Top 5 Nutrients for Infants

Who is an infant?

Babies of 1 month to 4 years of age are called as infants.

Is breast milk a complete meal for your baby?

It is famously said that a newborn must be kept on breast feeding as it contains all the essential nutrients and acts as a complete meal for the baby. But is it a complete meal for your precious baby?

Yes! a part of it is true, i.e. from birth to 2 months of age, an infant should be kept on breast feeding. From there on an infant must be weaned and less episodes of breast milk required for a complete healthy growth of baby.

Top 5 nutrients for Infants

Following nutrients can be very healthy for your baby to have a steady and healthy growth.

Carbohydrates

Daily requirements for carbohydrates in infants is 5 grams/kilograms of weight every day.

Rich sources of carbohydrates are bread, cereals, rice, grains, mashed potatoes.

Fats

Human milk is high in low chain fatty acids which means infant requires an extra load of fat in its diet especially which contains DHA around 4 grams/kilograms of weight, daily. Fatty acids are essential for brain development.

Rich sources of fatty acids are cheese, finger fries, dry fruits, fish.

Protein

An Infant requires more protein than an adult. Daily requirements of protein are 0.9 grams/kilogram of weight by 1 year.

Rich sources of protein are white of eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, meat.

Iron

Newborn normally has sufficient stores of iron for 4-6 months. Hence need for intake of iron doubles after 6 months of age. Iron helps formation of blood and circulation of oxygen around the body.

Rich sources of iron are green vegetables for example spinach and broccoli, lentils, beans, fruits.

Vitamin D

Supplementation recommended at birth using 400 IU /day for breast fed and partially breast fed infants until infant is on 1 litre of vitamin D fortified formula or whole milk per day.

Basics of growth in infant

It is observed that a newborn loses its weight up to 10% of the actual birth weight in the first week of life due to loss of extra fluids from its body, although it should regain its lost weight in the next couple of weeks after birth.

The weight of an infant typically doubles the birth weight in about 6 months of life and triples by 1 year of age. By the time the baby reaches the age of 18 months, his or her appetite declines and so the infant loses its weight.

From the age of 2 to 5 years, the height and weight of the baby increase at steady rate whereas the head size decreases a bit.

In short, the more knowledge the mother has, the healthier the baby.