Baby's growth requires extra attention from parents, especially when it comes to choosing nutritional supplements. This is beneficial for the baby's growth. So how can parents choose the right nutritional supplements for their baby? Let's take a look together with the editor!
Essential Nutritional Supplements for Babies
1. DHA/Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Benefits: Helps with the development of the baby's brain and eyes, as well as the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Foods rich in DHA/Omega-3 fatty acids: Salmon, avocado, breast milk.
2. Iron
Benefits: Helps with the development of the baby's brain, especially motor skills and memory, and helps in the formation of hemoglobin for oxygen transport in the body.
Foods rich in iron: Meat, chicken, fish, eggs, spinach, broccoli, avocado.
3. Zinc
Benefits: Improves the baby's immune function and helps with brain development, usually working together with iron.
Foods rich in zinc: Meat and dark poultry meat.
4. Vitamin D
Benefits: Helps with the growth of the baby's bones.
Foods rich in vitamin D: Egg yolks, fish, and yogurt.
5. Calcium
Benefits: Promotes bone growth, as well as the development of the nervous system and heart function.
Foods rich in calcium: Orange juice, vegetables, yogurt, and other dairy products.
6. Choline
Benefits: Promotes brain development.
Foods rich in choline: Eggs and pork.
7. Vitamin A
Benefits: Helps in the formation of healthy tissues, membranes, skin, teeth, and eyes.
Foods rich in vitamin A: Carrots, liver, milk, cantaloupe.
8. Vitamin K
Benefits: Regulates blood clotting.
Foods rich in vitamin K: Leafy green vegetables, broccoli, fermented dairy products (yogurt is the most popular), some babies may be injected with vitamin K at birth.
9. Vitamin C
Benefits: Enhances immune function, promotes wound healing, and protects the health of red blood cells and blood vessels.
Foods rich in vitamin C: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, etc.
10. Vitamin B
Benefits: Converts food into energy (nutrient metabolism).
Foods rich in vitamin B: Legumes, fruits, and fortified infant cereals.
Two Points to Note When Supplementing Baby's Nutrition
1. Avoid Blindly Overfeeding
Whether children need to supplement nutritional components should be determined based on specific circumstances. Blindly supplementing nutrition can cause many problems, and early puberty in children is one of them.
After early puberty, girls may experience breast development and the first menstruation before the age of 8, while boys may develop facial hair, an Adam's apple, a deepening voice, and even nocturnal emissions before the age of 10.
Many children feel inferior and fearful because their physique and appearance are different from their peers.
2. Excessive Vitamins Can Be Harmful
Excessive calcium supplementation can cause hypotension. Excessive calcium supplementation in children can lead to hypotension and increase their risk of heart disease in the future.
The main symptoms of excessive calcium supplementation are body swelling, excessive sweating, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, and indigestion. If both calcium and vitamin D are excessive, it can easily cause hypercalcemia.
Excessive zinc supplementation can lead to zinc poisoning. Symptoms include decreased appetite, upper abdominal pain, mental fatigue, and even acute renal failure.
Excessive zinc intake can also inhibit the absorption and utilization of iron, leading to iron-deficiency anemia in children due to reduced iron content in the blood and liver over time.
