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Everyone knows that the best nutrition for a child in the first year of life is breast milk. This is especially true of the first six months when the baby cannot eat any other food. However, a woman does not always have the opportunity to breastfeed her baby. Health problems for which you need to take medications that are incompatible with lactation, the absence of the mother next to the child, and the banal lack of milk leads to the fact that breast milk needs something to replace.
It’s a great happiness that we live in a time when there are special adapted infant formulas that are as close as possible to breast milk. They also contain vitamins and minerals necessary for the baby. But sometimes the mixture may not be suitable for the child, because it is, after all, not the mother’s breast milk. Some components of the mixture can cause an allergic reaction in the child, indigestion or an unprecedented colic.How to understand that the mixture does not fit the child?
How to choose a mixture for a child
If for some reason you decide to transfer the baby to artificial feeding, do not rush to do it yourself. First you need to contact your pediatrician. He, knowing the characteristics of your child’s body, will select the most optimal baby food that is right for you. At the same time, I would like to note that it is rarely possible to pick the right mixture the first time. We have to try products from a single manufacturer to find the best. So, how to choose a mixture for a child?
- Mixtures can be physiological or therapeutic. The physiological mixture is intended only for the nutrition and saturation of the child. But the treatment is able to correct some malfunctions in the child’s body.
- If a child has a rash after drinking this or that mixture, the baby may be prone to allergies. In this case, you should try to use the mixture marked "ON", which means the product is hypoallergenic.
- Some babies suffer from lactose intolerance, such crumbs need a lactose-free or low-lactose mixture.Lactose intolerance is the absence in the child's body of a certain enzyme that helps to process lactose. As a result, the baby appears bloating, gas, colic, the stool can become very liquid, dysbacteriosis is diagnosed. However, a big mistake to completely translate the child to lactose-free diet. In this case, the enzymes for lactose digestion completely refuse to work in its intestines. To stabilize the condition of the child and to accustom him to lactose, you can replace the mixture with a low-lactose or a mixture with lactase - it is much easier to digest it.
- It so happens that the child’s body does not tolerate cow protein, in this case it is necessary to find a manufacturer of infant formula, on whose products “Soy” will be written.
- When choosing a mixture for the child, pay attention to the criterion of age. Usually, infant formula is divided into meals up to six months, up to a year and after the first year of a child’s life. The first formula or mixture designed to nourish babies in the first six months of life is repeatedly saturated with vitamins and minerals that are involved in the development of the child’s immunity.In the first six months, the kidneys of the child do not work at full capacity, it is not worth giving the extra moisture to the crumbs. That is why the mixture is quite concentrated in nutrients. But the mixture, designed for babies after 6 months, helps them fill the lack of energy due to an increase in physical activity. After a year you need to drink the third formula of the mixture, which helps strengthen the immune system and normalize the bowels. When choosing a mixture for your child, by all means consider his age.
- If the child suffers from constipation or diarrhea, you need to choose fermented milk mixtures that colonize the intestines with beneficial bacteria and normalize its work. You do not need to use them all the time - it can provoke frequent regurgitation of a child. But alternate food or mix fermented milk mixtures with fresh food possible.
- Anti-reflux mixtures are shown to children who often burp and often. Their composition includes components that, getting into the stomach, increase their viscosity and density. This complicates the process of regurgitation, so the child can finally get all the nutritional properties.
- There are special mixes for premature babies.If your child was born prematurely, use just such products - they are aimed at the early formation and development of the body, at weight gain.
- When choosing a mixture, do not forget to pay attention to the shelf life of the product - in any case, do not give your baby overdue meals. In addition, on the pack of each mixture indicated the period during which the product is safe to use after opening. Do not neglect this date. You can make pancakes on an expired mixture, but you cannot give it to a child in any way.
- Equally important in the choice of the mixture has its value. Usually a mixture in the budget of a young family is one of the main expenses. The fact is that a child eats a lot, you will need to stock up on the mixture often, so when choosing baby food, pay attention to this item.
Breastfeeding counselors suggest that you should not immediately abandon breast milk. If you are afraid that the baby does not eat enough and remains hungry, try to organize mixed feeding. That is, first feeding, give the baby a breast - let him empty it as much as possible.After the baby starts to turn his head and often break away from the breast, you can offer to feed him from a bottle. First, you can feed your baby with at least a little breast milk (which is very important for his health). Secondly, this approach is more practical, because the mixture is consumed more economically. Thirdly, you can establish close contact with the baby during short breastfeeding.
How to understand that the mixture does not fit the baby
Start with a small dose of a new product. That is, dilute one spoonful of the new mixture, according to the dosage. The next day, dilute two spoons and so on. If nothing bothers you, you can feed the child with this mixture. However, there are some signs that suggest that the mixture does not fit the baby.
- If there are problems in the bowels - gas, bloating, constipation, loose stools of unusual color. It is very important to distinguish physiological colic from those that have occurred as a result of the use of the product. Everyone knows that because of the imperfection of the digestive system in babies, even when breastfeeding, colic appears.They usually appear at certain times of the day. Colic from the mixture will be regardless of the time of day, usually an hour after eating.
- If the child becomes unusually capricious, whining, if she cries while pressing on the stomach, then her stomach hurts. Sometimes this happens when you get used to a new mixture. However, if such a condition persists in a child for more than three days - this nutrition to the baby did not fit.
- Separately, I would like to say about the color of feces of the child. Some mothers are worried that after drinking a new mixture of calories baby becomes greenish. Pediatricians say that the feces of an artificial child can be of any color. It is important to pay attention to other factors - the mood and well-being of the child, the absence of colic and bloating. If you are only worried about green feces, but otherwise the baby feels well - do not worry, this is a normal variant.
- Physiologically, the child dares the right to regurgitation. To reduce the number of regurgitation, you need to keep the baby vertically for a while after eating. However, if the baby spits up after eating more than three times and the volume of the released product is close to the volume of the drunk mixture - this should alert you. This behavior is also a sign of intolerance to a particular mixture.
- If earlier the child’s chair was without white blotches, and after eating a new product, these blotches appeared, this could be a sign of indigestion.
- Any allergic rash is the first and most obvious sign that the mixture did not fit the baby. However, be careful with this - at this age contact allergies can appear - to laundry detergent, synthetics, etc.
- If the child has not gained proper weight gain in the last month, if the baby has stopped in the development of growth, this is a sign of undigested product. Perhaps the nutrients that are in the mixture are not absorbed and absorbed by the body. In this case, the mixture needs to be changed as quickly as possible.
It is very important to understand how the child looks and behaves, to whom the mixture has approached. He sleeps well for a long time, does not suffer from gas, his skin is clean and smooth. The child’s chair is uniform, it happens at approximately equal intervals of time. If after the next taking of the mixture in front of you just such a picture - rejoice, you have found a mixture, which, finally, came up to your crumbs.
When a child appears in the family, mom and dad are ready to do everything so that he does not get sick, he feels good,grew and developed. However, nature does not always provide us with this opportunity. The absence of breast milk from the mother is not a tragedy. To feed a child and saturate his body with vitamins can and with the help of a mixture. Here the brand or brand is not important. You need to choose the mixture that “pleases” your child. And about his feelings, you can understand the reaction of the child's body.
Video: what mix to choose for your baby
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