Generally, babies can be weaned from 8 to 10 months, but weaning needs to be done slowly. The healthy growth of the baby requires the supplement of various nutrients. Therefore, it is a good idea to gradually add complementary foods until the transition to normal food is smooth. inevitable process. However, when it comes to grasping the timing of weaning, young mothers often act too hastily and wean hastily, which in turn causes a sharp decrease in the baby's appetite. We know that babies have a very keen sense of taste and are very picky about their diet, especially babies who are accustomed to breastfeeding and often refuse the temptation of other milks. Therefore, the baby's weaning should be gradually reduced as naturally as possible. Even if he reaches the age of weaning, a gradual adaptation process should be created for him, and he must not force it. The correct method is: appropriately extend the weaning time, reduce the number of feedings as appropriate, and gradually increase the variety and quantity of complementary foods. As long as young mothers adjust their babies' feeding properly, I believe that babies can successfully pass the "weaning" period. Difficult.
When is the best time to wean?
As the child grows older, the various nutrients provided by breast milk can no longer meet the needs of the child's growth and development, usually between 9 and 12 months. It can be weaned. In areas where dairy products or other milk substitutes are scarce, weaning can be appropriately delayed to about one and a half years old.
However, there is no hard and fast rule for the age of weaning. If the mother has a lot of milk, she can feed her baby for a longer period of time. Generally, she will be weaned around 1 year old. If there is little breast milk, but the child is willing to eat milk or other foods at the same time, he or she can also eat for a longer period of time. If there is little breast milk, and the child is unwilling to eat dairy products or other foods, the child should be weaned earlier, possibly as early as 6 months. Weaned.
Wrong weaning methods
(1) Apply ink, pepper water, tiger balm and other stimulants to the nipples. For the baby, this is simply cruel "torture". The mother thought that the baby would be disgusted with breast milk and give up breast milk, but the effect was counterproductive. It would be strange if the baby was not frightened. Moreover, the baby would refuse to eat out of fear, thus affecting the health of the body. This is good, I haven't stopped breastfeeding, but I have stopped eating other foods.
(2) Sudden weaning, sending the baby to her parents’ home or husband’s house, and not seeing the baby for several days or even a long time. Weaning does not require the separation of mother and child. For the baby's emotions, if the mother's milk is gone, he cannot live without his mother! Long-term separation of mother and child will make the baby feel insecure, especially the baby who is highly dependent on breast milk. Because he cannot see his mother, he will feel anxious, unwilling to eat, unwilling to interact with others, irritable and crying violently. , poor sleep, and even illness and weight loss. If the milk is not weaned properly, it will also affect the baby's physical and mental health. It is really not worth the gain.
(3) Some mothers do not drink soup, but use towels to strangle their breasts and tape to seal their nipples, trying to hold back the milk. These so-called "quick-acting weaning methods" obviously violate physiological laws and can easily cause breast swelling and pain. If the mother has too much milk and cannot stop it for a while, she can take some milk-reducing medicine, such as 5 mg of diethylstilbestrol 3 times a day (1 mg of diethylstilbestrol, 1 tablet, 5 tablets at a time). If you feel nauseous after eating, you can take additional vitamin B6. If the mother has varying degrees of bloating after weaning, she can use a breast pump or manually suck out the milk. At the same time, use 60 grams of raw malt and 30 grams of raw hawthorn decocted in water as tea, 3 - Breastfeeding will return in 4 days. Do not apply heat or massage.
Correct method of weaning
Weaning is not only a matter for the mother and baby. In this process, the father will also play a key role. The following suggestions are for your reference:
(1) Make a gradual and natural transition. The time and method of weaning depends on many factors. Every mother and baby experience weaning differently, and the method they choose also varies from person to person.
Quick weaning: If you are fully prepared and both you and your baby can adapt, the time is ripe for weaning and you can wean your baby off breast milk quickly. Especially with objective factors, if the mother must travel for a period of time, she may be completely weaned in a few days. If the mother stops sucking milk after going to work, the milk supply during the day will soon stop.
Gradual weaning: If the baby is very dependent on breast milk, rapid weaning may make the baby uncomfortable. If you attach great importance to breastfeeding and are with your baby every day, sudden weaning may make the baby feel lost, so you can gradually Methods of weaning. From breastfeeding 6 times a day, first reduce it to 5 times a day. After both mother and baby get used to it, gradually reduce until you stop breastfeeding completely.
(2) Eat less breast milk and more milk. When weaning begins, you can give your baby some formula milk every day, or you can drink fresh whole milk. It should be noted that try to encourage the baby to drink more milk, but as long as he wants to drink breast milk, the mother should not refuse him.
(3) Wean off milk before going to bed and at night. Most babies have the habit of feeding in the middle of the night and before going to bed at night. The baby is very active during the day, so it is easier not to breastfeed. The most difficult thing to wean off is probably the feeding before going to bed and in the middle of the night. You can wean off the feeding at night first, and then the feeding before going to bed. At this time, the active cooperation of the father or family members is needed. When the baby is sleeping, the father or family members can coax the baby to sleep, and the mother can stay away for a while. When the baby cannot see his mother, he will definitely cry a lot at first, but he has no other thoughts and will go to bed after being coaxed for a while. Weaning will take a few days at first, until the baby becomes less fussy every time. Until one day, the baby just lies down and sleeps without fussing much before going to bed, and does not wake up in the middle of the night. Well, congratulations, it’s the first battle of weaning. Victory.
(4) Reduce dependence on mother. The role of father cannot be ignored. Before weaning, it is necessary to consciously reduce the time that the mother spends with the baby, increase the time that the father takes care of the baby, and give the baby a psychological adaptation process. During the period just after weaning, the baby will be more clingy to the mother. At this time, the father can play with the baby more. The baby may be dissatisfied at first, but later he gets used to it. Let the baby understand that his father will still take care of him, and that his mother will definitely come back. Trust in the father will make the baby less dependent on the mother.
(5) Cultivate children’s good behavior habits. Before and after weaning, mothers tend to indulge their babies because of their psychological guilt, hugging them whenever they want and giving them whatever they want, regardless of whether the baby's requests are reasonable or not. But you must know that the more indulgent you are, the bigger your baby's temper will be. Before and after weaning, it is necessary for the mother to hold the baby more and give him more caress. However, she should not give in to the baby's unreasonable demands easily. She should not develop the baby's bad habits because of weaning. At this time, the father's rationality is needed to balance the mother's emotions. When the baby cries and makes a fuss, the father steps in to coordinate, and the baby is easier to obey.
Note: The baby’s bad eating habits during the weaning period are caused by improper weaning methods and are not the baby’s fault. During the weaning period, the baby should still learn to drink water and juice from a cup, and learn to eat by himself with a spoon, which can train the baby's ability to live independently.
Baby's diet after weaning
●Weaning and the introduction of complementary foods should be carried out in parallel. It's not that you start eating complementary foods because of weaning, but that you have already eaten complementary foods well before weaning, so there is no obvious change in the amount of complementary foods before and after weaning, and weaning should not affect the baby's normal complementary feeding.
●What should babies drink after weaning? As usual, in addition to feeding your baby milk during the day, you can give your baby a small amount of 1:1 diluted fresh juice and boiled water. If you are weaned before one year old, you should drink infant formula. After one year old, the amount of breast milk you drink will gradually decrease, and the amount of milk you need to drink will gradually increase, but the total daily amount will remain basically the same (children between one and two years old should About 600 ml per day)
●What should babies eat after weaning? The one-year-old baby's diet arrangement for the whole day: five meals a day, three meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and two snacks, emphasizing balanced meals and combinations of thickness, rice, noodles, meat and vegetables, and the principle of broken, soft and rotten.
Completely weaned from breastfeeding (breast milk), most of the diet is fixed to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and transitions from porridge to thick porridge and soft rice, from minced meat to minced meat, from vegetable puree to minced vegetables, to fast one At the age of 18, the baby can be trained to eat on his own and must be weaned from breastfeeding (breast milk). If the baby continues to be fed with breast milk, the baby may not drink milk, have a poor appetite, and all aspects of nutrition cannot keep up with the baby's growth needs. However, At the same time, we have to follow a step-by-step method to add complementary foods to the baby, from less to more, from thin to thick, from fine to coarse. Get used to one type and then add another. Add it when the child is healthy and has normal digestive function. If the reaction pauses for two Day, recover your health before proceeding. An 8-month-old baby must slowly adapt to the transition from milk to food, and I believe that the baby will definitely adapt.
For feeding after weaning, infants and young children need about 1100 to 1200 kcal of energy and 35 to 40 grams of protein every day, which is a large amount. Due to poor digestive function of infants and young children, they are not suitable for eating solid food. New varieties should be gradually added to the original complementary food, and the liquid and semi-liquid diet should be gradually changed to solid food. Food with a soft texture and easy digestion should be preferred. For this reason, the diet of infants and young children can include dairy products, cereals, etc. When cooking, food should be minced and burned. Methods such as boiling, stewing, roasting, and steaming can be used. It is not advisable to fry or use irritating ingredients.
Infants and young children cannot eat all cereals after weaning, nor can they eat the same meals as adults. The staple food should be thick porridge, rotten rice, noodles, wontons, steamed buns, etc. The non-staple food can include fish, lean meat, liver, eggs, dried shrimps, soy products and various vegetables. The staple food is rice and flour, about 100 grams per day, which gradually increases with age; soy products are about 25 grams per day, mainly tofu and dried tofu; 1 egg per day, steamed, stewed, boiled, and fried All are OK; 50-75 grams of meat and fish per day, gradually increasing to 100 grams; 500 ml of soy milk or milk per day, gradually reducing to 250 ml after 1 year old; fruits can be supplied appropriately according to specific circumstances.
The number of meals for infants and young children after weaning is generally 4 to 5 meals a day, divided into breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-noon and afternoon meals. Breakfast should be of high quality and lunch should be lighter. For example, breakfast can be milk or soy milk, eggs or meat buns, etc.; lunch can be rotten rice, fish, vegetables, plus egg and shrimp skin soup, etc.; dinner can be lean meat, minced vegetable noodles, etc.; and some fruits can be given before lunch. Such as bananas, apple slices, pear slices, etc.; biscuits and sugar water in the afternoon. Try to rotate and renovate the daily recipes as much as possible, and pay attention to the combination of meat and vegetables to avoid the same meals. In addition, cooking techniques and methods can also affect the eating habits and appetite of infants and young children. If the color, aroma and taste are complete, it can promote the appetite of infants and young children, increase food intake, and strengthen their digestion and absorption functions.
●Eat nutritious, soft, and easy-to-digest food. One-year-old babies have very weak chewing and digestion abilities. Rough food is not easy to digest and can easily lead to diarrhea. Therefore, you should give your baby some soft and rotten food. Generally speaking, the staple food can be soft rice, rotten noodles, rice porridge, small wontons, etc., and the non-staple food can be minced meat, minced vegetables, egg custard, etc. It is worth mentioning that milk is a necessary food for babies every day after weaning, because it is not only easy to digest, but also extremely rich in nutrients, and can provide various nutrients needed for the baby's physical development. Avoid eating spicy foods. The taste of newly weaned babies is not yet adapted to irritating foods, and their digestive tracts have difficulty adapting to irritating foods. Therefore, they should not eat spicy foods.
●Misunderstandings in post-weaning diet
(1) Eat only food and less vegetables or only eat vegetables and less food. When adding complementary foods to their babies, some parents only focus on staple foods. They feed their babies a variety of rotten rice, noodles, various rice porridges, and pastries, but eat less non-staple foods (fish, vegetables, and soy products), or vice versa. This violates the scientific principles of dietary balance and is not conducive to the healthy development of your baby.
(2) Make rice with soup. Some parents think that soup is rich in nutrients and can make rice softer, so they always feed their babies rice with soup. This is obviously a misunderstanding. First of all, the nutrients in the soup are only 5-10, and more nutrients are in the meat. The fact is that the baby does not eat more nutrients. Moreover, long-term use of soup and rice can also cause a burden on the stomach, which may cause the baby to suffer from stomach problems since childhood.
(3) Use fruits instead of vegetables. Some parents find that their babies don't like to eat vegetables and have dry stools, so they use fruits instead of vegetables, thinking that this can relieve the baby's constipation, but the effect is not ideal. This approach is wrong. Fruits cannot replace vegetables. Vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, are rich in fiber, which can ensure smooth stool and ensure the intake of minerals and vitamins.
(4) After weaning, she eats normally, but still eats milk cake. Milk cake is a transitional food from breast milk to porridge, and its nutritional content is no different from that of porridge. They are all carbohydrates. If the baby can eat porridge and rice after weaning, there is no need to eat milk cake. Feeding your baby milk cakes for a long time is not conducive to the development of your baby's teeth and chewing ability. Wish your baby health and happiness!