Many new mothers begin to grumble when their baby is five months old.
Some people are able to exclusively breastfeed smoothly without any hindrance. At the same time, they hear others say that something should be added, and they are worried that if the child only drinks milk, the nutrition will not be able to meet the needs and the child will not be able to keep up.
In fact, if you relax your mind, this is the case of the World Health Organization and the same is true of our latest domestic feeding guidelines. They all give clear recommendations: exclusive breastfeeding until six months, which is the best.
For babies who are just five months old, the enzyme responsible for digesting starch in their intestines and stomach has not yet matured. If rice flour and fruit puree are forcibly added at this time, it will easily lead to indigestion, flatulence and even allergies.
When the baby turns six months old, his tongue thrust reflex has disappeared, he can sit firmly against the back of a chair, and he is obviously interested in adults eating, then it is the best time to start the journey of complementary feeding.
Pure breast milk for five months can fully meet growth needs
Babies at this stage need energy and nutrients every day. breast milk Basically all can be provided.
Breast milk contains just the right amount of protein, the right amount of fat, and the right amount of carbohydrates. It also contains a large amount of immunoglobulins and active enzymes, which cannot be replaced by any formula or complementary food.
Some parents think that babies wake up frequently at night because they don't have enough to eat. In fact, this is likely to be discomfort before teething, or a normal manifestation of the transition to sleep cycles.
If you blindly add complementary foods in advance, not only will the baby not sleep through the whole night, but it may also increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract because the baby is already too full.
If a five-month-old baby shows a normal growth trend in weight, urinates more than six times a day, and is in a good mental state, it indicates that the intake of breast milk is sufficient.
All the mother has to do is to continue to feed according to the needs, ensure that her diet is balanced, and she takes in more soup and water. In this way, the quality of the milk can be naturally guaranteed.
Adding complementary foods too early can harm the gastrointestinal tract
Some elders think rice soup and egg yolk are nutritious and want to feed them to their children early.
The intestinal barrier function of a five-month-old baby is not yet perfect. If he is exposed to foods other than milk too early, macromolecular proteins can easily pass through the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream, causing allergic reactions, such as aggravation of eczema and blood streaks in the stool.
In other respects, babies at this age are not very good at swallowing mushy food. If they are forcibly fed complementary foods, it will easily cause the food to choke into the trachea, which is quite dangerous.
What you really need to worry about is not insufficient nutrition, but whether your digestive system can handle it.
By about the sixth month, the iron stored in the baby's body is basically exhausted, and the iron contained in breast milk is not enough to meet the demand. It is at this moment that you need to get extra iron from high-iron rice noodles.
So we will breastfeed in a down-to-earth manner in May and don’t worry about that month.
Pay attention to methods when adding complementary foods starting in June
Once your baby is six months old, you can add it step by step.
It is best to take complementary food for the first time in the morning between the two milk meals, when the baby is in a good mood.
The high-iron rice noodles are prepared according to a specific method to make it appear in an extremely thin paste form, so that it can drip naturally after being scooped up. Then, with the tip of a small spoon, carefully dip a little of it into it, and then slowly place it on the baby's lips, and then let the baby sip it into his mouth in his own way.
Try half a scoop on the first day and watch for rash, diarrhea or vomiting.
It's fine for three days in a row, then slowly increase the amount to make it thicker.
Start with rice noodles, then try mashed potatoes, then pumpkin, then carrots. Each new food needs to be eaten alone for three days to observe allergic reactions.
Fruit purees such as apple puree and banana puree can be added slightly later because the fruit has a sweet taste, which may easily cause the baby to no longer like vegetables with light taste.
When determining the amount of complementary food, it is enough to control it at 20 to 30 ml each time. Do not affect the normal milk volume. After all, milk is still the staple food before one year old.
Several signals that can be practiced five months in advance
Just don't feed non-staple food for five months, but you can pay attention to whether the baby sends out signals that he is ready to eat.
For example, the baby can sit up on the sofa and his head can stand firmly; when he sees an adult eating, he will reach out to grab or drool; when feeding water with a spoon, the baby can close his lips to sip the water in, instead of pushing the spoon out with the tongue.
If these signs appear, you can safely start after six months.
There is another preparatory action that can be done, which is to let the baby sit in the dining chair for a few minutes to adapt to the ritual feeling of eating. However, do not place food on the chair.
Mom, you can also read books on complementary feeding, and prepare tools such as complementary feeding machines, silicone soft spoons, and waterproof bibs in advance to avoid being busy and confused by then.
To summarize the last content, for a five-month-old baby to drink breast milk quietly, this is the most ideal feeding method. Don’t be misled by words like “other people’s children eat it”.
Wait until six months have passed before starting to add high-iron rice noodles, changing from thin to thick, from fine to thick, from single to more diverse, and observe each new food for three days.
Complementary food is added not to fill you up, but to supplement iron and exercise chewing and swallowing abilities.
The egg yolk milk and fish head soup recipes mentioned earlier are more suitable for infants and young children aged seven or eight months. When there is no allergy to egg white at that time, the fish can be processed into a fine paste before feeding.
Remember this sentence: Don't compare, don't fall into anxiety, follow the signals given, and do it step by step. Every baby has its own rhythm.
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