Thursday, July 8, 2010

Feeding Babies: Starting Solids


When it comes to feeding babies, there is one important principle to keep in mind: fats, fats, fats! Babies need lots of fat to grow optimally. As a great article about feeding babies by the Weston A. Price Foundation explains, "Milk and animal fats give energy and also help children build muscle and bone, and the animal fats provide vitamins A and D necessary for protein and mineral assimilation, normal growth and hormone production."

Of course, other nutrients are necessary too, but your emphasis should always be on fats. This is true from the beginning, designed by God, as mother's milk contains over 50% of its calories as fat, most of it saturated fat.

So, how do you start all of this? I follow this article's recommendations, which are in accordance guidelines of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

To begin, I start with an egg yolk at 4 months of age. The egg yolk supplies cholesterol, needed for brain development, and important amino acids. I usually test it out to see how baby will do with it. Nathaniel took it great, but Micah threw it up multiple times, so I'm going to try again at about 9 months. :)

At six months or so, (depending on the baby's need), I like to start with basic solid foods. Here are a sampling of my favorite beginnings, in addition to the egg yolks: mashed, organic avocado with a little salt, raw organic yogurt, organic sweet potatoes, other organic veggies like carrots/peas, etc, organic mashed banana with coconut oil, and pureed organic meats. Currently, Micah is loving everything mentioned above except he's not too into the avacado yet. :) He also loves raw sauerkraut, made by Rejuvenative Foods.

So where does the fat come into all this food? Well, I always add a generous amount of coconut oil or butter to all my "mashing"- be it bananas, or veggies, and there's plenty of good animal fats in foods like beef and dark meat and chicken. In addition, Micah is still nursing, so he's getting lots of fats from mother's milk.

Tomorrow I will post more with recipes and more info on what foods to feed and when. Also, check out the article I mentioned above, and enjoy feeding your precious little ones!










1 comment:

Blogger said...

3 Researches SHOW How Coconut Oil Kills Fat.

The meaning of this is that you actually burn fat by consuming Coconut Fat (also coconut milk, coconut cream and coconut oil).

These 3 researches from large medicinal journals are sure to turn the conventional nutrition world upside down!