Nanny Joe

Q: Can i feed cheese to my 10 month old baby?

A:

Cheeses are typically offered to the non-allergic baby between 8 and 10 months of age.  If your baby has a known or suspected dairy allergy (either a milk protein or lactose intolerance) then you should wait to introduce cheese and other dairy when your infant is older. 

As always, please consult your baby’s pediatrician about introducing cheese to your baby as generalities may not apply!

You can introduce cheese to your baby by offering the lighter tasting cheeses (Colby, Jack, American) as well as offering cottage cheese!  

AVOID SOFT CHEESE eg. Brie, Feta, Camembert, Roquefort, and Bleu Cheese 
 

Everything I read says that children do not need salt or sugar. I made all my own baby food, but now I am confused by some nutrition information on labels. How much sodium or sugar is too much? The labels give milligrams or grams and I don’t know what it means.

I’m a mother with two young children, ages one and three. Since they were born, I have been more interested in eating the right foods

A:

Children do not need added salt or added sugar in their food. There is enough sodium and sugar in uncooked food for anyone, unless they are vomiting, have diarrhea or a fever.

One-fourth teaspoon of salt contains 533 milligrams of sodium. Children one to eighteen years of age need a minimum of 225 to 500 milligrams of sodium according to the 1989 Estimated Minimum Requirements. These amounts can be met by feeding children food cooked without added salt. The average adult needs only 2,400 milligrams of sodium or less per day. When reading a label for sodium content, limit your food purchases to foods containing less than 400 milligrams per serving.

With sugar, you will probably only find this value on dry cereals, canned fruit or dietetic foods as sucrose. One teaspoon of sugar contains four grams of sucrose. Choose cold cereals that have four grams of sucrose or less. If the cold cereal has fruit in it, like raisins or apples, allow up to eight or nine grams of sucrose per serving. Also, when your children eat cereal, don’t put sugar on for them. In a recent survey I did in a local grocery store, the sugar coated cereals contained between 10 and 16 grams of sucrose which translates into two and one-half to four teaspoons of sugar per serving.

Don’t mix combinations of food for infants until the infant has tried the food alone. For instance, try feeding peaches or pears before feeding fruit cocktail to your infant.

You can make your own baby food from plain foods that you cook for the rest of your family. Any fruit, vegetable, refined starch or meat are fine for infants over nine months of age and children. The consistency of an infant’s food should match what he/she can handle. Usually, the presence of teeth will indicate whether an infant needs pureed or ground foods. Homemade baby food can be refrigerated for 24 hours or frozen for up to 30 days. You can make the baby food into frozen cubes or you can drop one large tablespoon-full on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the baby food is frozen. Then you can remove the frozen drops of baby food and store them in a plastic freezer bag. Remember to label the baby food with what food it is and the date.

Joanne Larsen   Ask the Dietitian

Q : My granddaughter is six months old and my daughter is still just nursing her. The baby looks healthy, but shouldn’t my daughter be feeding her cereal or something else?

A:

Breast milk or infant formula is sufficient for most babies as the sole source of nutrition for the first four to six months according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and current research. We have learned that by pushing food too soon, we make fat babies who in turn make fat adults.

Most babies are not started on solids such as cereal, strained juice or pureed fruit until four to six months of age. Pureed vegetables can be introduced at six to eight months and pureed meats and egg yolks at nine to 10 months. In addition, babies should be fed breast milk or formula for the first year of life. Your daughter can introduce cow’s milk when her infant starts to drink from a cup, around 12 months of age.

We have learned that babies develop allergies to foods introduced too soon. They have an immature ability to produce the necessary enzymes to break down some foods such as egg white, cow’s milk, berries or chocolate. These foods and others, which have skins or seeds, should not be fed to a infant up to twelve months of age.

Q:  I have concern about the question on honey. You might want to consider adding a bit about not giving honey to infants (on pacifiers, bottle nipples etc.) as honey is rarely, if ever, sterilized and Clostridium Botulism spores may be present. It is not a problem for adults with healthy immune systems however it can be fatal to babies.

A :

You are correct about honey. In fact most infant feeding leaflets mention not to feed honey to infants unless sterilized. Since it would be difficult to know if the canning process temperature was hot enough to kill the bacteria, the most conservative approach is to not give honey to infants in any form.

Initially, honey was used as a substitute for sugar in making homemade infant formula, which also is not recommended. Commercial infant formulas are fortified to meet infant’s nutritional needs and ironically most are formulated to mimic breast milk!
 

Q :

My baby has just turned 3 months and is eating 2 – 8 oz. bottles of formula every 3.5 to 4 hours. He is growing like a weed – he’s not very fat, just big and strong. My pediatrician said that he should eat as much and as often as he would like. I was wondering when babies start eating things like cereal (rice), etc. Would it be better if he ate a little cereal and formula?

A :

Based on above amounts of formula, your son is drinking about 96 ounces of formula per day. Infant formula is designed to provide all the nutrients a growing baby needs. You can choose iron-fortified formula as well.

Your pead is suggesting a feeding on demand schedule, which allows the baby to say when he is hungry and how hungry. This is opposite to a set schedule where there are set feeding times (like every 4 hours) with a set amount of formula. This set schedule doesn’t allow for differences between infants individual needs and can lead to overfeeding.

Q: What finger food which i can give to my weaning baby of 10 month? 

A:

Q. Feeding solid food to a fussy 10 month old

A: At 10 month,it is a ‘adventorous stage’ for you and your child.Here are some useful tips:

1. Set a good example. Eat healthy foods (and look like you enjoy them!).
2. Kids have small stomachs. Small meals with snacks in-between are easier than three big meals a day. Don’t pile food onto their plate.
3. Children thrive on routine. Keep mealtimes regular !!
4. Bribes – “Eat you Brussel sprouts if you want ice-cream” tend to backfire over time. Children may consume an unappetising food (or medicine) in order to obtain a reward, but that doesn’t make them like it. Usually they end up disliking it intensely.
5. Don’t fill them up on fluid (juice, milk, cordial, even water) just before a meal.
6. Kids tend to eat up if they can serve themselves or help. Little ones can set the table, call everyone to the table, wash and tear lettuce leaves, time the cooking with an egg timer.
7. For every food, there is almost always a substitute. If they hate vegetables, offer them plenty of fruit; if they won’t drink milk, buy yoghurt or cheese; if they dislike chewing meat, try mince dishes, chicken, fish or baked beans.
8. Don’t ignore problems that interfere with eating, such as teething, sore throat, blocked nose, upset tummy.
9. Keep offering new foods even if kids reject them at first. They need to see them several times before they look ‘familiar’.
10. Fussy eaters are often slow eaters who dawdle over their plate. It is pointless trying to hurry them.