It is always a great idea to prepare fresh food to feed the little ones; however, we need to depend on store-brought food in the initial days.
Formula
Go with your doctor's advise and make sure you shift from stage 1 to stage 2 after the first 6 months. Try to stick to the same formula if the kid is drinking it well. Unless there is any allergy or severe adverse affect, do not ever change the formula without consulting the doctor. Formula has a base, either lactose or soy/lecithin. If the baby is allergic to lactose, the doctor would suggest soy/lecithin based formula. Alternately, the doctor may suggest lactose-free in case of extreme diarrhea to go easy on the tummy.
A few available in the market are Farex, Lactogen, Lactodex, Nan, etc. Price between 180 to 250 rs/-.
The imported formulas like Similac, Enfamil etc. too are available but by and large there is no much difference in their constitution other than maybe the new added DHA which again is available in the Indian brands. There is a huge price variance though, so think about it and go for them. I personally have not noticed much difference going through the ingredient list, would like to know a few more reviews on this though 'cos I haven't tried to switch between Local and imported stuff.
Cereals
We have a wide variety of baby cereals in the market and Cerelac dominates everything else. It has a wide variety, it comes in with milk powder, so we need not add milk to it. Farex is good too but has limited variety is not as easily available in the stores as the others. Nestle, Easum, First Foods, etc. are a few brands that I could locate in the store but mostly use Farex and Cerelac for varieties not available in Farex.
It is okay to use both brands at the same time.. just make sure you dont mix them both at the same time. Like say Farex for morning and Cerelac for evening should be fine as opposed to 1 scoop of Farex and 1 scoop of Cerelac in the morning :). Cost being anywhere from 110 to 125 rs/-.
The imported brands like Gerber are also available costing around 475 rs/- and above. Same as above.
Canned Solid Foods
Gerber/Heinz are the bottled foods available in various flavors in a few select stores, but the price is too much 110 rs/- or more for each bottle. I would say, go for the fresh food when you can. If you are based in India, then there is no point trying it out. However, for those who are used to the canned foods staying abroad and on a visit here, they can still get them here but at the price mentioned above, you need to figure out if it is worth carrying it all the way or just buy a few down here 'cos there is absolutely nothing that you get there and not here.. phew, the baby food market is huge as is the other baby product range.
Soups
It is of mention that MSG is not advised in kid's below a year and pregnant woman, so be cautious when you buy soups. Knorr and Maggi now offer no added MSG soups in wide varieties, so maybe they can be used if you are pressed for time and the kid needs a change.
my child is 3months old and she is lactose intolerant so can she be given Easum. she is weak and i want her to gain weight so can she be given easum.
ReplyDeleteI would not give anything before 5 months Pari, pls. consult your doctor before you do anything at this age, the primary source of nutrition should be milk and only milk.
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