How To Feed A Baby At 2 Years Old

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

How to feed a baby at 2 years old

The diet of two-year-old children, of course, differs markedly from the diet of one-year-old babies, but, despite their apparent "adulthood", they still cannot be completely transferred to food from the common table.

When deciding what to feed a child at 2 years old, one should take into account his physiological characteristics.

Features of the diet of children at 2 years old

The developed chewing muscles of two-year-old babies already allow not to grind all dishes to a puree-like state, since the child is already able to cope with pieces of food.

Porridge can already be cooked not so crumbly, but more viscous. For variety, you can add fresh fruits and berries to them. You can also significantly expand the diet with various casseroles - cottage cheese and cereals and meat. The diet should include a variety of vegetable dishes rich in vitamins, unsweetened cookies and some sweets.

How to feed a child at 2 years old after vomiting: basic principles

The growth period is characterized by fairly frequent digestive disorders in babies. This can be due to various factors - from simple motion sickness and overeating to infections of the gastrointestinal tract. Especially in young mothers, the acute period of the disease raises the question of how to feed a child at 2 years after vomiting.

In addition to the fact that during this period it is necessary to adhere to certain principles of nutrition, the correct regimen and the necessary water balance of the body should be observed. Quite often, the acute period of the disease is accompanied by high fever and decreased appetite, therefore, at this time, a sparing diet is recommended, ensuring the most complete assimilation of food.

How to feed a child at 2 years old during an illness is determined by the pediatrician observing the child. General recommendations include:

• All meals should be prepared in liquid or semi-liquid form. For this, cereals and vegetables should be boiled until soft and wiped, and meat and fish should be cooked in the form of a soufflé. At this time, you can offer the baby ready-made baby food - canned meat and vegetables with a delicate consistency and supplemented with the necessary vitamins;
• The recommended number of feedings is up to 7 times a day. Thus, the most correct intervals between meals are 2-2.5 hours, which will restore the disturbed digestion as quickly as possible;
• In the acute period of the disease, as a rule, the body's need for vitamins and minerals increases sharply. It will be correct to prescribe children's vitamin complexes containing vitamins of groups C, B and A. They will help improve metabolic processes;
• Since this period can be characterized by a sharp decrease in appetite, it is unacceptable to force-feed the baby. The missing volume of food must be replenished with liquid. This will prevent you from provoking new bouts of vomiting.

How to feed a child at 2 years old after vomiting: menu features

Before deciding what to feed a 2-year-old child during and after acute poisoning, you should know that there should be a sufficient amount of animal protein in the diet. It is especially important to provide the baby with the necessary amount of milk protein with a lipotropic effect. This will help protect the liver, which accumulates toxic substances due to dehydration.

In the diet of a sick child, it is not recommended to exceed the physiological norm of fats, since at this time the production of enzymes necessary for their assimilation is disrupted. All types of fats can be present in the baby's diet only as part of ready-made meals, and it is better to refuse sandwiches with butter at this time.

Also, you should not increase the carbohydrate component of the daily diet of a child of this age, so as not to increase fermentation in the intestine, which is observed against the background of digestive disorders.

When determining what to feed a child 2 years after poisoning, you should constantly monitor his condition. As the onset of improvement and decrease in toxicosis, the therapeutic diet can be gradually expanded, bringing it closer to the physiological norm.

With frequent vomiting of a baby of this age, it is recommended to unload food as much as possible by introducing 100-200 ml of kefir or any other fermented milk product into the diet on the first day every 3-3.5 hours. As nutrition improves, you can restore it to normal, while adhering to the gentle principles of chemical, mechanical and thermal processing of food.

Cooking involves steaming or boiling dishes. Also, for feeding a child of 2 years old, the necessary consistency should be observed, as it improves, moving from liquid to crushed.

It is necessary to exclude from the diet foods that irritate the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines. These include: turnips, snacks, raw vegetables and fruits, spices, sauces, black bread, radishes, raw and boiled cabbage, radishes, peas, cucumbers, beans, pearl barley and millet groats, sour and fresh juices.

Also, with caution in the acute period, they offer the child whole cow's milk. It can enhance fermentation processes in the intestines due to disturbances in the production of enzymes. Dairy products can be replaced with fermented milk. At the same time, fermented milk ferment helps to improve the intestinal microflora, suppressing the active growth of bacteria.

When deciding how to feed a 2-year-old child during illness, it should be borne in mind that porridge during this period is best cooked either in water or in milk diluted with water (1: 1). Refractory fats are also highly undesirable during this period. Preference should be given to ghee and vegetable oils added in small quantities directly to dishes.

To prepare a meat soufflé, which can be used in the diet of a sick two-year-old baby, it is necessary to boil 60 g of meat cleaned of tendons and films until half cooked in a small amount of water. After that, 5 g of wheat bread soaked in cold water is added to it, and the resulting mixture is passed twice through a meat grinder with a fine mesh, add 1-2 tablespoons of broth, a quarter of an egg and mix thoroughly. The resulting mass should be put in a saucepan, pre-greased with butter (1/2 teaspoon) and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, and baked with the lid closed in the oven in a water bath. After 20-30 minutes, the meat soufflé will be ready.

Choosing what to feed a child at 2 years of age during poisoning and during the recovery period after them, many pediatricians advise to cook mashed rice porridge in half milk. For its preparation, 1.5 tablespoons of rice are washed, poured into boiling water (volume - 1 glass) and boiled until soft. After that, the porridge should be wiped through a sieve, add 1/2 cup of milk to it and stir well. Then add 1 teaspoon of sugar and cook for several minutes until it thickens. 1/4 teaspoon of butter should be added to the finished porridge.

In order for the child to quickly recover from food poisoning, all the food in his diet should be crushed (better - wiped), warm and without substances irritating the digestive tract.

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