After watching the video clips related to Infancy, please briefly address the following questions:

• What information surprised you or was of particular interest that you learned from these videos and why?
• Culture and parenting choices (may be answered together in 1 larger paragraph)
  • How does culture play a part in the parents’ decision between breastmilk and formula?
  • What would you say is the prevailing culture currently around infant feeding?
  • How does new scientific evidence change cultural perceptions over time?
  • In what other areas of infant development could culture and societal pressures significantly influence parenting choices?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684040/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5aW7xoOOlw&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF40_zFRC8k&feature=emb_logo

Nutritional Requirements and Energy Expenditure

The needs of infants determine the amount of nutrition required to maintain and support adequate growth and optimal health while maintaining homeostasis with other nutrients. Nutritional requirements vary in infancy, and growth patterns are closely linked to optimized nutrition. The use of standardized definitions is essential when plotting growth in infancy. Energy expenditure for basal metabolic processes, regular physical activities, as well as unexpected increased energy utilization for pathological conditions, determine the infant’s caloric intake. A healthy child from birth to 1 year should receive around 100 kcal/kg/day. Neonatal caloric requirements are higher at about 110–135 kcal/kg/day.[7]

Of the total energy requirement, a healthy infant utilizes about 40-60 kcal/kg/day for basal metabolic rate. Thermoregulation plays a massive role in early infancy, requiring a significant amount of energy expenditure. This is even higher in smaller preterm infants with minimal subcutaneous fat stores. Feeding, digestion, absorption, storage, and elimination also require a vast amount of energy, often up to 30-50 kcal/kg/day. Preterm and sick infants often require higher amounts of energy to maintain adequate growth. As infants get older, their energy requirements decrease, with boys requiring more than girls usually on account of weight.[8]

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Nutritional needs are objectively defined collectively using the term ‘dietary reference intakes.’[9] Estimated average requirements (EAR) refers to the minimum amount of a nutrient that is required to meet the needs of half the population. Since EAR only covers about half of the population, a 20% higher limit is used as recommended dietary allowances (RDA). RDA refers to a sufficient amount of average daily dietary intake that meets the nutrient requirement for most of the healthy population at a particular stage. Adequate intake (AI) is the acceptable range of nutrient intake based on healthy populations in cases with inadequate evidence to use EAR or RDA. Tolerable upper intake levels (UL) are the highest levels of nutrient intake that are acceptable without causing adverse effects.[9] In situations requiring close monitoring of infant growth, nutrient requirements can be measured using these parameters to maintain an objective log of nutrient intake during periods of growth faltering.

Nutrient Profiles: Macronutrients

Macronutrients include large nutrient molecules that provide the primary nutritional source of energy and substrate, playing a vital anabolic role in building tissues and in growth. These are broadly grouped into proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Proteins

Proteins are building blocks that play a significant anabolic role in building muscle and tissues. Protein accounts for about 15% of total energy intake. Structurally, proteins are large molecules comprised of chains of amino acids joined by peptide bonds. They can be classified based on the number of amino acids in the protein chain into dipeptides, oligopeptides, or polypeptides. Complex folding of the longer protein chains into three-dimensional structures further results in a tertiary modification, adding complexity to the protein structure.