Very young babies are totally dependent on the parents, particularly the mother, for the provision of adequate nutrition in the first year of life. It is now firmly established that exclusive breast feeding for the first six months of life is the ideal form of initial nourishment. This implies that only breast milk is given and nothing else. Even additional water is not necessary. The only other things that are permitted are vitamins and Western medicines. The vast majority of babies grow well and thrive beautifully just on mother’s milk. It is definitely the first step in the right direction to producing a healthy populace in our country. It is a tribute to our parents and many other agencies involved in the culture of breast feeding that exclusive feeding with mothers milk is now the order of the day in over 80 percent of all newborn babies in Sri Lanka.

In any normal individual, the highest rate of growth in physical proportions as well as in the growth of organs and intellectual development occurs in the first two years of life. Proportionately, this is even more than growth in the pubertal growth phase. The first two year growth segment is especially significant and true for brain growth. Many essential nutrients should be provided for this important stage in the life of an individual and additional foods need to be supplied in optimal quantities to the baby right throughout this rapid growth segment of life.

After the first six months of life however, breast milk alone cannot provide sufficient quantities of all necessary nutrients for the baby. There are advantages of continuing to breast feed for even up to two years but other foods have to be gradually introduced around six months of age. The baby needs extra nutrition and other foods from this age onwards and exclusive breast feeding is definitely not the best way of providing the necessary nutrition to a baby beyond about six months of age. Resorting to such exclusive breast feeding beyond the time at which it is imperatively beneficial will probably lead to this procedure adversely affecting the provision of adequate nutrition for the young child. The "breast dependence" of some children, particularly seen in some areas of India, is a well known cause of under-nutrition and malnutrition. In that situation babies get sort of "addicted" to the breast and refuse to take other foods.

The period of 5 to 8 months of age is also important as it is the time during which the baby learns to chew and swallow semi-solids and solids. It is generally not appreciated that although newborn babies are born with a well developed swallowing reflex, they have to learn to chew and swallow later on. Adequate stimulation of this process is vital to ensure that the baby develops the ability to ingest as well as to develop a liking for different types of foods from then onwards.

The addition of newer and extra foods after the 6th month of life should be based on the idea of a "balanced diet". Such a diet should supply adequate amounts of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. All new articles of food need to be introduced only gradually so that the baby gets used to them and develops a liking for them. Traditionally, in Sri Lanka, weaning practices are commenced with rice cunjee. This is not too bad except for the fact that this substance is mostly water and contains only very small amounts of other essential nutrients. A better and more useful step would be to put in some cooked rice into the cunjeee and mash it up into a semisolid paste. Around this time fruit juices and soft fruits could be introduced. As the baby gets used to more solid foods, vegetables, lentils, fish and meats could also be incorporated into this mixture. The trick is to very gradually make the preparation more and more solid so that the baby learns to chew and swallow. The consistency of the mashed up mixture is gradually changed over weeks of time so that in time to come the baby gets used to eating solid food. The ultimate goal is to get the baby to eat most of the articles of an adult diet by the time he or she is one year old.

Different ways of preparing food and addition of different articles of food will lead to the baby developing a taste for many different food articles. It would prevent him or her getting bored by the same old thing being given day in and day out. Variety is the spice of life, even for little babies. Various types of rusks and biscuits also are other useful additions to instil variety into the foods. What is most important in these endeavours is the fact that it is totally unnecessary to cook separately for the baby. The food that is cooked for other family members could be usefully employed to provide balanced nutrition for the baby too. Even vitamins and minerals in adequate quantities could be provided by such articles of food that are used day in and day out in a normal diet.

Parents are bombarded by a variety of commercially available proprietary baby foods in packets, jars and bottles. There are subtle advertisements for these products depicting bouncy bonny babies and happy parents. Many virtues are extolled and the inclusion of all kinds of factors and articles that are supposed to increase the growth of organs, especially the brain, are used by interested parties to convince mothers that these articles of food are superior. However, it must be categorically stated that there is no "growth factor" or an essential nutrient that is added to these foods that cannot be provided by natural articles of foods available in all homes. True enough, the convenience of packaged pre-cooked food is attractive for busy people but it must also be realised that there are many food additives that are used to preserve the shelf life of these products and currently there are concerns all over the world on the long-term effects of these substances on growing children. The saddest thing is that even non-working mothers, who are there with the baby at home, tend to use these foods for their babies. There is no scientific evidence that any of these proprietary and synthetic foods are that much better or for that matter, any better, than natural foods.

The current trend is to try and avoid sweetening foods and drinks by adding sugar. There is a growing problem of being over-weight and obese in children and sweetening food is just one cause for this problem. Sugar may provide some calories but is not an essential ingredient in a child’s diet. In addition, excessive consumption of sugar in early years of life predisposes to dental problems as well. Another common article of food that is not necessary for the very young baby is salt. There is accumulating evidence that salt intake in early life is probably linked to the development of high blood pressure and other heart problems in later life. There is also a general recommendation that eggs be avoided till the end of the first year of life. Although there is no definite evidence for major deleterious effects of eggs on the very young baby the contention is that its avoidance probably helps to prevent the development of some forms of allergy. Tea and coffee too are perhaps best avoided during the first year of life as some of the chemical ingredients in these beverages have some stimulant properties.

Apart from these, there are no other restrictions on natural foods for the baby but many synthetic foods with all kinds of food additives and colourings are perhaps best avoided during this stage of life. Babies generally do not like chillies, pepper and spicy food simply because of their irritant effects on the tender lining of the mouth and throat. However, there is no evidence that these are nutritionally harmful to the baby or that they lead to long term problems such as gastric and liver disorders.

Many believe that it is essential to provide the baby with some artificial formula milk after the first six months of life. This is not absolutely or invariably so. If other articles of food are gradually introduced and the baby is breast fed, there is no real reason to introduce these proprietary milk foods, even up to the end of the first year of life. All types of formula milk are made from cow milk and are not primarily designed for humans. However, if it is convenient and affordable, there is no absolute embargo on the use of these milks for the baby in the second six months of life. This is particularly relevant to families with working mothers. Affordability is particularly relevant in view of the escalating costs of milk powders in modern society.

Feeding a baby in the first year of life should not be a big hassle. All it needs is some common sense, prudent selection of natural foods and a little bit of extra effort. By the end of the first year, the baby should be joining the rest of the family at table during all mealtimes. There are many misconceptions, false beliefs and common folklore statements that are presented to mothers. The widespread practice of describing some foods as "heaty" and others as "cooling" does not have any scientific basis. Such ideas have led to unnecessary restrictions being placed on the provision of some useful natural foods to the baby. It is worth reiterating that all normal children would grow up like flowers provided the basic forms of nutrition are made available to them.g