HEALTH & BEAUTY

Child Nutrition: The Most Important Food Categories

Baby food is a fairly large and diverse group of products. The assortment includes three categories of products intended for artificial feeding (mother’s milk substitutes), complementary feeding, as well as for therapeutic and preventive diets. Each group has a specific age range and is made based on milk, vegetables, fruits, berries, and cereals.

Healthy child nutrition needs constant monitoring by parents

There are no preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners, identical to natural, flavor enhancers in the composition of industrial products. Strictly regulated the number of fats and carbohydrates. But a healthy diet is not only about high-quality, healthy food, but also several important principles on which it is based:

  1. Matching the energy value of the diet to daily energy expenditures. Provides an intake of enough kilocalories in the body, which should be strictly balanced with their expenditure. Even at rest, the child’s body expends energy, and this is due to the construction of new tissues. The number of calories for babies: 0-3 months – 120 kcal, 4-6 months – 115 kcal, 7-12 months – 110 kcal per 1 kg of body weight. At 1-3 years, the figure is 1385 kcal instead of 1540, and at 4-6 years – 1700 kcal instead of 2000. The recommended caloric intake for children is reduced by about 15%.
  2. Nutritional balance. The main indicators are the daily intake of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. As children grow older, the proportion of carbohydrates gradually increases. For children, this ratio is 1:1:3, and for preschool children (4-6 years) – 1:1:4,5.
  3. Meal Regimen. Every family has its traditions and routines, but a child needs to organize the right mode. Some parents especially do not respect the time frame and believe that the child will come to the table when he or she wants to eat. Others, on the contrary, introduce a variety of additional snacks, take food with them, even for a short walk and try to force-feed the baby by any means. But the food that is consumed without appetite is poorly digested. The recommended feeding regime is up to 1 year – 6 times a day, preschoolers – 5 times, schoolchildren – 4 times.

Principles of feeding babies with artificial nutrition

The baby food market is very large, there are hundreds of companies, including European companies. But some of them to create safe, quality, healthy and tasty products. And that’s what parents who can’t provide their baby with natural nutrition should deal with.

Organic baby formula is the best option for feeding your baby, providing him with all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. This food does not contain GMOs and other hazardous substances that can harm a child’s health. Its use contributes to the formation of normal stools, compacts bone tissue, eliminates colic and constipation, and improves the function of the gastrointestinal tract.

Among the European baby formulas are different kinds of food: hypoallergenic formula, antireflux and anti-colic formula, sour milk product to improve digestion, suitable even for children with sensitive intestines. They are affordable and of good quality, not inferior to premium formula.

Special milk is used to make the organic milk formula. To obtain it, the animals are fed only ecologically pure feed and grazed in open areas. This ensures the high quality and safety of the milk used to create the blends. The production process minimizes the loss of nutrients, and this makes the food as useful as possible for the baby.

Of course, there is no better food for the baby than his mother’s milk. But it is an adapted milk formula that helps to reproduce it as accurately as possible and not deprive the baby of the necessary substances. They will be indispensable for those who have for some reason lost breast milk and urgently need to transfer an infant to artificial feeding. The main thing is to make the right choice.