorter.

When a baby is ready to feed, they may show the following signs:

  • increased fussiness or agitation
  • tongue or lip movements
  • fists in mouth
  • open his mouth when the skin around his mouth, cheek or lips is touch
  • crying (late sign)

During the first 4 weeks, a newborn infant should be breastfed at least every 4 hours. If the infant is sleeping, he should be awakened to feed.

How Much is Enough

Counting the number of diapers produced by a newborn infant is one way of knowing if he is getting enough breast milk. A newborn baby should have 6 to 8 wet diapers after the first week of life.

Each breastfeeding session should last about 10 to 15 minute. The length of time spent at the breast is a good indicator that your baby is receiving enough breast milk. After feeding, breasts should feel softer.

Another way of checking if the newborn infant is receiving enough breast milk is by monitoring the weight gain of your infant. To ensure adequate weight gain, be sure to have your baby weighted properly after the first week.

Age Number of Feeds Stools Wet Diapers
1 to 2 Days About 8 to 12 times per day . The number of feed will incease each day . Dark green or balck meconium. 1 to 3 wet diapers.
3 to 4 Days 8 to 12 times per day

Every 2 to 3 hours

 Day 3 stool may still be black.
Day 4 stoll will be lighter in color.		 3 to 4 soaked diapers.
5 to 6 Days 8 to 12 times per day About 2 to 3 stools per day. Stool will be yellowish or seedy in color and texture. 6 or more heavy soaked diapers.
7 Days to 1 Month 8 to 12 times per day About 3 to 5 stools per day. 6 or more heavy soaked diapers.
1 to 4 Months 6 to 8 times per day or every 3 to 4 hours. They may begin to sleep through the night without feeding. 3 to 5 stools per day. Stool frequency varies between babies 6 or more heavy soaked diapers.
Breast Milk Express

Breast Milk Express

February 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

Ideally, mother should always be available to breastfeed their babies when they are hungry. However, in reality certain situations that hinder breastfeeding are unavoidable. For such occasions, it is important to have a supply of milk that has been expressed from breast and is available for the baby whenever the baby is hungry.

Choosing a Breast Pump

Express breast milk would be easier with a breast pump. There are different types of breast pump available:

  • hand-operated breast pump
  • electric or battery-powered breast pump (for home use)
  • electric breast pump (for professional or hospital)

Hand-operated pumps and home use electric pumps are significantly less expensive than the professional- or hospital-grade pumps. However, they are not as efficient and powerful as hospital-grade breast pumps. Hospital-grade breast pumps can be rented from some hospitals, pharmacies or medical supply companies at minimal cost. Depending on how often you need to use a pump, get one which is best suit your need.

Steps for Success Breast Milk Express

  1. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before pumping breast milk. Wash the breast pump with hot soapy water and air-dried the pump. Breast pump should be sterilized on daily basis.
  2. Find a quite place to pump. An article of clothing or a blanket that smell like baby may help let down the milk. Pumping should be done as often as a mother would breastfeed her infant.
  3. Pump each breast for approximately 10-15 minutes until the milk stops flowing.
  4. Collect milk in appropriate containers. Make sure the container is sterilized and it is labeled with date and time of expression. This will help to remember the order of the milk was pumped.
  5. The expressed breast milk should be stored in refrigerator or freezer. Frozen milk should be stored in small amount, for example 60 to 125 ml. Fresh milk can be stored up to 48 hours in the fridge whereas frozen can be store up to 6 months.
  6. Defrost frozen milk overnight in refrigerator or run under warm running water. Do not microwave or place breast milk in hot water because this will destroy its immunological components. Don’t forget to test temperature of the breast milk before feeding the baby.
  7. After the feeding, discard any unfinished breast milk.
Nutrition Needs for Mom during Breastfeeding

Nutrition Needs for Mom during Breastfeeding

February 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

In general, a breastfeeding mom needs 400 to 500 extra calories per day for the first 12 months because the production of breast milk requires energy. However, if you have gained more weight than you should have during pregnancy, you can add more calories only when you really need them. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.

Below is a chart that shows the nutrition needs of a breastfeeding mom.

Nutrients Breastfeedign Mom Source
Vitamin A, C, E You need more vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E than when you were pregnant. Vitamin A: carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, pumpkins, mangos, milk, cheese

Vitamin C: kiwifruit, orange, grapefruit, mangos, strawberry, broccoli, tomato

Vitamin E: wheat germ, corn oil, olive oil, almonds, soy oil
B Vitamins The needs for B vitamins remain the same as they were during pregnancy.

Folate You need a little less folate than you were during pregnancy. Dark green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, whole fortified grains
Calcium Your calcium needs remain the same as when you were pregnant.
Iron You need less iron. However if you have anemic, you may require additional iron. Please check with your doctor.
Fibre Your fibre needs remain unchanged.
Breastfeeding Positions

Breastfeeding Positions

February 19th, 2010 by admin  |  No Comments

There are many ways you can hold your baby while breastfeeding. In whatever position you choose, your baby should have easy access to your breast and you should feel relaxed during breastfeeding. Below are four main breastfeeding positions which most women feel comfortable with.

- Cross Cradle Position

- Foot-ball Position

- Side-lying Position

- Cradle Position

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