Nursing for Happy, Healthy Newborns

Establishing a healthy eating pattern for a newborn can be difficult because newborns do not have a real schedule. They must eat-on-demand. Ultimately this means that if you have a baby that is less than one that you are at the mercy of his or her whims.

For the first month of life the healthiest thing you can do for a child is give up all plans and feed that baby when it is hungry. Most babies will want to feed every three to four hours. Interestingly, most newborns do not scream when they are hungry. Instead they pucker their lips, nuzzle an arm or breast or suck on a fist. Be aware of these signs because you do not want your baby to ever be hungry. A hungry baby often grows up to be a nerve-wracked and insecure.

You should, if possible, choose to breast feed your baby rather than use a bottle. This is because mother’s milk contains everything that a baby needs to grow. Your breast milk contains hormones and other substances that also help the baby develop a healthy brain and immune system. A bottle-fed baby is more likely to develop allergies later in life.

Even though woman have been to alternate breasts every few minutes when feeding a new baby the experts are now saying that it is best to use one breast for one feeding session and then use the other for the next. Staying on one best when the baby is latched onto your nipple is a good way to make sure that the baby receives hind milk. Hind milk is last to leave the breast – the dregs and it has the most nutrition.

You also do not want the baby to associate mealtimes with a lot of stress. Do not nurse if you feel stressed or angry. Make sure that when you do nurse that you are comfortably supported with pillows and are calm and well-nourished.

Yet another thing to consider is whether or not your newborn will need supplementation with Vitamin D. This is usually required nowadays as research scientists have shown that most people, including nursing mothers are short of it. Consult your doctor to see if you and your newborn or both of you need to take extra Vitamin D every day.

Take vitamins as recommended by your doctor when nursing. Remember that part of keeping your newborn healthy is keeping yourself healthy too!

Parenting Tips
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Low Fat Cooking Tips for a Healthy Family

One way to lose weight is to make your own food every day. This way you can reinvent the way the foods you love are prepared and cut the calories you ingest as well.

One tip is to roast your vegetables. This makes vegetables taste sweeter. You can serve them on their own or puree them and use them as a base for stock, dips and sauces. To roast them all you need to do is spray them with cooking ok, coat them lightly and roast in a pan.

One of the problems of eating low calorie foods is that they taste so bland. Use lots of spices to make them more attractive to your palate. Adding spices and herbs to water oil also helps fiber rich foods like cous cous and rice taste better.

You can also prevent adding fat when baking by substituting butters, fats and oils with pureed substitutes. This allows you to retain the moisture in baked goods without giving up any flavor.

Yet another trick is to cook with fresh juices and fruits. This can help you cut down on the consumption of fat and sugar in your recipes. You can even add these to savoury dishes to give them real flavour.

Yet another tip is to use a wire rack when you cook. Placing the wire rack above the roasting pan allows fatty juices to drip down into the pan. You can also grill fish and meats in milk or coconut milk to save money.

Yet another solution is to use cooking spray whenever you can. This can save you from eating thousands of calories. Most people fry foods using at least tablespoons of oil which is worth 2100 calories of fat. All you really need is a spray that contains seven calories.

You don’t have to buy commercially made vegetable oil spray either. You can buy a Misto which is a pressurized canister that you can put your own oils in.

If you need more moisture while cooking you can also add a little juice or low fat broth to help the vegetables cook faster.

The point is that you can cook with just about everything else but fat. That way you don’t have to add unnecessary calories to the food you are eating. In fact when it comes to being one of the most natural ways to lose weight this is one of the best ways.

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