Know All You Can About Infants' Milk

As the parent of a young child, it is important that you know all that you can about infants’ milk.  This may seem like a trivial subject, but nothing is more important in the first years of your baby’s life than what he or she is being fed.

The recommended infants’ milk is, of course, the mother’s breast milk.  Nothing in the world can be better for your baby than breastfeeding.  Breast milk has everything your baby needs to promote excellent health and nutrition.  Apart from that, studies have found that breastfeeding is psychologically beneficial to both mother and baby.  So, if at all possible, make your infants’ milk breast milk.

If, for reasons beyond your control, breastfeeding cannot be done, then the option is to supply your baby with a formula mixture of cow’s milk as infants’ milk.  Cow’s milk must always be used in conjunction with a formula, as it is not nutritious enough on its own to be infants’ milk.  During your child’s first nine months of life, it is recommended that you choose iron-enriched formula as infants’ milk.  During this period of life, babies can easily develop iron deficiency and it is a good idea to use a fortified infants’ milk.

Formulas using Evaporated Whole Milk should be avoided, as this makes a poor infants’ milk.  There are several reasons for this.  First, this infants’ milk must be diluted in order to reduce its mineral and protein content.  Sugar must also be added to elevate its energy content.  Secondly, Evaporated Whole milk used for infants’ formula contains an unacceptably low amount of linoleic acid, which is a type of fat essential to the promotion of good health.  Next, this evaporated formula is low in iron, which we just mentioned is vital to baby’s first nine months of life.  Well-informed parents will not choose this evaporated formula for infants’ milk.

After your child is nine months of age, you can introduce cow’s milk, without the formula mixture, as his or her infants’ milk.  At this stage in life, the child’s digestive system can better handle the milk proteins and, as he or she should be eating iron-rich foods such as vegetables and fruit with vitamin C, iron-deficiency anemia becomes less of a concern.

While breastfeeding can initially be challenging, it is not recommended that you choose cow’s milk over breast milk for infants’ milk, simply because it seems easier to offer baby a bottle instead of a nipple.  Your baby’s development, physically and psychologically, is fragile in its early stages of life.  You must do all that you can to help your baby to thrive early on.  Choosing your child’s infants milk wisely is paramount to their development.

This is why you must do everything that you can to know all that is possible about infants’ milk.  This is especially true if your child cannot, for some reason, be fed breast milk.  Work with your child’s doctor to be certain that the type of infants’ milk you are providing is as good as it can be and that your child is getting everything from it that he or she must.

article source:http://www.babycenter-blog.com/2010/08/29/know-all-you-can-about-infants%E2%80%99-milk/