Proper Nutrition During Infancy and Toddlerhood

Providing proper nutrition during infancy and toddlerhood is important for your child’s health. But how do you provide this? What diet is best for an infant? When does one introduce cow’s milk? What is the best diet for toddlers? These are some questions that come to mind when thinking about infant and toddler nutrition. I hope to answer these questions. I will also discuss some of the foods that should be avoided during infancy and toddlerhood and their potential dangers.

According to Sheah Rarback, the growth rate in infants is rapid and the birth weight of an infant is often doubled by five months of age (Rarback, Sheah, 2011). The two main forms of nutrition during the first four months of infancy is either breastmilk or infant formula (Rarback, Sheah, 2011). Then at four months of age, solid foods can start to be introduced (Rarback, Sheah, 2011). Once toddlerhood is reached, a child’s growth rate begins to slow and the child begins to eat more solid foods than the child ate during infancy (Coila, Bridget, 2011).

Providing breatsmilk is the best form of nutrition for an infant as it contains all the nutrients that an infant needs (Coila, Bridget, 2010). There can be many benefits to this. One such benefit is that there has been research conducted that shows breastmilk can lower the incidence of SIDS (Phend, Crystal, 2011). In a report conducted by Fern R, Hauck, MD, MS from the University of Virginia School of Medicine it was found that there was an overall 60% reduction rate of SIDS in infants fed breastmilk regardless of duration or amount (Phend, Crystal, 2011) Another benefit to breastmilk is that it contains antibodies that can reduce the incidence of infection in an infant (Rarback, Sheah, 2011). It has also been ...

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