0-4 months

At this age, your baby will be fed on either formula or breast milk. We all know the virtues of breast milk, but if you are simply unable to then don’t worry.

Your child will be fine on a good quality formula. Look for the nutrients on the label – if you child has a specific birth defect or something specific wrong with them, look for formula specific to this. Again, your health care worker can assist you on this choice.

You’ll be feeding your baby 6 – 8 bottles a day.

4-6 months

Start your baby off with baby rice. Only a tiny amount a day for a while, and give them 5 – 8 bottles a day rather than 6 – 8. Again, this depends on your baby’s appetite. Pop your baby on your lap, and cover them up. This will be messy so keep at it! Your baby needs to learn to push the solid food to the back of their mouth to digest it, where milk just goes down on its own. Remember that, and you’ll be fine. Start the feed with the milk, try the rice, and then finish with the milk.

5-8 months

Start giving your baby more variety of foods. Try pureed fruit and vegetables. Let your baby guide you on what to give them – if they like something like pineapple, try them on mango. Try and broaden their tastes. Again, don’t give them too much. One to two teaspoons with the formula is fine.

From 7 months

Start giving your baby a much larger range of food. Start pureeing fish, chicken, whole milk custard, pulses etc. Again, be guided by your child. Increase the meals to two a day, then three. Your baby will turn their head away when they’ve had too much and are full. Never force your child to have more than they want to. Start trying your baby on foods that are less soft, like toast fingers, soft fruit like raspberries, or cooked vegetables. You may still be giving 5 bottles a day, and your baby might not want any or much milk after a meal.

From 8-9 months

Your baby should be on 3 proper meals a day now, of around about 1 to 1 ½ small bowls at each meal. Try them on sweet and savoury meals. You want them to get a range of flavours and taste experiences. Start adding in meat, spinach, and fortified cereals. These are all rich in iron and help increase your baby’s immune system. All the stores your baby was born with are now used up and so you need to replenish them. Start offering juice or water with meals too, instead of milk all the time, so you can start the transition of nutrients from milk completely to nutrients from food.

From 9-12 months

Start encouraging your baby to self-feed with fingers or with a spoon. Once they get to around ten months, stop mashing and pureeing food completely, and start cutting into small pieces or a rough puree. Just don’t make it completely smooth. You’ll still be giving around 3-4 bottles a day.

From 12-15 months

You can start feeding your baby food the same as the rest of the family, just chopped up into small pieces. If they need them, give them a couple of snacks, such as toast, plain biscuits, yoghurt etc. You can also start to give your baby cow’s milk instead of formula, which is again, rich in calcium and good for little growing bones. Try to do all drinks from a cup now and not a bottle, as your baby will start to feel like a big boy or girl! Give them three or four cups of water a day, because more than this may make them be reluctant to eat their food.

Tips and Tricks

Try not to over feed your baby. Let their tastes and thoughts guide you instead of making choices for them. Don’t decide straight away that they’re going to be a vegetarian because you are, because they need the iron and the nutrients. If you are really set against it, then try them on fish or poultry.

Try combinations you don’t think would work. Carrots and fruit go together, avocado and pears go well together, and also strawberries and peaches. Mash them together with a fork and a little tiny bit of natural fromage frais to make it creamy.

Above all, don’t get discouraged. If your baby doesn’t like something, try something else. Don’t force anything on them, and remember, after 4 attempts, it will become a habit!

If the disease has caused high temperature, you should assure a lot of hot drink. It can be tea, juices, water – never mind. The more your child drinks, the better. When someone is ill the appetite is usually reduced. But you should suggest however fruits and chicken soup some times a day. But if your child refuses to eat for sometimes – do not insist – it is normal, as the organism mobilizes all its resources for overcome the illness, and do not want to spend it for food digestion.

Assure fresh air flow in the room, where your child is. Ventilate the room at least twice a day. It is also desirable to make moist mopping every day.

Do not allow to watch TV all day long. This advice can sound especially strange – what should the ill child do then? Well, it would be better, if he or she would have rest a little more – sleep, or just lie calmly a little bit. If your child does not know read yet, read him or her aloud some story tale. The drawing or reading can be also an alternative for TV. Or you can play in some board game like monopoly, loto and others. The best choice about the games would be something that you have already played at. The rules should be quite familiar to the child, and the game itself shouldn’t be very difficult for him. You can even hold back, if this won’t be noticed. In other words, you should try to bring some positive emotions without much exhaustion.

Do not make him or her learn new things. It is not the moment. When children are ill, there is often a little regress in the development. They can behave themselves like if they are 2 or 3 years younger. Be patient, this will go away, when your child will feel better.

If the state of health of your child allows it, you can organize some fun. For example invite some friends that your child, would be pleased to see.

One more advice about how to distract you child is – “to do a rabbit”. Even if handicraft never was your strong side, try to do with you child a toy. It can be a rabbit, or a doll, or whatever your imagination will suggest. It can be made of fibers, paper, textile, some natural material like straw, strobiles. The main point is – that the process of its creation should be pleasant both for you and your child. While creating it, try to think of health, joy and love, that you wish to your son or daughter. You can play with this toy a little story – let your child treat it, like he or she is treated itself.

But, however do not try to amuse your child too much. The best recipe for recovering is hunger, calmness and rest.

For more advices on taking care of sick child visit Feeding your sick child guide.

There will not be anything bad, if your child will refuse to eat during a short period of time, or refuses to eat only some products. However, you should consult your health care specialist to exclude any medical problem that causes lack of appetite. If there is no any such problem, try the following.

Do the food that you prepare for your child attractive – draw a funny face with jam on the porridge, make a picture of a boat from the pieces of cheese and tomatoes. You can also use some literature and cartoons associations that promote some food. Remember Popeye the sailor with his spinach? Collect such examples and use them when needed.

You should eat the food that you offer to your child by yourself. You can also try such trick as to eat with pleasure the food that your baby has refused. Show, that you eat it with appetite, and that you are ready to eat all, if he will allow this to you. Sometimes it helps, but if your baby still does not want to eat, eat all and do not use this method anymore.

Another variation of this method is to feed your baby in the company of children, who do not have problems with appetite. Children usually like do things that other children do.

Do not ask or make your child eat. Every next time you’ll have to double your efforts to reach your aim. Instead of this, try the following: define a strict schedule of meals. Explain your child, that if he (she) doesn’t want to eat, it is her (his) right, but the next time, when the food will be available is the next meal. If your child is big enough (know what time is it) you can ask him or her help in making the day’s routine.

Try to avoid give your child such snacks as sweets or fast food or sodas – they reduce the appetite and are not useful for health. The best way to avoid temptation of giving them is to not buy them at all.

If your child is fussy only for some products – do not worry about them. It is normal for children to not like some foods. With growing it will go away. Now try to find other products, that will substitute the products your child doesn’t like, and that will assure in his or her menu the needed nutritional elements. If you still think that this very one product is absolutely unsubstitutable, try to prepare it in a different way – do not boil it, but bake it or use it with some other products, than usual.

For fussy eaters recipe ideas try Annabel Karmel’s The Fussy Eaters’ Recipe Book which has some great recipes.

The first should be – give a good example. If you want, that your child does (does not) something – then you should do the same. You want him to be polite with you and other people? Then you should be polite and attentive with him (her) and also with your own parents. Remember, that you are the first authority for your child, and the first example to follow, even if he or she doesn’t confess it.

If there is in the behavior of your child something, that you do not like, you should work out an effective and correct reaction on it. You should understand that there is always a reason, if someone behaves badly. To solve the problem of bringing up your teen, you should understand the reasons of this behavior. The best way to build an effective communication between you and your child would be the usage of active listening and “me reports”.

Active listening should be used in cases, when you see, that you child is up tight, when he or she is bursting with negative emotions. How it works? Well, you should put away all other work that you were busy with, you should listen very attentively. Just repeat in your own words the information that you get. Try to define and name the feelings of your child. If you do not manage to do it at once, try again. You could also use sometimes such words as: “Oh, really?” “And then?” “Please, follow on”, “I am listening”. You should sound interested but also it should sound natural. In fact, this way of communication require some practice, but you won’t get it if you do not try. Do not ask direct questions like: “why you did this?”, “when this has happened” “how was that” – it can be felt by the teen like a kind of investigation from your side, but not your interest in his or her feelings.

When you feel, that your child has finished, then it is your time to say something. But do not yield to the temptation of getting advices, orders or negative appraisals. Try to use “me reports”. Speak of your own feelings and thoughts. Do not say: “I am angry of YOUR behavior!” Say: “I feel angry, when people behave in such way”. This won’t affect the feelings of your child, but will give you the possibility of emphasizing your position.

If you have some disagreement in some question – try to discuss it with your child. Firstly, you should listen to him or her and understand, what exactly he or she wants. Then, using “me reports” declare your wishes. After this done, you should together suggest as much decisions, as you can think off. On this stage of brainstorming do not reject anything. After you have got enough decisions, you should consider them all and choose the best that will satisfy by maximum the needs of all participants.

If you will manage to follow these advices – you will perhaps improve significantly your relationship with your teenager. But you should not consider them like a magic stick that will help you to manipulate of your children.

• AIDS
• Anticancer drugs therapy
• Contact with radioactive materials

In all other cases breastfeeding is possible, but it needs some precautions, if there are some health problems. Some time ago hepatitis B and C was considered like an absolute contra indication for breastfeeding, but the latest researches has shown that breastfeeding do not increase the risk of infection.

The lack of milk, or the idea, that woman can not breast feed the baby is not the reason for start immediate bottle feeding. By statistic only 3 percent of all women cannot have lactation because of medical problems.

The social necessity for bottle feeding could be

• Adoption: There are data, however, that the breastfeeding is possible, even for foster mother, so may be it make sense to think of mixed feeding (partly bottle feeding and partly breastfeeding if possible)
• Lonely male parent (in this case there are no any other option)
• The need to work long hours for mother. This situation allows feed the baby with breast milk, using breast pump and the bottle.

Following are some of the basic guidelines for bottle feeding

• Take baby on arms, he must see your eyes and feel your touch
• For milk preparation use only sterilized bottles
• Follow thoroughly instruction on the milk package. Do not try to reduce or increase the percentage of any components.
• Before giving the bottle to your baby, shake the bottle and check the milk temperature by dropping some quantity on your wrist. It mast be warm, but not hot.
• Offer some water between feedings. While the baby is on breastfeeding, usually he has no need in water, as the structure of breast milk changes and conforms to the baby’s needs. But powdered baby milk cannot do this, as well as you.

The advantages of bottle feeding are

• Mother can get some rest while somebody else feeds the baby
• If somebody is the father it can help him to build more close contact with the baby

There are some disadvantages for bottle feeding as well:

• If you use the bottle, because you feed baby with powdered milk it can be quite expensive. You should buy at least two bottles, four nipples, and the powdered milk itself, that is not cheap at all. The nipples have to be changed every one or two months, plus you would perhaps buy a sterilizer.
• You can get a lot of supplemental work with bottle feeding. The bottles need to be sterilized after every usage. For this purpose you can use a special sterilizer, a pan with boiling water or dish wash machine, if there is a function of sterilization. If you haven’t got the possibility o0f sterilize by some of these ways, you can wash bottles in hot water with cooking soda.
• Some times, when your baby sobs and yells of hanger it can be quite hard to prepare calmly the bottle.
• If you are going out or traveling with your baby you can get such problem as where and how to prepare the meal.
• If you have got the mixed feeding, the usage of bottle can lead to total failure of breastfeeding.

It is up to parents to decide how to feed their baby, but if you have got to use bottle, you should however try to get the best possible nutrition. The ideal one should stay the strained breast milk, but if there is no such possibility, then consult your baby doctor to choose the best feeding scheme.

It should be of the right concentration level, if the formula milk is too thick it could lead to dehydration, and if too thin then the calories provided are inadequate.

No matter what, most pediatricians feel that although most mothers would want to introduce the bottle soon enough, it is best to continue with breast milk alongside as well.

This is especially if your baby is less than 6 months old. However once your baby is over six months old you can also include a few home made food recipes that are in pureed form along with bottle feeding. This will ensure that your baby gets the necessary nutrients and calories that it requires for its development.

Bottle feeding also works during the process of weaning. During the process it is best to give your baby formula milk, at it contains the best energy providing fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

Along with these your baby also gets the required amounts of water, vitamins and minerals. Baby milk formulas are complete recipes that your baby requires atleast for a year.

Bottle feeding it also easier for working mothers to schedule and get their baby on a feeding routine. It is also easier for baby who can be bottle feed to sleep through the night without any disturbance as compared to breast fed babies.

However it is essential to know if your baby is not lactose intolerant as this could lead to a lot of indigestion and milk allergies.