Baby food is the magic nutrition diet that gives the baby all the necessary nutrients and helps a baby grow healthy. While travelling many mothers rely on baby food for their babies. But, “scoop, pour and shake” is not all you need to know about a baby food or baby formula. There is more to it. The instant baby powder includes macronutrients that help your baby stay and grow healthy. But is the baby food safe for your child?
Why Is Baby Formula Important?
Instant formulas are carefully made keeping the baby’s growth and nutrition in mind. It contains majorly the growth nutrients that are present in breast milk. Baby’s first year is baby’s growth year. Baby grows, physically as well as mentally in the first year. For their growth, they require a high level of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Carbohydrates play a very important role in a baby’s brain growth, fats act as a powerhouse for the baby and proteins being the building blocks of life, help the baby grow.
Nutrient Value In A Baby Food?
The Baby formula is safe for your child to consume, here are the nutrient requirements for you to check before buying baby food. It is always better to give your baby, the baby formula after six months but in case the mother is not able to lactate properly, she can switch to baby food. Here are the nutrition requirements that are apt for a baby’s growth:
| Nutrients | 7-12 Months | 0-6 Months |
| Carbohydrates | 95 g | 60 g |
| Iron | 11 mg | 0.27 mg |
| Fat | 30 g | 31 g |
| Protein | 11 g | 9.1 g |
| Vitamin D | 5 µg | 2 µg |
| Vitamin A | 500 µg | 400 µg |
| Vitamin E | 5 mg | 4 mg |
| Vitamin C | 50 mg | 40 mg |
| Calcium | 270 mg | 210 mg |
Always prefer the baby formula that does not contain added sugar. The baby food comes in different flavours making it more interesting for the baby to consume.
All these nutrients and such savoury flavours? That’s what we are looking for!
Is It Safe?
Breastfeeding undoubtedly is a beautiful experience. It provides correct nutrition to the body. Not only this, when a baby is breastfed, the antibodies from the mother’s body are also transferred to the baby that helps the baby to build a healthy immune system. But there are a few challenges that breastfeeding faces.
- Both the mother and the child need to go through immense practice and patience to get used to the method.
- Another challenge faced by go-to mothers is the schedule that breastfeeding needs to follow.
- Any consumption made by the mother, be it caffeine or alcohol might be transferred to the baby during breastfeeding. Mother’s diet needs to be highly monitored.
Facing these challenges can be really frustrating for the mother too. Enter, Baby Formula!
The baby formula provides the baby correct amount of nutrition, irrespective of health or food consumption done by the mother. There are a few concerns that young mothers face these days about baby food.
Relax! Your Baby Is Safe!
Baby food is manufactured in a sterile condition and it takes immense effort by the manufacturers to replicate a mother’s milk using a complex combination of micronutrients and macronutrients.
Making a choice can be hard for you. Make sure you consult a doctor before taking a decision. If nothing helps you calm down, your doctor will.
Baby food is highly recommended by the doctor and it is safe for your baby to consume.
Intake
If the mother is not able to lactate properly after 3 months, they can feed the baby with the baby formula. Otherwise, if the mother is healthy, it is recommended, that the baby food is given to the baby after 6 months. This time duration is only given because the breast milk gives the baby an immune system to build. Mother’s colostrum contains a high level of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and antibodies that help the child to build an immune system and grow better. And the baby formula is manufactured keeping in view the composition of colostrum.
It is hard to be a mother and it’s harder to trust something that is manufactured for your baby to consume. But stay rest assured that the manufacturers understand what it means to be a mother and they keep in mind your baby is precious to you and to them!
Also read: Travel Packing for Kids, All the Things you Need to Carry
I hope the article has helped you relax a bit. If it hasn’t, please do let us know in the comments section about your concerns and fear. I will try my best to help you out.