Mommy Made and Daddy Too! (Revised)

The First Six Months

Feeding our children is where our parenting begins. From infancy on, food becomes a significant form of communicating and nurturing. When your infant cries, you run to comfort her with food. In this way she gains her first sense of relief and well-being. At the same time her hunger is being satiated, she is held, cooed to, and stroked. In this way food starts to represent security and love. Later in life food plays a central part in social gatherings, is shared on special holidays, and at times of celebration and mourning, or simply accompanies the daily ritual around the kitchen table when family business is discussed.

Mealtime is one of the richest family experiences you can share with your child. It is especially important in helping her develop healthy attitudes about nutritious foods and learn proper table manners, politeness, and respect for others. These early, positive experiences will have a tremendous impact on your child's future development.

"In psychoanalytic terms, Food and Mother mean the same thing," says Dr. Charles Clegg, a nationally prominent psychiatrist with the U.S.C. School of Medicine, specializing in eating disorders in children and adults. "And eating disorders can begin very early in life and most often do."

Today's working mother is often faced with leaving her child at a very early age. Six weeks is the national average. It is very important for parents to find a nurturing replacement for mother, Dr. Clegg explains. Babies who are cared for by adults who do not hold or touch them, except while feeding them, can wrongly teach baby that eating relieves not just hunger but also anger, depression, anxiety, and loneliness, a pattern that can lead to obesity later in life. Overeating and obesity are usually psychological problems, Dr. Clegg confirms. "Most overeaters do so because their good memories about life's experiences are surrounded by food." The best way to instill in your child a healthy attitude toward food is to spend quality time with her, holding her, playing with her--in short, simply loving her. Food should be a great pleasure, but it shouldn't answer emotional needs.

BREAST OR BOTTLE?

While you may not get much sleep from your child's birth to age six months, you have it easy concerning food choices. The breast, the bottle, or a combination of the two are the only choices of nourishment for your baby until he begins to eat solid foods. (Solid foods are best introduced between baby's fourth- and sixth-month birthday.)

The decision is usually made during pregnancy, which is also the right time to start thinking about your own attitude toward feeding your children. Of course, there's flexibility in these decisions--above all, it has to work for you and your family--but what's done in the beginning can be hard to undo. So now is the time to decide on your philosophy. The very first decision, breast or bottle, is the first step in establishing your own food philosophy.

BREAST MILK

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, breast milk is the ideal food for infants because of its nutritional composition. Babies who are breast-fed are at reduced risk for ear infections and severe diarrhea. In addition, there is some evidence that for mothers, breast-feeding reduces certain types of cancer and may prevent hip fractures later in life. As a result, most pediat

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Title of ebook: Mommy Made and Daddy Too! (Revised)
ISBN: 9780307569806
parent-ISBN: 9780553380903
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 336
Published: 08-2009
Released online for download: 08-26-2009
Author of eBook: Kimmel, David
Contribution by: Goldenson, Suzanne
Author of eBook: Kimmel, Martha

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Mommy Made and Daddy Too! (Revised)

Chapter One

The First Six Months

Feeding our children is where our parenting begins. From infancy on, food becomes a significant form of communicating and nurturing. When your infant cries, you run to comfort her with food. In this way she gains her first sense of relief and well-being. At the same time her hunger is being satiated, she is held, cooed to, and stroked. In this way food starts to represent security and love. Later in life food plays a central part in social gatherings, is shared on special holidays, and at times of celebration and mourning, or simply accompanies the daily ritual around the kitchen table when family business is discussed.

Mealtime is one of the richest family experiences you can share with your child. It is especially important in helping her develop healthy attitudes about nutritious foods and learn proper table manners, politeness, and respect for others. These early, positive experiences will have a tremendous impact on your child's future development.

"In psychoanalytic terms, Food and Mother mean the sa ... read full excerpt from: Mommy Made and Daddy Too! (Revised) ebook

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