The decision about whether to breastfeed or not is an important one. It’s also an individual one. No one – not a doctor, not family, not friends, not a lactation consultant – can make that decision for you. You need to decide if breastfeeding is right for you and for your baby. Part of that process involves understanding what the benefits of breastfeeding are, and deciding on whether or not you’re willing or able to breastfeed.

Here are some basic ways that breastfeeding benefits your baby:

• In the early days of your baby’s life, breast milk can be very helpful. That early breast milk, known as “colostrum,” is very high in both antibodies and in nutrients. These are designed to help your baby stay protected in the early days while she’s still adjusting to life outside the womb, and while her immune system is rapidly starting to do what it needs to do.
• Breast milk is balanced for your baby. After those first few days of colostrum, your mature milk is the ideal food for your baby. It has the nutrients your baby needs, and in the right proportions. It has the right amount of protein, fat, water, and carbohydrates to give your baby the fuel that he needs to grow.
• Breast milk is easier to digest than formula. Your baby is going to have an easier time of it adjusting to breast milk than she will formula. It takes time for your baby’s stomach to get used to digesting cow’s milk, and so breastfeeding can be gentler on her stomach. Breastfed babies tend to have fewer incidents of diarrhea, as well.
• Breast milk may help protect from certain illnesses. The antibodies in breast milk help to protect your baby from illnesses, including things like ear infections. There is also some evidence to suggest that breastfeeding may help reduce the risk of asthma, obesity, diabetes, and even childhood leukemia.

The good news is that, even if you decide that you cannot (or if you are unable to) breastfeed, your baby should be able to grow and develop normally. And, if you’re having trouble breastfeeding, there are organizations and health providers that are more than willing to help.

Figuring out what kinds of foods your baby likes to eat and which ones she absolutely can’t stand can be something of a challenge. It can take several tries before your baby knows whether or not she likes a particular food. In addition, there are some foods that babies seem to be prone to having allergic reactions to. For this reason, it’s important that you don’t try to feed certain foods to baby too early. Berries are one of those foods that you’ll want to wait a while for.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to wait until the age of six months or so before you introduce berries into your baby’s diet. When you do feed your baby berries, you’ll want to watch for signs of an allergic reaction. Eczema is one of the most common signs of an allergic reaction. If you see anything like this, you should talk with your baby’s doctor.

Berries aren’t necessarily a top allergenic food. In fact, they’re not even in the top eight of the most allergenic foods. It used to be that experts would recommend that you wait until after your baby’s first birthday to try berries, because some folks can be allergic. Today, however, that’s not the case.

One of the arguments against feeding your baby berries at an earlier age was because it was thought that delaying the introduction of a given food might help to prevent allergies to that food. Researchers now know that delaying does not seem to make a difference in that regard.

Even if your baby has a family history of food allergies, it should be all right to feed your baby berries after six months. Of course, if you have concerns in this area, you should most definitely check with your doctor first.

When you do introduce berries to your baby’s diet (or any other food, for that matter) you should try to wait two or three days afterwards before introducing a different new food. This will help you watch for allergic reaction symptoms, and will help to identify exactly which new food might be causing the reaction.

When it comes to your baby’s growth and development, one of the most important milestones that she will reach is the place where she’s starting to eat solid foods. The move away from formula or breast milk to solid foods means a number of things for your baby. For one, it’s likely that your baby will sleep longer and more soundly at night, because her belly is going to be fuller than what it would be with formula or with breast milk.

It’s important to think about what baby’s first solid foods should be. There are a couple of different sides to this debate, and looking at each can help you make an informed decision about what to feed your baby when he starts making that transition.

Some experts suggest that you should start baby out on solid foods that come from the fruit category. They argue that, because both formula and breast milk have a high degree of sweetness, fruit makes a nice transitional food. It’s sweet, just like what your baby has been consuming all along, and it’s more likely that your baby will want to try.

Other folks suggest that you should not start your baby out with fruits. Rather, they suggest that vegetables are better to start with. They suggest that you don’t want your baby to become enamored with the sweet taste of fruit, making it harder to introduce vegetables down the road.

There are several ways you can approach the issue, but really it comes down to your preference and to your baby’s preference. For example, if she just won’t seem to try vegetables at first, consider giving her some more sweet type of vegetables, such as sweet potatoes or carrots.

The key is to make sure you expose your baby to a variety of different fruits and vegetables. Remember, as well, that your baby is still trying to figure out whether or not he likes specific tastes and textures. It may be that your baby doesn’t like green beans one day, but loves them the next.

Finally, you should make sure to introduce only one new type of food at a time for your baby. This lets you watch out for symptoms of an allergic reaction. If you introduce several different fruits or vegetables at one sitting, it will be harder to figure out which one your baby might be allergic to.

One of the more exciting things about watching your baby grow and develop is to witness that transition from only taking formula or breast milk to trying all sorts of new foods. Getting baby to try new foods can be an important milestone in your baby’s early life. Still, it can be somewhat frustrating when your baby won’t try new foods, or when he doesn’t like the new foods that you’re introducing into his diet.

Add to that the fact that babies are fickle things. Your baby might eagerly consume something new at first, and then after half a dozen bites or so she will decide that she doesn’t like it at all. Keep in mind here that getting baby to try new foods involves a process whereby your baby has to experiment with both texture and flavor, and get used to new sensations.

Here are some things you can do to help when you are getting baby to try new foods:

• Keep trying. Your baby might not like peas at first, but after half a dozen tries, she might decide that she’s all about the peas.
• Try different presentation methods. Part of getting baby to try new foods is finding new ways to introduce those foods. One of the best ways is to introduce them as a mixture with some cereal.
• Only try one new food at a time. If you mix several new foods and your baby has an allergic reaction, it will be hard to know which one caused the reaction.
• Don’t try new foods for baby when you or baby are tired or sick. Your baby is going to be much more receptive to trying new foods when he’s feeling well.
• Try new foods when your baby is hungry. If you wait until after he’s had some other food, he’s not as likely to try something new.
• If your baby has interest in a spoon, give her one of her own. Continue to feed her, but allow her to feel like she’s taking part in the process.
• Keep distractions to a minimum. Focus on the feeding process, and turn off the TV or remove other things that might distract your baby, as well.

We all want our children to be as healthy and happy as possible. We also know that childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in this country, and that lifestyle changes and dietary changes are important if we’re going to give our baby the best chance of living a healthy life within a normal weight range. Accordingly, one of the areas that parents are often concerned about in regard to their children’s health is their fat intake.

That being said, you don’t really need to restrict or monitor the fat in your baby’s food for the first couple of years. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that you wait until two years of age before doing any restriction. In those early developmental months, fat is an important energy source for your baby. He’s growing at a rapid rate, and he needs that stored energy to continue to do so. Add in the fact that your baby’s brain is comprised mostly of fat cells, it’s a necessity for the development of the brain, as well.

During the first few months of life, your baby gets plenty of fat by way of formula or breast milk. When your baby is ready to eat solid foods, she will be able to consume dairy products that contain plenty of fat, such as cheese and yogurts. Even if you have low-fat cheese or yogurt for the rest of the family (and you probably should) you shouldn’t hold back for baby.

You’ll also want to hold back on giving your baby whole milk right away. Your baby should drink formula or breast milk pretty much for that first year.

Once your baby turns two years old, you can start to watch the fat in her diet. You can switch out to low-fat milk and dairy. Still, you won’t really need to get serious about it until the age of five, when you’ll want to make sure that fat makes up no more than about a third of calories.

Do limit excessive salt and sugars for your baby, as these are more likely culprits in long-term weight issues for your baby than fat intake, at least in those first couple of years.