The baby’s growth and good health depends on the quality of the food it is given:
• Most mothers have little knowledge of this subject, as you well know, and they would rather follow recipes handed down to them than simple, easy rules. This is why weaning is so important. The vast majority of breast-fed children actually grow without problems up to about 6 or 8 months.
• But the mother does not introduce the necessary foods to suplement breastfeeding until later, whereas human milk (though still an excellent food) is no longer sufficient to meet the baby’s nutritional requirements after 4 to 6 months. Fresh or boxed cow’s milk is similarly insufficient.
• Furthermore, in some regions or families, babies are weaned abruptly which is always harmful to them: changes in diet should always be gradual, not abrupt.
• The following advice is not at all revolutionary or miraculous; it is simply to help you cope with the nutritional problems you have to deal with everyday.
• We shall first consider the various types of food available, then the form in which they can be given to the baby before describing diets suitable for each age.
Warnings about weaning :
Avoid early and/or abrupt weaning.
From the age of 4 to 6 months human milk is insufficient food for a baby.
A varied diet is recommended between 4 and 6 months and is compulsory at 6 months to avoid malnutrition. ,
The diet should be altered gradually and fruit and vegetables introduced little by little.
The Various Foods
General Information About Food
The substances which form foods are:
– water
– proteins
– carbohydrates
– fats
– vitamins
– mineral salts
• Each of these substances has a different role in nutrition. Some are essential for growth, others for the functioning of the organism.
1. Water
Water is absolutely essential for life. Babies need a fairly large quantity of water, particularly when the weather is hot.
Up to 4 months, its mother’s milk gives the baby all the water it needs, even in hot, dry climates, and water should not be given unless the baby is ill (fever, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.) and on medical advice.
2. Proteins
These are substances necessary for the growth of the muscles and organs.
They can provide energy, but the organism usually prefers to save this energy and to use proteins as building materials.
Proteins are distinguished according to their origin:
– animal proteins : these are found in milk, meat, fish and eggs. They are rich proteins, absolutely essential for growth.
– vegetable proteins, by contrast, are of poorer quality; they are found in groundnuts, squash seeds, beans, soya, cereals (millet, sorghum, rice, corn and wheat) and cereal based products.
Animal proteins are not absolutely essential for a child to grow.
A diet containing vegetable proteins only would be inadequate. Unless a mixture of 2 vegetable proteins (e.g. dal & wheat) is given.
3. Carbohydrates or sugars
Foods containing sugar provide energy to allow the organs and muscles to function. They are quite common and it is unusual for a baby to be short of them. Carbohydrates are found in milk, which contains everything the infant needs, and in many plants and fruits : wheat, corn, millet, sorghum, rice, pasta, yams, sweet potatoes, taro, manioc, potatoes, carrots, bananas and various fruits and vegetables.
4. Lipids or fats
Fats provide a lot of energy in a very small volume. They must form part of a balanced diet.
Fats are found in milk and in groundnut, palm, olive oil, butter and coconut.
A few reminders
• 100 g of meat or 100 g of fish or 3 eggs or 1/2 litre of cow’s milk provide approximately the same quantity of proteins with good nutritional value.
• Sugar is composed exclusively of carbohydrates. 1g of sugar provides 4 calories.
• A given quantity of fats provides twice as many calories as the same quantity of sugar or proteins.
5. Vitamins
These are substances acting in small doses to help the organism to function. Lack of vitamins causes particular diseases for each type of vitamin. The majority of essential vitamins are found in fruits (pineapples, bananas, papayas, melons, mangoes, lemons, oranges) and in vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, okra, avocados, courgettes, carrots) as well as in the green leaves used to prepare various dishes.
6. Mineral salts
Three mineral salts are very important:
• Salt: itself is essential for the organism; it is contained in milk but has to be added to most other foods;
• Calcium : this is responsible for the strength of the bones. So, it is essential for growth. Calcium is found in milk and cheese.
• Iron : this is required for formation of blood. A deficiency o iron on lead to anemia.
Foods particularly rich in :
• Calcium : cheese, milk, green vegetables (spinach, letuce, sweet potato and manioc leaves).
• Phosphorus : cheese, liver, dried beans, cereals.
• Potassium : beans, lentils, avocado.