What are the infant nutritional requirements

Condition analysis:
In the first six months of life, infants are dependent upon breast milk or formula; for their nutrients. Infant growth is rapid and a continuous supply of nutrients is required. The infant's energy needs can be supplied by an average intake of 100-120 Kcal/Kg/day in the first four months, decreasing, as growth slows, to about 100 Kcal/Kg/day for the last six months of the first year. An infant should double birth weight at six months, and triple birth weight at one year.

One ounce (oz) of breast milk is about 20 Kcal/oz or 7 Kcal/10 mL. Infants begin consuming about 20 oz/day in Month 1 and progress to about 40 oz/day in Month 6. Water is important to infants and should supplement breast or formula feedings. A nursing mother must maintain a high intake of water (2-3 liters/day) to provide adequate dilution of her milk. She should avoid dehydration with diuretic substances, including alcoholic beverages (AB), teas, coffee, licorice, and herbal teas. Nursing mother's should take a well-balanced multivitamin-mineral supplement that includes Vitamin D, Calcium, iron, and zinc. The advice to mothers to drink extra cow's milk may be harmful to the infant who may develop milk protein allergy.

Instructions:
Breast-Feeding is Best: There is little doubt that mother's milk is the best food for infants. Human milk offers an ideal balance of nutrients and also contains a rich supply of protective factors which the human infant requires. Cow's milk is dissimilar to human milk in all respects. Although commercially prepared formulas, made from cow's milk or soy beans, have progressed over the years toward a more "human" composition by significant processing of the milk and addition of nutrients, these formulas remain inferior to human milk.; Both cows' milk and soy milk have health risk attached. Many argue that only a small percentage of infants become ill on these formula, but I disagree.

Among the benefits of mother's milk is a generous supply of IgA, the protective antibody which the infant bowel lacks. This antibody helps to protect the infant from bacterial infection and probably reduces the entry of antigenic food protein fragments, reducing the incidence of food allergy. Breast feeding an infant for six months or longer appears to significantly reduce the incidence of infection and food allergy.