Our Advice - Feeding

For over 50 years,

NUK has been helping parents

feed their babies.

Whether you choose to breastfeed, bottle-feed or both, feeding is one of the most important things as a parent you can do for your little one – not just physically but psychologically. For babies, as for adults, eating is a social as well as nutritional event. Your baby is taking in not just milk but all the other things he needs: comfort, caring and physical and social stimulation.

This is a chance to share closeness and warmth as well as sustenance with your baby.

On a purely physical level, eating is an amazing combination of coordinated actions. It requires development of the mouth, tongue, jaw and teeth. Your baby is learning how to take milk with his lips and tongue and move them to the back of the throat to swallow. He will learn to hold his head up, chew, and master hand-to-mouth coordination. It’s no wonder that this all takes time and some practice.

Get out the bib, prepare for some messes and bon appetit!

BOTTLEFEEDING

NUK fully supports breastfeeding for all the nutritional and health benefits for mother and child. But there may be times when a mom chooses to bottle-feed her baby. In these cases, NUK offers everything you need for bottle-feeding, like bottles, orthodontic nipples and bottle sterilizers, to make feeding as nourishing, safe and natural as possible.

Getting Started
You may want to find out which bottle and nipple work best for you and your baby. NUK Orthodontic Nipples are designed to mimic the shape of a mother’s nipple during breastfeeding, so your baby receives all the oral development benefits of breastfeeding.

If you are bottle-feeding with breast milk, you will need a way to express the milk and store it. NUK offers a range of items to make this simple and comfortable, such as the NUK Gentle Flow Manual Breast Pump.

If you plan to feed your baby prepared formula, you may want to discuss with your baby’s doctor a formula that is closest to human milk. There are special formulas for babies with milk allergies or metabolic disorders. Commercial formulas come in powder or liquid and in various sizes of bottles and cans.

Safe bottle-feeding
For the first 12 months, your baby’s digestive system is only just developing. Food containing protein, such as commercially-prepared formula, makes an ideal breeding-ground for bacteria. That’s why it’s critical that you carefully clean, sterilize and store all your bottle-feeding items. Here are some tips to keeping bottle-feeding safe:

• Always prepare fresh formula. Do not save leftover formula after a feeding.
• During baby’s first months, use sterile water (that has been boiled and then cooled).
• Thoroughly clean and sterilize bottles and nipples after each use. Use a bottle brush with dishwashing liquid and then put feeding items into a large pan and boil in clean, clear water for 2-3 minutes. The NUK Steam Sterilizer is a convenient way to clean and sterilize bottles and accessories with steam and no additional chemicals.
• Sterilized bottles and nipples can be left to drain upside down on a clean towel.

FIRST SOLID FOODS

For the first six months, your baby will thrive on milk alone. Milk is easy for your baby’s immature stomach and intestines to digest, and newborns prefer to suck rather than to chew and swallow. Around four to six months, your baby’s nutritional needs will change and your baby will develop the new skills necessary to eat solids. This can be an exciting and challenging time for baby and parent.

How do you know when your baby is ready?
Experts agree that babies are ready to try solids between four and six months. Starting earlier than four months can increase the risk of food allergies. As a rule, when your baby’s tongue-thrust reflex has diminished and he can hold his head up he may be ready to try rice cereal thinned with formula or breast milk. Each month, you can supplement or replace the milk feedings with cereal and pureed foods. After about 9 months, your infant will be ready to try more solid foods and join the rest of the family at the table.

What to start with?
At first, foods should be strained, pureed or mashed and thinned with liquid so that it’s the consistency of thick cream. Food can be served at room temperature. By the time your baby reaches six or seven months, the food can become progressively thicker as baby becomes more experienced at eating.

Here are some good starter foods:

• Rice, barley or oat cereal mixed with breast milk, formula or water is easily digested by infants
• Pureed vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans
• Pureed apples, pears, bananas, peaches
• Unsweetened yogurt (for babies not allergic or intolerant of milk products)
• Pureed beef, chicken, turkey and lamb

FOOD ALLERGIES

Babies are sensitive and prone to allergies – particularly during their first 12 months. That’s why healthcare professionals recommend that the following highly-allergenic foods not be introduced before your baby’s first birthday.

Do not feed these foods to baby during the first 12 months

• Cow’s milk
• Milk-based cereals, instant milk-based cereals
• Milk products, ice cream
• Soy milk
• Fish
• Eggs
• Egg pasta
• Wheat bread, bread rolls, biscuits
• Wheat flakes, wheat semolina, muesli
• Citrus fruits, orange juice, exotic fruits (like pineapple or mango)
• Nuts
• Instant teas (protein based)
• Jars or other ready-meals containing many ingredients

Some tips on safely introducing foods

• Introduce foods one at a time, a week apart. This makes it easier to determine any possible reaction.
• Delay solids until five or six months of age. It is believed that the later a baby is exposed to a potential allergen, the less likely sensitization will take place.
• Keep an eye out for adverse reactions, such as looser bowel movements, gassiness, rash (including diaper rash), excessive spitting up, wheezing, or runny nose.
• Immediately stop feeding a food if your baby should develop any of the above adverse reactions
• First introduce less allergenic foods, such as baby rice cereal, barley, oats, fruits like apples and bananas. Hold off on more allergenic foods like those listed in the chart above.

12 MONTH FOOD CHART

Here is a good guide for what a baby can eat the first 12 months. In general, babies need several snacks in addition to three meals a day.

* Breastfeeding and infant first solid foods if required, initially approximately 5-8 feeds a day, gradually reducing to five.
** The first cereal can be given at 6 months if your infant is ready for it.
*** From the 10th month solid foods can be gradually introduced (such as bread, fruit). This depends on when your child is ready.

Some healthy meal ideas

to make your life a bit easier