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Do not breastfeed your baby

Breast milk is the best natural food for babies. Breast milk has a full nutritional composition with a balanced ratio suitable for the digestive and absorption system of the baby. Breast milk also contains antibodies that help babies strengthen their resistance against infections. Breastfeeding will reduce the risk of undernutrition or overnutrition (malnutrition), chronic non-communicable diseases in adulthood, especially cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes…

Although breast milk has many benefits for babies, not all mothers know and practice. Factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months are usually: mothers have to go to work early, mothers think their milk is not as good as formula milk, prefer foreign milk, want to keep fit, …

Children must drink formula milk, eat solid foods before 6 months, because the mother has to go to work, so the child cannot be fully breastfed. The state of advertising and marketing of breast milk substitutes (even colostrum) has had a negative impact on some mothers, making some mothers distrustful of their milk’s value, or preferring foreign milk. Many mothers want to keep in shape after giving birth, so they give formula milk instead of breast milk. In addition, some mothers do not know how to properly breastfeed their babies and protect their milk supply for their babies.

Don’t know how to take supplements too early or too late

Complementary feeding is a form of supplementing with other foods other than breast milk. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the time to give complementary foods to children is when the child turns 6 months old (180 days).After 6 months of age, the increased demand for breast milk is not enough, so it is necessary to add more food for the baby. At present, there are still mothers who believe that by giving complementary foods to their children early, the children will be stronger and the children will not be hungry, so they have given them complementary foods from the 4th, 5th month, even many children still eat. supplement from the 3rd month. That has had a significant impact on the utilization of breast milk, children are prone to digestive disorders leading to malnutrition. In particular, some mothers in rural, remote and isolated areas still feed their children with chewy rice, which is unhygienic and even a source of disease transmission to their children.

According to nutrition experts, children who eat early complementary foods will increase the burden on the digestive system, while the digestive system of children is still weak, affecting the digestion and absorption, health and development. children’s development. Complementary food is often digested slowly, so the baby will be anorexic, not getting enough nutrients, will be slow to gain weight and easily malnourished.

A suitable complementary diet for children is a diet that must be made sequentially from liquid foods such as milk, to thin powder, solid powder, then porridge and rice.

On the contrary, when giving complementary foods to children late, breast milk is not enough to meet their needs, and children will also gain weight slowly. Because breast milk after 6 months cannot meet the growing nutritional needs of the baby, it is necessary to give the baby complementary foods. In addition to breastfeeding, babies need to eat at least 1-2 more powdered meals a day and the number of meals depends on age.

Caring and nurturing when children are sick

Taking care of and nurturing children before, during, and after an illness is very important because it will help the disease heal quickly, restore health and strengthen resistance to disease. When the child is sick: fever, diarrhea… the need for energy and nutrients is more than usual, while some mothers have misconceptions that force their children to have a strict diet such as: not giving them food. breastfed children, do not give them oil or fat, do not give them protein, do not give them green vegetables, only monosodium glutamate (sugar),…for fear of children going outside more.

Children with fever will lose water, but do not rehydrate the child and drink Oresol water, force the child to follow a diet,… After recovering from the illness, do not give the child more food to quickly recover. The diet of the children is not balanced enough, so the children are at risk of malnutrition.

Feeding children too many nutrients

Protein requirements of children from 6 to 11 months old are 2 – 2.2 g/kg/day or 18 – 20 g/day (corresponding to 20 – 30 g of meat/meal). Oil or fat needs from 1-2 teaspoons/meal and green vegetables 1-2 teaspoons/meal. The recipe for a meal of crabmeal for children 7 – 9 months old includes: 4 teaspoons of plain rice flour, 1 bowl of crab filtered water, 1 teaspoon of fat, 2 teaspoons of crushed greens. In the first year, the nutritional needs of children are very high, necessary for development, while the stomach of young children and the digestive system are still very weak. nutrition, rickets. Therefore, mothers must pay close attention to food hygiene and safety issues while choosing food, preserving/processing… at the same time, feeding their children the right needs, avoiding overeating. nutrient.

Children’s complementary meals must ensure enough essential nutrients: group of carbohydrates, groups that provide protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. Eating enough needs, balancing nutrients helps children develop well, on the contrary, children will be at risk of underweight malnutrition and stunting malnutrition. If the diet is too high in protein, the immature digestive system has to work tired, easy to digest, causing raw stools, diarrhea, ..

It is very important to take care of and nurture a child from the time he is in the womb until the child is 2 years old

Children are not nurtured/cared for, grown up “nurturing/compensating”

Due to the impact of modern lifestyle, parents often do not have the conditions to take care of their children since they were young, because they think that later when their children grow up, they can take care of “compensation”. This is a very wrong view, which still exists in many parents, especially young families.

The proven scientific fact that undernutrition during a critical period of human development – before and during pregnancy and during the first 2 years of a child’s life is individually programmed to regulate growth and affect brain development. Thus, early life malnutrition can lead to irreversible damage to brain development, immune system and physical growth. Children with underdeveloped brain in the first years of life will be at risk of diseases of the nervous system later on: poor learning, dropping out of school earlier, poor working skills…

The first 1,000 days of life is a window of opportunity to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases related to nutrition such as overweight and obesity, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure, osteoporosis. Therefore, it is very important to take care of and nurture children from the time they are in the womb until the child is 2 years old, it determines the height, weight, disease and brain of the child in adulthood. If the 1,000-day golden period is not well taken care of, no matter how hard we try, we can’t make up for it because almost everything has been “arranged”. Therefore, nutritional support at this stage must be “optimal” than at any other stage in a child’s life.

Advice

Another common mistake is that some mothers still think that gravy and bone broth are nutritious enough, only giving water to children, not giving them food… while these types of water almost contain no protein. Protein foods are still used monotonously. Many mothers do not allow their children to eat fish, crabs, shrimp, eggs… afraid that their children will be allergic to food, afraid of fishy substances… easily causing anorexia, and creating biased eating habits that are difficult to change. after.