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Why should I give my baby infant cereals?
- To cover new energy needs. Cereals provide starch, a slow sugar. The latter, gradually released in the body, “sticks to the body”. It therefore provides calories at an age when a baby’s energy needs tend to increase.
- To start the diversification. Cereals also provide vegetable proteins, group B vitamins and iron. They prepare the baby to discover new flavors and consistencies, but are not essential for its growth.
- To improve digestive comfort or in any case, that of rather voracious babies who tend to drink large quantities of milk.
- To “stall baby”, if it is difficult to fit between the morning bottle and the evening bottle.
What infant cereals should be given at the start of diversification?
Infant cereals 1st age (from 4 months): they are all gluten free to avoid sensitization to gliadin. Their starch has been specially hydrolyzed (these are “pre-digested” cereals) so that the still immature baby’s digestive system can digest it. In the beginning, choose them instead without sugar, possibly flavored. The right amount: add one or two teaspoons of infant cereals per 100 ml of milk, in a single bottle. Then, a week later, in two bottles.
What infant cereals should be given to a 6 month old baby?
2nd age infant cereals (from 6 months): they are also treated to be more digestible, but contain gluten. When they are “to be cooked”, they make it possible to prepare porridge given with a spoon. From 7 months, put five or six level teaspoons of cereal in a 180 ml bottle of 2nd age milk, then seven or eight in a 210 ml bottle (at 8 months), nine-ten in a 230 ml bottle (at 9 -12 months). From 8-10 months, you can give him cocoa cereals.
“Junior” cereals: they may relay the previous ones and are intended for children from 1 to 3 years old.
Infant cereals: risks for babies?
Know thatit is not mandatory to give your baby cereal. Indeed, the compositions of breast milk and infant formula are very balanced and cover the nutritional needs of your baby up to 4-6 months, the average age at the start of food diversification. Giving too much could pose a risk of overeating. Wanting to ‘wedge’ a baby too quickly and too often with cereals can cause a nutritional imbalance in favor of carbohydrates. On the other hand, when they are given in excess, it causes a reduction in associated milk intake. Finally, if infant cereals provide real digestive comfort to some babies, in overdose, they can be the cause of real discomfort for others.