Milk up to 6 months
The opinions of paediatricians and nutritionists are unanimous: there is no better and more complete food for a baby than his mother's milk. It contains everything the baby needs and plays a unique role in protecting the well-being of the child and his future health: in addition to carrying all the essential substances for healthy growth, it represents an excellent source of antibodies, which defend the body from viruses and bacteria, and is rich in digestive enzymes that facilitate the absorption of nutritional components contained in the milk itself.
Breast milk is a biologically appropriate food for human beings: it is always fresh and always at the right temperature, and its composition changes over time and adapts to the growing needs of the newborn. For these reasons, the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding throughout the first year of life, providing breastfeeding exclusively until at least 6 months, with a later gradual introduction of solid foods, while continuing to breastfeed for as long as possible.
However, if direct breastfeeding is not feasible, you can resort to artificial milk formula. For years, new formulas for ensuring maximum child safety and for obtaining a product as similar as possible to the composition and organoleptic characteristics of breast milk have been studied.
Today, the results are very good and there is a wide range of choices: paediatricians can best advise mothers on the type of formula to use.
The pediatrician recommends…
It is important to highlight that, in any case, the introduction of foods other than milk must not be made before 4 months because such foods are not yet necessary and, indeed, can be potentially harmful. Under 4 months, in fact, the level of neuromuscular coordination acquired by the infant does not allow him to swallow a food bolus.