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Nutrition

Nutrition: Infancy to Teenagers
Balanced diet, nutrients, junk food, and vitamins may come to the average American’s mind when they think of the word nutrition. Having the proper diet is important for an infant to an adult to grow, stay healthy, and work properly. A poor diet can cause disease and cancer thus impacting greatly on a person’s life. Protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water all gives us what we need for survival. Feeding an infant the right foods early is the right step to increase their body and their mind performance. As a children age, they need different types of nutrition to keep up with the activities they engage in. Nutrition changes and evolves through life’s time span with children being classified into four age groups; 0-2, 2-6, 7-11, 12-21.
Parents want their infants to grow up and become healthy adults. An infant is an immature organism. Starting the right nutrition at infancy is the right step. Consuming large amounts of food and eating at unpredictable times are some normal signs of eating habits when an infant is first born. Eating up to eight to twelve times a day at erratic times and for different amounts is normal. Statistics have shown babies are able to eat a few mouthfuls up to three ounces at each sitting (Oswalt). As the first few months pass, their eating schedules are more regulated. They eat more at each sitting, during fewer sittings a day. Paying close attention to the baby’s behavior is important because they will let the parent know if they are hungry (Dowshen).
The infant’s acceptance of food depends on their culture, neuromotor maturation, and interaction by the parents. The normal neonate is well prepared to digest and absorb human milk, modified cow’s milk formula, or soy milk formulas. During and after the first year, the enzyme systems mature. At birth, the stomach capacity is at 10 to 20 ml. By the time an infant reaches of 12 months of age, the capacity has increased to 200 ml. The...