The quality of general movements (complex movements that involve the head, trunk, arms and legs) has been shown to be an accurate technique for evaluating the quality of brain function in young infants, and this study found a major improvement in general movements and secondary brain function among breastfed infants and infants who received LCPs.

The most important fats for children are LCPs, which include DHA (primarily from fish oil) and AA (arachidonic acid, primarily from butter and eggs).

If you don't give your children fish oil, butter and eggs you are clearly decreasing their brain function. Ideally, it is best to provide infants with raw eggs. While this may alarm some for fear of salmonella, even in conventional eggs the risk is less than one in 30,000, and in high-quality eggs the risk is far lower. An earlier study showed that infants could tolerate the equivalent of 40 eggs per week.

Breast milk, of course, is the best food for infants, but it sure seems that adding 1 ml (cc) of fish oil for every 10 pounds of body weight is a wise precaution.

The quality of the fish oil you choose is very important. A high-quality oil should be independently lab-tested and found to be free of mercury and other toxins. I recommend Carlson’s fish oil and cod liver oil, as they conform to the strictest purity guidelines and are free from chemical modification and processing. If you can’t find it in your local health food store, it’s available in our Web site store.

If your child is unable to breastfeed for whatever reason you will want to review my revised infant nutrition guidelines.

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