Nutrition for Your Best Milk
May 26, 2008
What’s in Breast Milk?
Breast milk is the perfect source of nutrition for infants. Breast milk contains appropriate amounts of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. It also provides the digestive proteins, minerals, vitamins, and hormones that infants need. Breast milk contains valuable antibodies from the mother that may help the baby resist infections.Best Nutrition for your Breast Milk
Breast milk has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates. There is nothing better for the health of your baby. Leukocytes are living cells that are only found in breast milk. They help fight infection. It is the antibodies, living cells, enzymes, and hormones that make breast milk ideal. These cannot be added to formula.
Toddler Nutrition - Beyond breast milk
The Department of Health recommend exclusive breast feeding for the first six months (26 weeks) of a baby’s life as this provides all the nutrients a baby needs. Once weaning has started, breast feeding is still important, particularly as cows’ milk should not be given to infants less than 12 months old (it is a poor source of iron). Breast feeds will gradually decrease as solid intake increases but exclusive breast feeding can be continued up to 12 months and beyond as infants will still need approximately 500-600ml of breast milk per day to help satisfy their nutritional requirements and thirst. Beyond 12 months, expressed breast milk can be given as a drink in a cup. If you cannot breast feed then use formula.
The first milk your body produces is called colostrum, a substance that gives infants unparalleled protection from illness. Pediatricians recommend that new mothers feed their babies within an hour after birth, setting the stage for future nursing while providing new babies with the best nutrition available. Human breast milk is a mixture of proteins, enzymes, sugars, vitamins, minerals, hormones and antibodies that do good things for mothers as well as babies.
The authors conclude that based on their results the recommended intakes of vitamin C for pregnant smokers should be revised. The authors also suggest that further investigations be done to determine further clinical consequences of the findings presented.
Eating nutritious food and learning good meal-time behaviors are important for children due to the rapid growth and the major developmental changes that they undergo. Meal times can also be an opportunity for learning and developing social and motor skills, and for being introduced to new foods. Skills such as handwashing, table manners, and carrying on a conversation at the dinner table can be developed and reinforced. Age-appropriate motor skills can be fostered by encouraging children to use child-sized utensils and encouraging children to clear their dishes and utensils from the table. Child-sized furniture and handwashing sinks help children feel comfortable and help the children learn.
Comments
Got something to say? Join the conversation and leave a comment below.
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!