Archive for the ‘Feeding’ Category

Whilst feeding a little one, it can often be difficult to occupy your child’s hands. Little hands tend to wander, explore, nip, hair pull, scratch and generally distract babies from feeding. The idea behind the ‘Nursing Necklace’ is for the Mother to wear this item to help occupy their little ones with a visual and tactile item which can be touched, pulled and handled without the added worry that the item may be dropped and cause further distraction.

By wearing this necklace, parents are therefore providing a stimulus for children during feeding and in turn encouraging feeding.

The ‘Nursing Necklace’ is 100% safe for little fingers, it will NOT break, thus this can also be used later on in your child’s life for jewellery or dress up! Although, this item is only safe to be used by your child independently once they are over three years of age (due to the small parts creating a potential choking hazard).

Nursing Necklaces are available in a wide range of colours, beads and styles suitable for either gender or even to match a specific outfit that Mum might happen to be wearing! ‘Nursing Necklaces’ save precious necklaces from the intense grip of your little ones. The vibrant colours, differing shapes, alternating textures and simple sounds (such as bells) included within these necklaces provide children with stimulation. The necklace itself can also act as a cue for feeding time to begin.

Safety tested to BS EN 71-3 1995 & BS5665 PART 3 1995, these necklaces have a full safety certificate. Tested for strength up to 200lbs, the ‘Nursing Necklace’ is fitted with a plastic safety breakaway clasp and is made from non toxic beads. This item can be sterilised and easily washed.

The ‘Nursing Necklace’ is available from www.madnmi.co.uk for £9.95 including free postage and packaging. Each necklace is handmade and completely unique in design, each necklace comes with with a pre-sterilised and ready to use sealed packaging complete with instructions and care guide.

The Department of Health issued Guidelines in 1998 suggesting that infants should now be weaned from six months onwards rather than the traditional ‘four month’ milestone that many Health Visitors previously suggested.

So when is it right to begin weaning your infant? The Department of Health suggest that the following signs are a useful way in which to identify when your infant is ready to begin weaning.

1. Your infant shows interest in chewing, whether its their hands or on objects
2. Your infant is able to grab and reach things with accuracy
3. Your infant is sitting upright unaided.

The NHS ‘ Start 4 Life’ campaign recently introduced ‘The Banana Test’ which is said to be an efficient method to identify whether your infant is ready to begin weaning. According to the NHS, if your infant is able to grab a piece of banana and put it into their mouths and eat it, then they are ready to begin eating solids.

With current guidelines suggesting that we should withhold weaning until six months of age, it does seem odd that many of the infant foods on supermarket shelves suggest that they are suitable from ‘four months upwards’. According to the Government Guidelines, these foods are not following recent research and therefore the age guidelines printed on infant foods are outdated and incorrect.

Weaning before your child is ready can increase the chances of your child contracting infections and allergies. Until six months of age, your child’s digestive system is still developing.

Although parents are now warned that they should be in “No rush to mush”, it is hard when your infant who has been sleeping through for the past three or four months begins to wake in the middle of the night. The Governments current guidelines state that infants under six months who wake in the middle of the night are not hungry for solids and should be quenched with either breast milk or formula.

However, if it were completely wrong to begin weaning at four months of age, as has previously been suggested (until 1998 when the Guidelines suddenly changed) then surely the companies selling baby foods advertising from four months onwards would have a fair share of legal battles to pursue. Upon reading more into the Government Documentation upon weaning it actually states “Solids should never be introduced before four months.”

It is important that your child is ready to begin weaning when you make the decision to introduce solids but this should be BABY LED not Government led! Each child is different and each child will achieve different milestones at different times in their lives, this includes when they are ready to be introduced to solids. You, as a parent will most likely know when your little one is ready for food, as they become interested in watching you eat and start to reach out to try foods around them.

Here are some basics for what to do first when you and your baby are ready to begin weaning.

1. Ensure that the equipment you use (feeding spoons, bowls, etc) is clean. It is advisable before six months to sterilise all feeding equipment. After six months, putting items used into the dishwasher should suffice.

2. Sit your child in a high chair so that they are upright and comfortable. Many high chairs now on the market can be used from birth onwards. You may want to use your high chair before your child is four months and able to try solids, perhaps as somewhere safe to place your child for a moment or simply to allow your child to become comfortable in their eating place for the future.

3. Ensure that you have a muslin cloth/ wipes close to hand and have protected your child’s cloths with a bib, Long sleeved bibs tend to be very handy during weaning!

4. Start by offering your child one to two teaspoons of baby rice mixed with their milk (breast of formula milk) during the first week of weaning.

5. Slowly introduce new fruits and vegetables which have been cooked and processed into a mush. (pear, apple, sweet potato, and carrots are excellent foods which can easily be mashed up). These foods can be offered along with baby rice, so that your infant is offered something they are familiar with.

6. Increase the amount of food according to your babies needs. If your baby would like more then offer more! From around nine months onwards you should offer 3-4 servings of food per day as well as the milk feeds. A routine such as Breakfast and milk, snack , dinner, snack and milk , tea, supper milk will soon fall into place.

7. Let babies try finger foods as soon as they show interest. Try to offer a wide range of foods and textures.

8. Rather than plumping for what seems to be the easier option and purchasing bottled foods and tinned baby foods, TRY COOKING YOUR OWN. Not only is it fun but its more nutritious for the child and is far more satisfying watching your child eat the food you prepared by hand.

9. Try to sit down to eat as a family, start as you mean to go on.

10. Remember to encourage foods that you yourself may dislike! Just because you aren’t keen on your greens doesn’t mean that your little one should miss out.

 

Here are some NO NO’s for weaning…

• Never force weaning, One piece of advice that the Department of Health give which SHOULD be followed is “Enjoy it, Encourage it, Don’t force it”.
• Do not use refined sugar or salt in any of your infants foods.
• Do not offer your infant nuts, honey, low-fat foods (those created specifically with lower amounts of fat such as low-fat butter)

If you do decide to wean your child before six months then also avoid the following foods:

• wheat based foods such as bread, rusks etc which include gluten
• eggs
• fish
• shell fish
• nuts
• seeds
• soft unpasteurised cheeses

Upon weaning your child, you will often find that they drop their intake of milk. Before twelve months infants should have between 500-600ml (about one pint) of milk per day. Also, remember that cows milk is unsuitable until your child reaches the age of one year. When introducing cows milk, ensure that it is full fat and pasteurised.

There are many infant and child nutritionists out there who have written and produced a wide range of popular publications upon weaning. These can be very helpful in finding suitable recipes for your little one. Two of the best known child nutritional authors are currently Gina Ford and Annabel Karmel, both of which have a range of books published upon weaning and feeding infants. Although, it is wise to bare in mind that there is some debate as to whether some of the routines and weaning techniques suggested in differing books are correct. As always with parenting, it is down to the parent and the baby to decide what is best for them!

Stacey Turnbull from Fleet, Hampshire is Mum to Amelie (2 years, 10 months) and Isla (7 weeks).  Stacey first started using Dr Brown’s bottles when her eldest daughter, Amelie developed colic at three weeks of age. Stacey told MBM that she had tried all the ‘tried and tested’ methods of relieving colic and had bought almost every colic relief product available upon the market to no avail. After only a few days Stacey found that her daughter’s colic subsided and after only one month had completely disappeared.

Dr Brown’s Anti- Colic Bottles are suitable from Birth onwards, available from a wide range of supermarkets and chemists (£5.79 for 120ml Bottles or £5.99 for 240ml Bottles). The Dr Brown’s Starter Kit comes complete with 1 x 120ml and 2 x 240ml bottles, 2 x stage 2 teats and 3 x stage 1 teats, therefore saving money. The Bottles come complete with a mini bottle washer and sealant caps to prevent the bottles from leaking.

The Dr Brown’s Anti- Colic Bottles use a anti-colic vent system which prevents babies from taking in air during feeding thus reducing potential wind which can be painful for infants. The reduction of wind therefore prevents colic from developing.

The Dr Brown’s Anti-Colic Bottles are long-lasting and extremely durable, there are a large variety of teats available for the bottles (stage 1, stage 2, thicker liquid teats etc) thus enabling bottles to be used for a long period of time whilst your baby grows.

The Dr Brown’s Bottles easily fit into a variety of different sterilisers, Stacey explained to MBM that she has used these bottles in both the Tommee Tippee Steam Steriliser and the Advent Steriliser.

 

When asked, Stacey told MBM that the only downside to this product is that when put into very hot water, or when put in a highly pressurised environment such as an aircraft cabin, these bottles can sometimes leak. This can however be combated by removing the air vent system until required.

 

Stacey swears that the Dr Brown’s Anti-Colic Bottles were a Godsend for both herself and her husband as they were able to get some sleep during the early hours of the morning. When Isla, Stacey’s second child was born Stacey and her partner chose to use the Dr Brown’s Anti Colic Bottles straight away as they felt that these bottles had changed their lives immeasurably during the time that they used the bottles with Amelie, they would therefore no risk using any other brand.

 

Although the Dr Brown’s Anti Colic Bottles can seem pricey in comparison to other bottles available upon the market, they are well worth the cost. Stacey recommends these bottles to all Mothers who have babies that are bottle fed and suffer from colic.

 

MBM would like to thank Stacey for sharing her opinions and time with MBM. The Dr Brown’s Starter Kit and  Bottles featured in this article are available for very reasonable prices from www.boots.co.uk