How to feed the baby at 4 months?
Baby at 4 months still can not eat solids food, food supplements are a good choice for feeding. There are 2 types: rice flour and rice milk. What's different between them?
Rice flour is the most common supplementary food for babies. Because of its light taste, easy to swallow and good digestion, it is very suitable for babies as the first supplementary food. Rice flour producers will design different kinds and tastes of rice flour according to the nutritional needs of babies at different ages. But human creation is endless. In recent years, there has been a kind of supplementary food called rice milk on the market. Many parents do not know the difference between them, nor do they know what the baby is suitable for. Let's talk about it today.
The common points of rice flour and milk
1. The same raw materials mainly use high-quality rice and millet as raw materials, and rice is the most used. First, rice is the staple food of our human beings, which can lay the foundation for our baby to eat rice in the future; second, rice protein is the best in cereals, which also contains rich minerals and vitamins; third, rice is the most sensitive and digestible food in cereals, which is more suitable for adding supplementary food at the beginning.
2. Provide the same nutrition for babies.
(1)Mainly provide carbohydrates, and a part of cereal protein, fat, cholesterol and calcium, iron and zinc nutritional content is relatively small.
(2) Formulas can be designed according to the needs of babies at different ages: for example, babies who first add supplementary food are suitable for the original products of fortified iron and zinc; with the increase of month age, rice flour/milk with various raw materials such as vegetables, fruits, liver, yolk, calcium, iron and zinc, milk powder and different types of vitamins can be selected. According to its formula, rice noodles also have different stages. The division boundaries of complementary foods are not as uniform as milk powder.
For example, some rice noodles are 0-24 months at the beginning of addition, 6-36months as the first stage, 7-36months as the second stage, and 8-36months as the 3rd stage. Some rice flour is not segmented, called the whole segment, suitable for babies with initial - 36 months. When purchasing, we should pay attention to the appropriate age of the product. We should not only look at the age of the dairy product like buying milk powder.
(3) It can provide nutrition for the baby, at the same time, exercise swallowing ability. Neither staple food nor other food can be completely replaced by rice flour or rice milk. During the 4-12 month period, staple food should be breast milk or formula milk powder. Whether rice flour or milk powder, can not replace the breast milk or formula milk powder, if added too much, will make the baby appear protein deficiency, such as growth retardation, affecting nervous system development, hindering muscle development, low immune system function, weight gain but slow growth.
(4) No matter whether products with various combinations of raw materials are selected, they can not completely replace other foods. For example, if you choose products containing fruit to baby, they should also be fed fruit. If you choose rice flour or rice milk to baby, they should also be fed milk powder. Whether it is rice flour or rice milk, it belongs to refined food. It can not exercise the baby's chewing and digestive ability better. At the appropriate age, besides adding rice flour to supplement nutrition, common fruits, vegetables and meat, and eggs must also be made for the baby to eat.
The difference between rice flour and rice milk
(1) Rice flour is mainly in the form of powder, which is caused by the milling of rice. The size and shape of the particles are related to the processing technology. It is an early food for infants and young children. It is mostly pasty after being prepared. Home-made rice noodles can be made at home, but because home-made rice noodles can not fortify iron and zinc and other nutritional facts, it is not suitable for babies who add supplementary food for the first time. Long-term use of homemade rice noodles is prone to anemia.
(2) Rice milk, in Europe, America, and Japan, is often used as the third kind of milk beverage besides milk and soy milk. Traditional rice milk refers to mixing cooked rice and water in a juicer to get a liquid as thick as milk. It is called rice milk. Self-made rice milk is also not suitable for babies who add supplementary food. Rice milk, especially for infants and young children, is only on the market in recent years, its powder state is more delicate than rice flour, after being washed and adjusted, it can be milk-like.
The processing technology is different:
(1) Rice flour, mainly wet drying technology and dry production technology (expansion drying method). Wet drying process: soaking rice, beating, ingredients, homogenization, steam roller dryer, crushing, slicing, packaging, this process mainly produces rice flour flakes. Dry process (extrusion drying): crushing, dry mixing, extrusion and explosion, crushing, mixing, packaging, the rice flour produced is mainly powder, relatively flaky when adding water is easy to clump, the impact adjustment is slightly poor. Some rice flour will use enzymatic hydrolysis to hydrolyze some macromolecular starch into short chains, to help babies digest better.
(2) Rice milk is usually dried by the wet method, which is basically the same as rice flour. The biggest difference is that the enzymatic hydrolysis process is increased. Amylase and protease are used to hydrolyze starch and protein into small molecular structures respectively, which is beneficial to the baby's digestion and absorption. This is also the original milk shape after rice milk is washed and adjusted. Because. It should be noted that in addition to the enzymatic hydrolysis of infant rice milk, most of them add full-fat milk powder, and some rice flour will also add milk powder, so this kind of rice flour is also called rice milk or milk powder. Parents should pay attention to the distinction when buying, and see what kind of products they want to buy.
The advantages and disadvantages of rice flour and rice milk:
(1) Rice milk is better digested than rice flour. After brewing, rice milk in the water state can help the baby swallow more delicately. If the baby adds supplementary food within 4-6 months, enzymatic hydrolysis of rice milk can be preferred. Of course, the thinner rice flour can also be fed to the baby.
(2) Rice flour can exercise the baby's chewing ability better than rice milk. Rice flour is easy to be washed into a paste, and its fineness is indeed inferior to rice milk, but it is better than rice milk in terms of chewing ability. Larger babies can choose rice flour first. Larger babies can increase the secretion of amylase, which has been able to digest rice flour well without worrying about indigestion. Of course, from a nutritional point of view, older babies also have no problem eating rice milk.
(3) Rice milk is more convenient to drink in bottles, but it is not advocated. Whether rice milk or rice flour, as supplementary food, it is not recommended that long-term bottle feeding, preferably spoon, bowl. In this way, we can better exercise our baby's swallowing and chewing ability, and learn to eat with other tableware. Remind Mom and Dad: Just now we have said that rice flour/milk is mainly made of rice, which is not easy to cause allergies. Don't be careless. Some products have milk powder added. If your baby is allergic to milk protein, you need to pay attention to the ingredients list when choosing to check whether it contains milk ingredients. In addition, not only rice flour/rice milk but also probiotics, powder calcium, iron, and zinc, in order to adjust the taste, some will also add milk powder.