Is your baby growing slowly? New knowledge on dietary supplements can help!

Author: Tan Xuying, attending physician at the Women and Children's Medical Center of Guangzhou Medical University

Reviewer: Ye Yanbin, Chief Physician, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University

Many parents of infants and young children always like to give their children thin porridge, thinking that porridge is easy to digest and absorb and is good for the spleen and stomach. Or they let their children drink fish soup or stewed lean meat soup, thinking that all the nutrients are in the soup. However, are these foods really nutritious and can they promote the growth and development of infants and young children?

In fact, although babies seem to have drunk a large bowl of porridge or soup, the nutrients they take in are often not sufficient. These babies who seem to "eat a lot" sometimes do not grow as expected in height and weight. In fact, porridge and soup are foods with low nutrient density.

So, what kind of food is considered to be high nutrient density food?

In daily life, parents can follow the following principles: First, the nutrient density of the same food in solid form is usually higher than that in liquid form: for example, the nutrient density of rice is higher than that of thick porridge, which is higher than that of thin porridge; second, the nutrient density of most animal foods is higher than that of plant foods, such as lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables and fruits. For children who eat a lot but do not gain weight as expected, parents should perhaps think about whether their children have consumed a lot of low-calorie foods that are "full-bellied", such as thin porridge, rice soup, and soup during meals or snacks.

Parents who are in the stage of adding complementary food may worry that when feeding their babies thick porridge or meat puree, they may cause the baby to choke or cough because the baby has not yet grown teeth, so they keep feeding the baby thin food. However, doing so will not only lead to slow weight gain in the baby, but also delay the development of the baby's chewing ability, which may lead to bad eating behavior problems.

When babies start to add complementary foods from 6 months old, they should follow the principle of going from thin to thick, and from fine to coarse. From thin to thick, it means that the food will drip from the spoon when it is tilted, and then stick to the spoon without falling off; basically, babies over 6.5 months old can accept food of this consistency.

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From fine to coarse means that the food gradually transitions from a paste to a puree, and then to small particles; the eruption of baby teeth does not affect the conversion of food texture. At 8 months of age, finger foods such as strips of vegetables and fruits can be added to the baby.

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Finally, here are some healthy foods for parents. You may want to use these nutritious foods to enrich your baby’s table!

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