Breastfeeding and feeding are always moments of wellbeing for the baby. The special care and attention made it feel safe and secure.
Breastfeeding Is Exactly What An Infant Needs
Babies should be breastfed during the first year of life, exclusively until at least five months old. Even after introducing complementary foods, you should continue to breastfeed your baby for as long as you and your baby want. Because breastfeeding offers the ideal opportunity to give your baby exactly what allows it to thrive: Breast milk is tailored to the needs of an infant, and when your baby is suckling your breast, it feels security, security, and protection.
This applies to all infants, including children at risk of allergies and those who have a physical or mental impairment. Most children with Down syndrome (trisomy 21), for example, can also be breastfed. There are special aids for deforming the jaw. If it is difficult to swallow, it may sometimes be necessary to feed the child initially through a tube. However, impairments – for example, a weak sucking reflex or a serious heart defect – make breastfeeding impossible. But even if your baby gets the bottle, it will thrive with your loving care and attention.
Feel Physical Closeness
In the first few months of life, babies experience closeness, warmth, and affection primarily through close physical contact. When your baby is cradled or caressed in your arms, especially when breastfeeding, it will very closely feel your warmth and closeness. Your care and attention make it feel accepted and secure.
This close physical contact helps you get to know each other and develop the relationship between you and the baby. It will help you both to become familiar with each other and to communicate better.
Experience Reliability And Understanding
After perhaps initial uncertainties, you will probably be able to understand and answer your baby’s signals and impulses better and better:
- For example, if he smacks his lips and turns to his chest, or depending on how he screams, you know he is hungry and feeds him.
- If he turns away or turns away, you will soon see that he is full and has had enough.
In this way, you show your baby that they can rely on you, and they can feel your attention and care. At the same time, it makes the important experience that it is understood and can make a difference. In this togetherness, you both learn to coordinate better and better, and you will soon become a “well-rehearsed team.” However, some infants with developmental delays or disabilities sleep longer and tend to have poor drive overall. In this case, it can be useful to wake the child to drink. This is also recommended for people with little weight gain, poor drinking, and yellowing.
Experience Shared Meals As Moments Of Togetherness
If your child is given mass food and family food and sits at the family table, the meals will continue to be important moments of togetherness and mutual exchange. Your child will enjoy being able to sit at the table in their high chair. It looks at how the “big ones” eat and would like to do the same soon.
Although not all meals can be shared with the family, you should give your child the opportunity to do so as often as possible. In this way, they can experience that meals are an opportunity to be together and belong to the family and that eating is not a minor matter.
The Diet Keeps Pace With The Development
When the baby has reached the age that breast milk is no longer sufficient as the sole food, his ability to eat has usually also developed to such an extent that he can now increasingly consume solid food. This is usually the case between the beginning of the fifth and seventh months of life.
- The baby can suckle and swallow breast milk, infant milk, and other liquid foods from day one. This phase of complete milk nutrition ideally changes into the porridge phase between the beginning of the fifth and, at the latest, the beginning of the seventh month of life. The sucking reflex is now reduced, and the child can grab the spoon, push the porridge back with the tongue and swallow.
- Even after the introduction of complementary foods, babies should continue to be breastfed. Mother and child determine the total length of breastfeeding.
- At around six to eight months, the first teeth usually breakthrough, so that the child can chew on the crust of bread. It can now tolerate somewhat coarser dishes and has got used to the complementary foods.
- After introducing the third porridge meal, the child also needs something to drink – preferably from their mug or cup.
- At the age of eight or nine months, the child can usually pick up, hold and eat finger bites with thumb and forefinger on their own.
- From around the tenth month onwards, the child is gradually introduced to the family diet. It can now eat sandwiches and coarsely mashed meals on its own.
In this way, nutrition keeps pace with development and, conversely, important developmental steps in the first year of life are reflected in nutrition.
When The Child Has A Developmental Delay Or Disability
If the child has a disability, they may not be able to eat solid food until later. In any case, it should be encouraged to eat independently. This often requires a lot of calm and patience. Nothing should be forced either.
Some children remain dependent on being fed and can only eat pasty, mashed foods. In this case, you should pay attention to a balanced porridge and not just sweet porridges. The risk of developing dental caries is high here. For example, bread can also be passed through and gradually structured more coarsely.
Also Read: TIPS OF NUTRITION PLAN FOR EATING HEALTHILY
