Feeding your baby

Nutrition is vital to your baby's development, especially during the first year of life. So what and how should babies be fed during that crucial newborn period? Health professionals emphasize the nutritional advantages of breast-feeding infants, especially for the first 6 to 12 months. Breast milk is tailor-made for a baby's digestive system and is rich in antibodies, which help to ward off bacteria and viruses.

Nursing mothers who breastfeed for longer amounts of time may be helping their babies avoid weight troubles later in life, according to research. Results gleaned from 17 studies over the last 39 years suggest an association between the number of months babies are breastfed and the risk of being overweight.

Breast-feeding doesn't raise your child's risk of developing cancer later in life and may even reduce your daughter's risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows. Noting that early studies suggested an increased likelihood among breastfed babies to develop cancer later in life, a team of British researchers looked at data from nearly 4,000 children who were surveyed in the 1930s and tracked until 2003.

A toddler's eating habits can be quite finicky. Here are some tips for parents who want to make sure their tots get all the nutrition they need.

Now that you and your partner are preparing for your baby, it is an important time for you to eat properly to ensure that both mother and baby are healthy. We may have heard for years that pregnant mothers can eat for two. The reality is that in order to stay in a healthy weight-gain range, pregnant mothers should only add an additional 300 calories-hardly the calories allowed for another person.

You probably know that breast-feeding delivers optimal nutrition to your baby, but did you know that breast-feeding mothers should also pay attention to their own nutrition? If you're breast-feeding, you'll need approximately 500 extra calories each day, more if you're nursing twins. This number is just an average; some women may need more or less.

Feeding your baby her first solid food is an exciting event. The best time to start your baby on solids is when she is showing readiness signs.

Babies need to have a high-fat intake to ensure that they are provided with enough energy to be active and to develop brain cell membranes that protect each of the nerves.

The advantages of breast-feeding for both mother and baby cannot be overstated. Breast-fed babies experience fewer food allergies, ear infections, and colds, plus reduced incidence of conditions such as childhood obesity and diabetes. Breast-feeding provides antibodies that may reduce the incidence of viruses, certain cancers, and asthma.