Low fat diet for your baby

You may be tempted to put your child on low fat diet if you feel she is obese. However here is a very important recommendation  from the American Academy of Pediatrics . Do not restrict your child’s consumption of dietary fat and calories in the first two years of life. This means you do not  have to give your child younger than 2 years old low or skim milk.

This is because the early months and years of a child’s life are crucial for the normal development of the brain and body. She will need calories from dietary fat for her brain to grow and mature normally.

As a general rule , babies need to get about half of their daily calories  from fat up to the age of 2. You can reduce those fat calories gradually after that. By the age of 4 to 5 , fat calories should provide about one-third of your youngsters daily calories. Many families can be transitioned from whole cow’s milk to skim or fat free milk by gradually changing from whole milk  to 2 % and then 1 % and then to skim milk. Some mothers even mix these together so that the children don’t notice the change.

Whether you are breastfeeding or formula feeding your baby, each choice should provide  your baby with all the fat she needs. You however have to follow  the label instructions carefully and add the recommended amount of water.  If you dilute the formula by adding too much water, you can interfere with your baby’s normal physical growth and brain  development .