Winter is a great time to nourish your baby. Mothers should be more attentive in their feeding. Besides making sure the baby is well-dressed to stay warm, they should also provide foods in the diet that can help the body resist the cold and are rich in various vitamins.
Provide a diet rich in vitamins
As soon as winter arrives, many parents, worried about their baby catching a cold or fever, prefer to keep them cooped up at home, with little outdoor activity. This reduces opportunities for sun exposure. Coupled with the dry climate, babies tend to lick their lips. The cold weather also affects the body's nutritional metabolism, strengthening its oxidative functions and increasing the consumption of various vitamins, which can easily lead to vitamin deficiency. Therefore, winter is a peak season for babies to suffer from various nutritional deficiencies, such as angular cheilitis, rickets, recurrent respiratory infections, dry or chapped skin. Therefore, mothers should pay attention to ensuring their baby's diet includes foods rich in VB2, VA, VD, and VC to prevent deficiencies in these nutrients.
Foods rich in VB2
Conditions like dry skin, chapping, angular cheilitis, glossitis, or cheilitis are caused by a lack of VB2 in the body. By promptly supplementing VB2 in the diet, these discomforts can be avoided. Foods rich in VB2 include animal liver, eggs, milk, beans, and certain green leafy vegetables such as pickled mustard greens, rapeseed, spinach, and garlic sprouts.
Foods rich in VA
A lack of VA can decrease resistance to infection, increasing the likelihood of respiratory infections and diarrhea. Dairy products, eggs, cod liver oil, and animal liver are rich in VA. Additionally, β-carotene, found in foods like spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, and red or yellow fruits such as persimmons and apricots, can be broken down into VA in the body, making it a great food supplement in winter.
Foods rich in VD
If a baby lacks VD, it can lead to calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorders. Very few foods in nature contain VD, such as cod liver oil. Therefore, in addition to taking the baby outdoors more often for sun exposure in the winter, a certain amount of cod liver oil drops should also be supplemented to prevent the baby from developing rickets.
Foods rich in VC
VC has the effect of enhancing the human body's immunity. During the prevalence of infectious diseases in winter and spring, it is especially important to consume foods rich in VC. Typically, citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and lemons, as well as kiwis, mangoes, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, and fennel, are all rich in VC.
Winter Feeding Tips:
1. Many babies are unwilling to eat carrots. You can make carrots into dumplings, buns, or pies, or add a few cloves when stir-frying to remove the taste that the baby dislikes.
2. When green leafy vegetables are relatively scarce in winter, you can eat more sweet potatoes and potatoes, which are rich in VC and VB2. Sweet potatoes with red flesh are also rich in VA. Eating more potatoes not only supplements vitamins but can also clear internal heat and remove toxins.
3. Among the vegetables available in winter, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, watermelon radish, white radish, carrots, soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, and rapeseed are all very rich in vitamins. By frequently changing varieties and combining them reasonably, you can meet the baby's vitamin needs.
4. In winter, urine output increases, and so does the excretion of inorganic salts. By eating more foods rich in calcium, iron, sodium, and potassium, such as dried shrimp, shrimp skin, sesame paste, pork liver, and bananas, you can avoid deficiencies in these minerals.