Should babies be fed with oil or fat?

My baby is 6 months old and has started eating solid foods. Is it better to mix vegetable oil or animal fat into baby food? (Truc Quynh, Long An)

Reply:

Fat provides energy, which is necessary for your baby to maintain daily activities. Some vitamins such as A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble. Adding oil helps your baby's body dissolve and absorb these vitamins more effectively.

40-60% of the energy a breastfed baby receives comes from the fat in milk. When the baby starts eating solid foods and gradually reduces milk, the mother needs to add more fat to the solid foods to balance nutrition.

Many parents have the habit of only feeding their babies with vegetable oil. However, both vegetable oil and animal fat are necessary for babies to eat. From 6 months of age, babies grow rapidly, can increase 1.5 cm in height and 500 g in weight each month. Babies need to supplement arachidonic acid (ARA) - an omega-6 fatty acid - found in animal fat for better growth.

ARA is also necessary for children to develop and maintain the function of the central and peripheral nervous systems, supporting the comprehensive development of the brain and vision. ARA also participates in the production of eicosanoids, which are responsible for regulating inflammatory and immune responses. Thanks to that, children increase their ability to prevent many pathogens.

Your baby is 6 months old, so you should mix about 5 ml of cooking oil into each meal (porridge, rice flour, soup...). The recommended ratio of animal fat and vegetable fat for a 6-month-old baby is 70% and 30%. You can feed your baby alternately in the ratio of two meals of fat, one meal of oil, or at least one meal mixed with fat, one meal with oil for optimal development.

You need to note that although your child's meals contain a certain amount of animal fat from meat, fish, eggs..., it is not enough to meet the body's fat needs.

Doctor Nguyen Anh Duy Tung
Nutrihome Nutrition Clinic System

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