Birth to 6 months : Mother’s milk provides virtually all the protein, carbohydrates, and fat your baby needs to be healthy. It contains many substances for the baby’s strong immune system: antibodies, immune factors, enzymes, and white blood cells. These substances protect your baby against a wide variety of diseases and infections, not only while he is breastfeeding, but in some cases long after he has weaned. Baby formula cannot offer this protection. Breastfeeding establishes the ideal foundation for a healthy immune system.

Every baby is born with passive immunity. This is the protection that the mother’s immune system provides for her baby throughout pregnancy. At birth, your baby has a supply of maternal antibodies that helps protect him against the most common childhood infections, such as coughs, colds and chicken pox in his first months. Prior to this, during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, the baby’s immune cells are forming, but they are not yet able to work on their own. It is not until the age of about six months that your baby’s immune system can produce its own antibodies. Perfectly design by nature, the passively-acquired antibodies from the mother run out at around this time.

6-12 months old: Weaning for your Baby * At six months, your baby will be ready for solid food. He will have encountered numerous germs in the environment, and his immune system will start to create its own antibodies to provide some protection against infection. Waiting for six months before weaning has several benefits for your baby: he will be less susceptible to becoming sensitized against certain foods, reducing risk of developing allergies. This is particularly crucial when there is a family history of allergy, such as asthma, eczema, migraine or hay fever. Also, avoiding introducing solids before six months helps prevent unnecessary strain on an immature digestive system. However, it is important not to leave the introduction of solids until much later than six months, as your baby’s iron stores from birth will be running low by this time.

Introducing and starting your baby to solid foods are important factors to the baby’s health. Gradually introduce a range of fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins so that your child’s immune system can maximize the nutritional benefits of his diet at this critical time. Begin by giving your baby tiny tastes of fruit and vegetable purees, one food at a time, so that can we see if there is any reaction to a particular food. It is best to start giving solid food at lunchtime and offer it in the middle of a milk feed. This way your baby will not be so hungry that he will dismiss the food and cry only for milk, nor will he be too full to take any notice of it at all.

By seven months he should be on three meals a day, and by nine months solid food will be taking over from the milk feeds. However, a baby still needs 600 ml (1 pint) of breast milk or formula a day until the age of one. This is the equivalent of two large bottles or two good breast milk feeds, and includes any milk added to food.

Fruits such as banana, avocado, papaya, melon, mango and soft ripe pear can be served raw. Raw foods retain all the vitamins and minerals lost during cooking, and it is good to develop a baby’s taste for them. Our baby’s first food should be organic and as fresh as possible. Weight for weight, babies consume far more fruits and vegetables than adults, so their pesticide exposure from non-organic product will be far higher at a time when they are most vulnerable. Let us protect your baby from these chemicals, which are known to be carcinogenic.

1–4 years old: Your Toddler’s Immune System * During pre-school years, your toddler will be exposed to many different bacteria and viruses, and each encounter will strengthen his immune defences. Most toddlers catch bugs from their siblings or other children. This is quite normal and an important part of the maturation of their immune systems. It is not, however, normal for these bugs to drag on. A child with a strong immune system will recover from a cold or other viral infection in two to three days. If your toddler seems constantly to be ill, you need to look at ways of further supporting his immune system through this period of his life.

Enjoy your baby’s sloppy tray, gooey hands and sticky face. You’re building the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating habits.

Meanwhile, here is the Green Secret’s “Children’s Super Immunity Juice” for stronger and nourished super heroes! (Make sure to scrub and wash all vegetables and fruits well before juicing). It is a MUST to use organic vegetables only.

• 1 cup malunggay, kale or spinach
• 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 cucumber
• 2 calamansi
• 1 lime
• 1 orange

Juice all ingredients with your masticating juicer. Remember… a green juice a day keeps the doctor away. Thank you IAJ WELLNESS CORP. for making this information public.For questions and/or concerns email me at [email protected]

Christine E.V. Gonzalez is a doctor of naturopathic medicine and holds PhDs
in holistic nutrition and natural medicine. LLM (MS Environmental Laws & Labor)
©Wellness Institute International (632) 656-WELL (9355) • (046) 483-0115 (0917) 888-HEAL • (0920) 958- HEAL (4325)