Nourishing Your Newborn

Learn how to give your little one a healthy start with these tips on proper nutrition.

More on:

• Healthy Foods
• Nutrition
• Children's Health
• Parenting Kids

The Basics

Proper early nutrition is important. The eating patterns established in infancy determine how well a baby grows and also influence lifelong food habits and attitudes.

New parents probably worry more about feeding their baby than any other aspect of early child care. What if I can't breast-feed? How do I know if the baby is getting enough? Too much? Should I give the baby vitamins? When do I start solid food? Parents quickly learn that almost everyone is eager to answer such questions -- grandparents, neighbors -- even strangers in the supermarket. As might be expected, however, much of the advice is conflicting and adds to a parent's feelings of confusion and uncertainty. So let's begin with a few anxiety busters:

• Get to know your baby. No two infants are alike. Some enter the world ravenously hungry and demand to be fed every hour or two. Others seem to prefer sleeping, and may even need to be awakened to eat.
• Try to relax. It's natural for new parents to feel nervous and apprehensive, but raising a baby should be a joyful experience.
• Trust your own judgment and common sense. If a baby is growing and developing at a normal pace, he's getting enough to eat.
• Keep food in its proper perspective. It provides the essential energy and nourishment infants need to grow and develop. But food should not be a substitute for a reassuring hug or used as a bribe or reward for good behavior. Even an infant quickly learns how to use food as a manipulative tool, which can set the stage for later eating problems.

In the Beginning, They Are What You Eat
Good infant nutrition actually begins before birth, because what the mother eats during pregnancy goes a long way toward determining her baby's initial nutritional health. A well-nourished mother provides plenty of nutrients her baby can use for proper growth and development in the uterus, as well as to store for later use. Skimping on food to avoid gaining excessive weight while pregnant can produce a low-birth-weight baby who has special nutritional needs or serious medical problems. An anemic woman is likely to have a baby with low iron reserves. A woman who does not consume adequate folate may have a baby with serious neurological problems. High doses of vitamin A before and during early pregnancy can cause birth defects. All pregnant women are strongly advised to have regular prenatal checkups and to eat a varied and balanced diet.

Breast Milk -- Babies' First Food
Physicians are in agreement that breast milk provides the best and most complete food to achieve optimal health, growth, and development for full-term infants. In fact, the recommendation of the World Health Organization is that a full-term, healthy infant should be exclusively breast-fed up to 6 months of age (premature and low-birth-weight babies may need specialized formula and breast milk). An adequate alternative to breast milk is commercial infant formula, which provides comparable nutrition but lacks some of the unique benefits of breast milk.

Although breast-feeding for 6 months may not be possible for every mother, a baby can benefit from any amount of breast milk -- even a few feedings. Colostrum, the breast fluid that is secreted for the first few days after birth, is higher in protein and lower in sugar and fat than later breast milk. It has a laxative effect that activates the baby's bowels. Colostrum is also rich in antibodies, which increase the baby's resistance to infection. Hormones released in response to the baby's suckling increase the flow of breast milk, and within a few days women produce enough mature milk for their infants. Mature breast milk is easy to digest and provides just about all the nutrients a baby normally needs for the first 4 to 6 months. This milk has two parts -- the beginning of the feed is foremilk, which is high in sugar and water and a real thirst quencher for the baby. As the baby continues to feed, the breast decreases in size and the milk becomes a fat and calorie-rich milk, known as hindmilk.

A breast-fed baby can remain on breast milk exclusively until the introduction of age-appropriate foods at 4 to 6 months of life. In addition, a daily supplement of vitamin D (400 IU) is recommended in the United States and Canada for breast-fed babies and should be continued until an adequate amount of vitamin D is consumed through diet. Beginning at 4 to 6 months of age, these babies usually require additional iron, which is typically provided by an iron-fortified cereal. Fluoride supplementation may be required for some infants after 6 months. Babies of vegan mothers may require a B12 supplement.

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