The best time to supplement zinc for infants and young children

Generally speaking, the period before the age of three is a critical period for the baby's growth and development. Many parents hope that their babies will grow up healthily. Many parents mistakenly believe that babies need to supplement a lot of things during this period, so they give their babies a lot of supplements, but the result is counterproductive. In fact, zinc supplementation for babies cannot be done blindly, and attention should be paid to the time of zinc supplementation. So when is the best time for infants and young children to supplement zinc?

Babies under 6 months old need about 3 mg of zinc per day, babies 7-12 months old need 5 mg of zinc per day, and babies 1-10 years old need about 10 mg of zinc per day. Many parents supplement calcium and zinc together for the sake of convenience, but in fact, it is best to supplement these two trace elements separately, and the best order is "zinc first, then calcium". Supplement zinc during the day and calcium at night for better absorption. In addition, it should be noted that zinc supplementation should be taken for about 2-3 months and should not be excessive, otherwise it may easily cause anemia. In addition to paying attention to the time of zinc supplementation, the most important thing for growing and developing babies is to scientifically arrange three meals a day, that is, to diversify food, eat more vegetables, fruits and potatoes, and often eat milk, beans and their products.

Precautions for zinc supplementation in infants

1. For zinc supplementation of infants, they must be diagnosed with zinc deficiency before taking zinc preparations. The daily zinc supplement for children is 0.6~1.5 mg/kg body weight. For children with iron deficiency anemia and rickets, if zinc supplementation is needed during iron and calcium supplementation, the dosage should not be too large.

2. For babies with poor appetite, if they are zinc deficient, serum iron and serum zinc levels should be tested. After finding out the cause, symptomatic treatment should be given.

3. For children who often eat lean meat, fish, eggs, liver, shellfish, walnuts, peanuts, watermelon and other foods, as long as they pay attention to their dietary structure, they do not need to supplement zinc specifically.

4. Zinc preparations should not be taken on an empty stomach and should be taken after a meal. When mothers supplement zinc for their babies, they should pay attention to the right time for better results.

5. Milk is not conducive to the absorption of zinc, so zinc products should not be taken with milk.

6. Breastfed infants and young children generally do not suffer from zinc deficiency, so there is no need for special zinc supplementation.

7. Babies are constantly growing and developing. If the food is very monotonous for a long time, it will often cause zinc deficiency, so you must pay attention to a balanced diet. When zinc deficiency is not serious, dietary supplements are worse than medication.

8. Zinc is also known as a sexual stimulant. If taken blindly, it can easily cause premature sexual development in children, so it should not be supplemented excessively.

Zinc supplement recipes for babies

Chestnut porridge

Ingredients: chestnuts, rice

Method: Peel 5 chestnuts and chop them into small pieces. Add water to the pot, put in chestnuts and bring to a boil, then add a handful of rice and mix together and cook until cooked through, then you can feed it.

Egg yolk milk paste

Ingredients: eggs, milk

Method: Boil an egg in water (about 6 minutes), take out the egg yolk, crush it, stir it with milk into a cake or porridge, and feed it directly to the baby.

Flammulina velutipes

Ingredients: Enoki mushrooms, rapeseed, ham, ginger, peanut oil, salt, MSG, oyster sauce, and water starch.

practice:

1. Remove the roots of the enoki mushrooms and clean them. Remove the old leaves from the cabbage and clean them. Cut the ham and ginger into shreds and set aside.

2. Heat a pot and add water. When the water boils, pour in a little salt, MSG, and oil, then add the vegetable core, blanch until just cooked, remove and set aside.

3. Heat the pan, add the oil, put in the shredded ginger, stir-fry until fragrant, then pour in the enoki mushrooms and shredded ham, add in salt, MSG, and oyster sauce, stir-fry thoroughly, pour in water starch, and finally pour in the vegetable core.

This dish contains about 12.9 mg of zinc and is rich in essential amino acids for children, which can regulate the zinc content in children's bodies.