Why Your Baby or Older Child May Need a Nutritional

Why Your Baby or Older Child May Need a Nutritional Supplement

Breastfeeding is the best thing that you can do for your baby, but when things go wrong, you may need more than that to help them. Formula is nutritional, but there are things in breast milk that you can not get in formula. Babies born at full term usually do well with just breast milk and do not need any help with nutritional supplement, but when a baby is born pre-term, you may have to fortify your breast milk so that they gain the weight that they so desperately need to be healthy and grow strong. Older children may not drink breast milk, but they can fall short on nutrition as well when they do not eat the right foods and that happens more often than not.

You may worry when you child eats nothing but macaroni and cheese day in and day out. This happens for a few reasons. One is that they ask for it and refuse to eat anything else and it also happens because you give in and make it for them. As you can imagine, this is not enough to give them what they need each day. If you stop making it for them, you may worry that they are going to go hungry. The great thing about healthy children is that they eat when they have to and they are not going to starve. That does not mean you do not worry about nutritional supplement, however, and you can talk with your doctor about your child's eating habits and a vitamin that may be helpful. You may be surprised to learn they do not need one.

Some children do need a nutritional supplement and it is not always a vitamin. There are some nutritional drinks on the market that are made just for children. These are great when your child is sick and can not eat a lot. If they can keep the drink down, they are getting what they need while their body is trying to fight off an illness or infection. These can be had in the place of a meal for a picky eater at any other time, but do not rely on them all of the time if your child is not eating at all. That is definitely something you should discuss with your doctor to rule out any other problems other than a child just being picky about what they will eat.

When you hear that your baby may need a nutritional supplement, it might be more important that you pay close attention and follow a doctor's instructions to the letter. When babies are born before their due date, they are considered to be premature. A few weeks early may be okay, but anything more than that may require your baby to have some special attention. This may also mean that they are going to need a nutritional supplement while in the hospital and after they come home. Those that breastfeed know their milk is best, but a fortifier can be used to add a few extra calories per ounce, which is what baby needs to grow strong.

Do not be afraid of this type of nutritional supplement and do not think that this means your breast milk is lacking anything that your baby needs. It is still the very best food for baby. The only issue is that it is made by your body for a newborn, and a premature baby may need some extra help to grow so that they can go home and remain in steady weight gain once they get there. All this nutritional supplement does is enhances the calorie count of your milk it does not indicate that your milk is lacking. No matter what, especially with preemies, breast milk is the very best food they can get.