You’ve probably heard the saying ‘baby eats what mom eats’, and that’s true! But let’s put your fears to rest - pregnancy does not mean you need to go on a crazy diet. Rather, most of the time it’s all about choosing whole foods for optimal nutrition.
So far, over 2,100 microorganisms have been identified as living in and on the human body (Source). When it comes to the gut, almost 400 of these microorganisms inhabit this environment; this diverse and abundant community of microorganisms is referred to as the gut microbiome.
Nothing makes a parent’s heart skip a beat faster than the sound of a baby coughing at mealtime.
Is your baby choking?
This stress often builds as parents start to introduce solid foods into their baby’s diet. The good news is that choking, while scary, is largely preventable and not as common as you think it is.
Introducing baby to solid foods is an exciting time but it can also be a bit confusing. What’s the safest way to feed baby as they learn to get their tongue around new textures?
Healthy eating during pregnancy is just like healthy eating in general - but there are a few essential nutrients that top the list of what you and baby need the most.
With a little knowledge, you can support baby’s development and future health right from conception. Here’s the list of your much needed nutrients!
As a mom, we know that your first priority is to make sure baby grows up to be happy and healthy. You have the power to influence baby’s short and long term health, through the decisions you make during your pregnancy and in the years that follow baby’s birth.
As parents, we all want to do what's best for our babies, infants, and children. So, it can be more than a little concerning with the news that our family's youngest members could be at risk from the very thing meant to nurture us all – food.
4 months of age signals the start of an exciting window of opportunity, that if taken advantage of has the ability to not only transform your parenting journey (and family mealtimes) going forward, but more importantly, your child’s health and wellness potentials for life. 4 months marks the important opportunity to start ‘Flavour Training’!
In the medical community, there's a clear consensus on when infants should begin complementary feeding: at 6 months old. But despite the AAP, ACOG, AAFP and WHO recommendations being very clear about this timeline, parents often start much earlier.
The primary reason that official guidelines push for this 6 month mark is that very early introduction of complementary foods has been shown to reduce breastfeeding's overall duration. The medical community also holds concerns that introducing solids prior to the age of 6 months could increase the risk of choking and aspiration, lead to diarrhea and poor gut health and contribute to the onset of certain chronic diseases later in life, including diabetes and celiac disease.
So why is there so much confusion over this?
Starting solids poses such a challenge because we’re not only trying to sort through all of the available information and opinions on the topic, but also fit a brand new feeding and food preparation routine into our already busy lives. And, in the hustle to get this done, we often forget the most important element of introducing our children to food: Helping them foster a healthy relationship with food for life.