Digestion of food begins in the mouth. It is there that foods are ground and mixed with saliva, which helps digest the starch. Further digestion takes place in the gastrointestinal tract. In babies, the production of saliva is insufficient, and the gastric juice of an infant has less digestion power than that of an adult. Therefore, food for a child should be selected taking into account his age.
Instructions
Step 1
From the first days of life and at least up to six months, the best food for a baby is mother's milk. When a baby is breastfed, his stomach acid has a small acidity, which is only enough for the digestion of breast milk. The state of the baby's digestion depends on the foods that the mother eats. Whole milk, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables, and yeast bread are bad for the baby's digestion. These foods can provoke colic in an infant and are therefore not recommended for use by a nursing mother.
Step 2
Fermented milk products, baked fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, cheeses are useful for the child. It is also important to remember that the baby's gastrointestinal tract is highly permeable. Therefore, all toxins ingested with food are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and can cause severe poisoning. In this regard, it is necessary to exclude from the mother's diet those products that can cause poisoning: canned food, pastries with cream or cream, chips, crackers, sausages.
Step 3
For formula-fed babies, formula is the main food. Therefore, it is necessary to be very responsible in its choice. Preference should be given to those blends that do not contain palm oil. The acids that make up it are difficult to digest. If a bottle-fed baby has colic, you need to change the mixture.
Step 4
Up to three months, a baby's stomach cannot digest anything other than breast milk or adapted formulas. After three months, juices can be added drop by drop. Any other food is not digested by the baby's stomach until 4 months.
Step 5
Up to 4, 5-6 months, foreign protein is not absorbed by the child's body. The meat is not digested until the baby is 7-8 months old. After that, you can introduce meat into the baby's diet in the form of mashed potatoes, minced meat, steam cutlets. The baby's stomach does not digest fish until 9-10 months. Fatty fish are poorly digested even at an older age.
Step 6
Until salivation becomes sufficient to soften food, solid foods are poorly absorbed in the baby's stomach. Therefore, it is better to give food in a chopped form. Almost until school age, the child's gastrointestinal tract does not cope well with fungi. Fried foods, spicy and overly salty foods have a negative effect on digestion.
Step 7
Great attention should be paid to the nutrition of children by the parents, because it is in infancy and childhood that eating habits are established. The habit of eating properly will save the child from big problems in the future.
