Balanced good nutrition is an indispensable condition for the normal development of systems and organs of the baby. It is necessary that babies receive a certain amount of macronutrients (fats, proteins, carbohydrates), vitamins and minerals daily. Due to this, they will grow smart, cheerful and healthy. How to organize a proper diet for children up to one year old? We’ll figure this out.
Types of nutrition
There are 3 types of feeding babies up to a year: mixed, artificial and natural. Each is characterized by a specific diet of the child. Consider the features of various types of kids menu. General regimens apply to healthy infants. The norms of food consumption in case of violations are established by the doctor.
Artificial Feeding
The child with artificial feeding receives an adapted milk mixture. In his diet, there may be breast milk, with no more than 20% of the total volume of food.
Such feeding requires a strict diet of the child. The interval should be at least 3 hours between meals a month and later. It must be maintained, since the mixture is digested much more slowly than mother's milk.
Natural feeding
A baby breastfed for up to 6 months is fed exclusively by breast milk. In accordance with WHO recommendations, after this age, complementary foods (solid foods) are gradually introduced into his diet. In the daily volume of food, the proportion of breast milk is reduced, however, remains high. E.O. Komarovsky, a popular pediatrician, insists that complementary feeding is not practical at an earlier date.
Most specialists when breastfeeding advise feeding the baby freely, on demand. This approach enables lactation to be maintained at the required level. After 2-3 months, with free feeding, a flexible diet of the child appears: meals take place every 2-2.5 hours.
Mixed feeding
In this case, the proportion of breast milk is 20% or more of the daily ration. The diet with this type of nutrition depends only on the level of lactation of the woman. If the basis is breast milk, then you need to bring the schedule closer to free. If the mixture prevails, then the diet should be organized by the hour.
How to calculate the required amount of food?
First 7 days
In the first week of life, the calculation of the daily volume of breast milk or mixture is carried out in one of 2 ways:
- Finkelstein formula. To determine the daily amount of a mixture or milk for a baby whose mass is not less than 3.2 kg, you need to multiply its age in days by 70. In case the child's weight is up to 3.2 kg, the number of his days of life should be multiplied by 80.
- Formula Zaitseva. It should be the birth weight of the baby at birth multiplied by the number of days of his life, and from this number to find 2%. As a result, you get the right amount of food per day.
Regardless of the formula used, the amount obtained should be divided by the number of feedings. Thus, you can find out the volume of the mixture or milk, sufficient for one meal.
Older than 7 days
To calculate the amount of food for a newborn after 7 days and up to a year, the method according to Czerny and Geibener or volume is used. You must understand that the first method allows you to determine the required total amount of fluid per day, including milk, mixture, juice, water, tea, etc. In this case, you must take into account the age of the child and his weight.
At the present moment, this technique is rarely used, because it is not designed for babies with increased mass, who are now being born more and more. The most rational is the volumetric method.
The introduction of complementary foods
There are special WHO instructions containing information on the order of introduction of food into the diet of babies in the first year of life. Below are monthly tips.
Porridge should be cooked on the water. The diet at 6 months, like his diet, is gradually changing. From this time, vegetable oil should be added to cereals and mashed potatoes. Initially, it is worth adding 1 drop, bringing the volume gradually to a teaspoon. At 7 months, butter is introduced into the diet. First 1 gram, on average in the future - 10 grams. It is advisable to add it to ready-made cereals.
Such a feeding scheme is suitable for breastfeeding children. If the baby receives the mixture, you can introduce solid food from 5 months, because his body is in dire need of minerals and vitamins for full development. The same table applies, though all the lines move for one month.
Each new product must be given to the child in the first half of the day. The amount should be increased gradually, bringing it to the norm for age and constantly monitoring the reaction of the baby's body. In a week, the baby should be introduced to one new dish. If there is a failure in the digestive tract or an allergy, the product from the menu should be removed for about a month.
Diet at 1 year and older
Lactation can be maintained even if mom went to work. At the same time, the frequency of applying the baby to the chest will significantly decrease, however, the baby will still receive the most valuable elements. If there is a need to stop lactation, doctors advise not to do this during the illness of the child, when his body is weakened, and in the summer, since at this time there is a very high probability of infection of the crumbs with an intestinal infection.
The child’s diet at 1 year does not differ from the previous month, though the portions are slightly increased. For breakfast and a snack, you need to feed him mashed vegetables or porridge. Lunch and dinner must be hearty. You can offer marshmallows, marmalade, marshmallows for dessert, while tea, water, jelly, fruit drink or compote are better for drinking.
Dates, Volumes and Products
The transition of a child to "adult" food is a completely new stage in his life. But he is much more exciting for his mom. What to feed first of all? How to change the volume? How to cook food? How to make the first menu delicious?
The diet and requirements for the introduction of products in recent years have changed significantly. Pediatricians do not insist on the need to give children cottage cheese from four months and juices from two. But the recommendations that are proposed by WHO, and those that are enshrined in the provisions of the Ministry of Health of Russia, differ significantly. So, the last allowed the introduction of complementary foods in 4 months, while everything is carried out at a forced pace.
Nutrition up to a year
Diet still remains on time or on a clock basis. Moreover, in the recommendations of the Ministry of Health of our country, a schedule of complementary foods for babies up to a year is proposed, which requires using cereals, vegetables, meat and cottage cheese, fruit purees, juices by 7 months in their diet. This schedule does not comply with WHO recommendations, where it is clearly noted that only at the age of six months is the correction of the diet carried out. And only according to individual indications and in individual cases, which can include a critical lag in development and weight gain, does it make sense in an early change in the baby’s diet.
From seven to twelve months, chewing skills are improved. The kid learns to move food to his teeth with his tongue, bite, and remove it from his spoon with his lips. During this period, it is advised to change the consistency of dishes, while maintaining the previously selected diet of the child (in the year it should also be left unchanged). They are served chopped, mashed, in a form that is convenient for eating with handles.
Only after a year does the stability of the jaws appear, while the chewing movements acquire a rotational, adult character. The child at this time can be fully transferred to the food of the family table.
Product Administration Method
You need to understand how in practice to provide the recommendations mentioned above. Consider a technique designed for 90 days, which was created by the World Health Organization.
Complementary foods
WHO advises using zucchini as the first baby food. Vegetable served mashed, boiled. The next product is cauliflower, then broccoli.
So, for the introduction of 3 vegetables into the child’s diet, it will take you about twenty-one days. Further, as you bring each product to the norm recommended by age, it will be possible to mix them in any necessary proportions, as well as offer the child a multi-component or one-component puree.
Complementary foods
It can be started after vegetables are introduced. At the same time, children with a lag in weight by porridges are recommended to be fed initially.
The period of introducing cereals into the baby's food takes 3 weeks. At this time, the child is 7.5 months old; therefore, it is too early to introduce meat into his diet. The World Health Organization advises at this stage to include new foods from cereals and vegetables in the lure of the baby.
New products
Another vegetable complementary foods is a pumpkin with a sweet taste, therefore, kids like it. Porridge with it is a classic of children's cuisine, but a new product should be combined only with vegetables that are identical in structure.
After the pumpkin has been introduced, you can start feeding with fruits. In the middle of the 7th month, it's time for the baby to introduce an apple. You need to understand that the recommendation of doctors about the introduction of this product at this time is simple. Fruits have a bright, pronounced taste. As a child, he can be received with much more enthusiasm than the neutral taste of zucchini. Then the baby, who first tried not vegetables, but fruits, can simply refuse the latter.
The next step towards the end of the 7th month may be the introduction of some new cereal. At this time, the baby’s digestive tract is ripe for millet porridge.
Meat introduction
A baby's diet at eight months is 4 types of cereals in the form of dairy-free cereals, an apple and four vegetables. During this period, you should enter the menu meat, carefully cooked, grind twice in a meat grinder or grated. WHO recommends the use of rabbit fillets in the form of first meat, as it is the most lean and least allergenic product.
A child’s meat product is rarely immediately taken. You can mix it in small portions with porridge. In this case, the child will not notice him in the initial minimum doses. When the volume increases significantly, the crumb taste of the meat will seem familiar, and it is already much less likely to refuse it.
Expansion of complementary foods
Fruits are a source of vitamins and also stimulate the intestines. After the introduction of meat to normalize digestion, it is recommended to introduce prunes in the next step.
So the child has a rich breakfast of fruits and cereal component, an equally rich lunch of meat and vegetable puree.
Meat expansion
Another product will be low-fat turkey fillet, which will be an excellent alternative to rabbit.
The child is already familiar with a sufficiently large number of products, any new ones are also used during the 2nd breakfast in the morning. Because of this, there is a periodic correction of the usual menu for lunch and breakfast, but this is necessary in order to notice in time the reaction to any new component of the diet when it appears.
Expansion of fruit feeding
Another type of fruit is a pear. But it’s not necessarily it, you can introduce any fruit that matches your locality, for example, peach, apricot. Or try to feed the baby with a banana, which children usually eat with joy.
The first 90 days, as it became clear from the article above, are very eventful. In no case do not be discouraged if you "fit" into the schedule or the child refuses to eat food in this volume. Your current task is to diversify its menu with new tastes for exploring them. Therefore, in the diet every week there is a new product.
Similarly, the rest of the complementary foods recommended for the age of the crumbs are subsequently introduced. New only available for breakfast. When fermented milk products are included in the diet, the child has an afternoon snack, where fruit puree will go. Accordingly, the dietary regimen per year will be slightly adjusted. Cookies and crackers are offered as a snack during the day. After the introduction of the fish, it will be necessary to alternate it with meat, one day not offering them.