The Next 6 Golden Months

According to WHO recommendation, worldwide it is recommended that a mother should exclusively breast feed her baby upto the age of 6 months. The baby requires no additional supplement, not even a sip of water! Mother’s milk is adequate for the babies growth and development upto 6 months of age.

At or around 6 months of age, the mother is advised to practice what is called weaning. Weaning is the process by which intake of food, other than breast milk is slowly introduced into the babies diet. This is an important and crucial time in the babies’ life and affects the baby in the long run. It is important to introduce the food slowly and should always start with liquid foods and then semi-solid and then slowly onto more and more solidy foods. Also, it is important to remember that one should never introduce more than one type of food into the babies’ diet at once. Start with any one food type, like for example carrot juice for one week, gradually increasing the frequency of intake from once daily to 3 times a day over the week. At the end of one week, introduce the next type of food in addition to the first one for another whole week. And so on and so forth. This will not only help the baby adjust its gastrointestinal system to the different types of food slowly, but will also help parents detect any food allergies as they introduce new foods. Make sure your child has begun eating most of the adult foods by the age of 10 to 12 months, because if he hasn’t it will be very difficult from here forward.

An important point to remember is regarding cow’s milk. It is not advisable to feed the baby cow’s milk at least until the age of 12 months (1 year). Cow’s milk is notorious for its harmful effects on the gastrointestinal system causing occult blood loss and eventually anemia. Also, cow milk protein exerts a high load on the young kidney. That is why mothers should know that weaning does not mean an abrupt stoppage of breast milk and introduction of external sources of food. It is a gradual introduction of food complementary to breast milk. Always remember that it is best for the baby to be on breast milk at least upto the age of 12 months (1 year) and breast milk alone (with no additional foods, neither water) upto the age of 6 months.

CME held in Sharjah

Hmm..

Here is one blog I havent updated lately. Should get down to it. InshaAllah soon.