FEEDING
The best food for your young child
The first 6 months
Give breast milk and nothing else.
BREAST IS BEST because
breast milk contains the ideal
combination of foods that
the child needs, is clean,
and is always the right
temperature. Also, breast
milk contains ‘antibodies’
from the mother that protect the baby
against infections.
Therefore, breast milk is especially
important for children more likely to get
infections, such as a child with Down
syndrome (see p. 279) or a child who
often chokes on her food and might get
pneumonia.
Breast milk is healthier for babies than
other milks or ‘formula’.
If the baby cannot suck, a mother can
milk her breasts:
and then give the baby her milk with a
cup and spoon. See Where Women
Have No Doctor, page 112.
After 6 months
Continue breast feeding
and also begin to give the
baby other foods—juices
and fruits rich in vitamins,
mash of green leafy vegetables, beans
(boiled, skinned, and mashed), peanuts
(skinned and mashed), egg
yolks, and other local staples
such as rice, corn, plantains,
or cassava.
Small stomachs need food
often. Feed children under
1 year old at least 5 times a
day—and give them snacks between meals.
If the child has trouble eating solid foods,
do not keep giving only milk or formula or
‘rice water’. Even mother’s milk alone is not
enough after 6 months. Mash or grind up
other foods to form a drink or mush.
By 8 months to 1
year of age the child
should be eating
the same food as
the rest of the family—even if it has to be
mashed or turned into liquids.
WARNING: Avoid baby
bottles whenever possible.
They often spread infections.
Cup and spoon feeding
is safer.
321
HIV and breast feeding
If a woman has HIV, sometimes this infection can pass to the baby through her
breast milk. But if she does not have access to clean water and a regular supply of infant
formula, her baby is more likely to die from diarrhea, dehydration, and malnutrition than
from AIDS, the illness caused by HIV. Only the mother can evaluate the conditions in
her home and community and decide what to do. There are also medicines that both the
mother and baby can take to prevent HIV from passing to a baby. See a
health worker to find out what is available in your area.
Babies older than 6 months have less danger of dying from diarrhea
because they are bigger and stronger. A woman with HIV who has breast
fed her baby should stop at 6 months, and feed him with other milks and
foods. This way the baby will have less risk of getting HIV.
disabled village children