How important do you think nutrition is to your child(ren)?This is what Dr. Femke says about it

Dr. Femke: "Your little one's first 1,000 days refers to the period from the start of pregnancy to age 2. Those 1000 days are important because nutrient deficiencies that occur during this period can have long-term consequences for your baby's growth and development. The most active period of neurological development also takes place during those first 1,000 days. Therefore, this period is eminently important to provide your little one with adequate nutrients."

Dr. Femke's main 2 pieces of advice for those first 1,000 days are:

1. Don't start solid food feeding too early.

Wait until 4 months before starting solid food feeding. Otherwise, you actually increase 6 times(!!!) your child's risk of obesity by age 3. Also in connection with your little one's bowel maturation, it is wiser to wait a while.

2. Pamper your baby's gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is all the bacteria that live in your little one's intestines. You can use food to stimulate some types of bacteria to increase or decrease in quantity. You can exert the most influence in - you guessed it - the first 1000 days. Toward the end of those first 1,000 days, that room for influence becomes increasingly limited, as your baby's gut microbiome evolves into a microbiome similar to adults.

Dr. Femke: "The key to success is: variety! That's how you offer different nutrition for different types of bacteria. And you can do that using my following tips:"

Tip 1: Feed your baby according to all the colors of the rainbow

If you take colors as a starting point, you automatically bring more variety in ingredients.

Tip 2: Don't look for variation in dishes but for variation in ingredients

A cracker in the morning, sandwiches in the afternoon and pasta in the evening seems varied, but in practice it means your little one is eating wheat 3 times. Try replacing the cracker with some oatmeal or a smoothie bowl and the wheat pasta with pumpkin lasagna sheets, zucchini or legume pasta and you'll have more variety throughout the day!

Tip 3: Set a good example as a parent

During the first 1,000 days, your child's food preferences and eating behaviors also develop. These work their way into later life and thus form an important basis for your little one's health later in life. As a parent, you are the mirror for your child. Therefore, set a good example yourself.

Tip 4: Choose whole foods

Whole foods are unprocessed ingredients, or pure nature. By giving your little one the most natural ingredients possible, your little one's body doesn't have to break down unnecessary ingredients (such as dyes) and all the energy can go toward proper digestion and gut development.

Dr. Femke: "Mama Deli's baby food helps tremendously in varying snacks for your little one. The food consists of fresh ingredients, which are frozen immediately after preparation. This way you preserve all the vitamins, minerals and taste. There are also no unnecessary ingredients or preservatives in it. Really great!"

Dr. Femke:

"Good news: because summer is coming, Mama Deli has launched healthy ice creams with Woezel & Pip. There are no added sugars in these either, just fresh fruit and vegetables and water. A real life-saver for the summer!"

Source: Mama Deli