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Dr. Lillian Beard’s Guidelines for Healthy Infant Feeding

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Dr. Lillian Beard’s Guidelines for Healthy Infant Feeding

  

1.       Learn to follow your baby's feeding cues. Whether breast or bottle feeding, if your baby pushes the breast or bottle away, he/she is probably full and should not be encouraged to continue eating.
2.       Do not assume your crying baby is hungry. He/she also may be tired, have a wet/soiled diaper, or want to be held. 
3.       When feeding your baby, turn off the TV and instead tune in to your baby. Take the opportunity to nurture, bond, and respond to your baby’s needs.
4.       Refrain from letting your baby fall asleep with a bottle. This can cause tooth decay and lead to ear infections. Instead give a bottle an hour before bedtime.
5.       Wait to introduce cow’s milk until after the baby’s first birthday since cow’s milk is low in iron, vitamin C, vitamin E, and copper. Cow’s milk also contains butterfat which is difficult for babies to digest, so stick with breast milk, iron-fortified infant formula, or a combination of both.
6.       Resist the temptation to introduce solid foods before 4-6 months as babies this young may not be able to process the food appropriately.         
7.       Never add cereal to a baby’s bottle.  While this practice was commonplace decades ago, it is no longer encouraged because it offers no nutritional value and also deprives babies of the opportunity to learn to feed themselves.
8.       When you introduce solids into your baby’s diet, make sure to offer him/her a variety of fruits and vegetables. And remember it may take many tastings of the same veggie or fruit before he/she gets accustomed to the new tastes and textures.
9.       During baby's first year, rapid weight gain is one aspect of expected growth and development.  In most cases, your baby will triple his/her birth weight by the first birthday.
10.   Go outside and take a walk as a family. This will help establish an active routine for the family as well as the baby as he/she grows into toddlerhood and beyond.

 

 

About Dr. Beard
Dr. Lillian M. Beard, a practicing pediatrician in Silver Spring, Maryland, (a suburb of Washington, D.C.), is Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Assistant Professor at the Howard University College of Medicine, and a communications consultant to industries on issues relating to the care, health and safety of infants, children and adolescents. She is a medical advisor and consultant to the International Formula Council.
 
A Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Beard has held numerous leadership positions with medical associations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Medical Association and the American Medical Women's Association.
 
Author of the celebrated book, "Salt In Your Sock And Other Tried-And-True Home Remedies" (Three Rivers Press / Random House- March 2003- Fifth Print), Dr. Beard's extensive media experiences include serving as a national spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, the medical expert / health contributor on "Broadcast House Live" WUSA-TV, NBC-TV-4 News, and ABC-TV7 News and Newschannel 8, all in Washington, DC. A frequent contributor and guest expert on national television, Dr. Beard's appearances include "Good Morning America", "CBS Early Show" and CNN'S "Accent Health". Dr. Beard's articles have been published in medical journals (Pediatrics, Journal of the National Medical Association), and Good Housekeeping magazine, where as a contributing editor, she authored the monthly "Ask Dr. Beard" column. Dr. Beard has served as an editorial advisor to many publications including AAP News, and currently serves on the editorial advisory board of Pediatric News.
 
Named by Consumers' Research Council as one of America's Top Doctors (2005 –2007), and featured in the National Library of Medicine's exhibition, " Changing the Face of Medicine", Celebrating America's Women Physicians, Dr. Lillian Beard, identified as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2003, and named by the Washingtonian magazine, one of Washington D.C.'s "Top Doctors"- (Nov. 2002), is listed in Who's Who in America, and in many other references.
 
Cited by President Bill Clinton in his 1993 Address to the Nation, Dr. Beard is the recipient of numerous national honors and awards. Howard University honored Dr. Beard with the 1996 Charter Day Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement Award in the fields of Medicine and Community Service, and she was featured in the publication, "Women of Courage" Volume II.