Preface: I work with babies and children on a daily basis and understand that feeding infants and toddlers can be a struggle. I’m not saying it is not a task in and of itself or trying to make it seem simple.
I wrote this post because I hear every day how “so simple” it is not!! I mean, we all know that babies need breast milk (or formula), but once we start introducing solid foods, how are we supposed to know if baby is getting enough nutrients?
Well I am here to tell you that it is never too early to start introducing your child to the colors of the rainbow. This will encourage variety and they will learn to love healthy foods! I already wrote a post entitled, “How To Prevent a Picky Eater,” if you want to check that out too!
Beginning around 5-6 months of age, babies will start showing signs that they are ready for solid foods; sitting up independently or trying to grab things to put in their mouth. According to Karen Ansel R.D, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association in Long Island, it is best to try solids when the baby is wide awake, usually first thing in the morning or right after a nap. Try to avoid any distractions like the TV or other siblings. While there is no rule about what to introduce first, it is typically easiest to start with baby cereal or a mushy food like bananas or avocados. Slowly get the baby used to this new manner of eating. Once baby learns this new way to eat, try the following suggestions in order to get your baby or toddler to eat as much variety as possible!
- Introduce New Foods Rapidly. Although most experts will advise introducing one food every 3 days for allergy purposes, Dr. Alan Green M.D., author of Feeding Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Program for Healthy, Safe Nutrition, suggests introducing a new food every day and mixtures of food as soon as possible. He states that the idea of only giving single foods teaches kids to be picky. Work your way through the colors of the rainbow by combining foods baby loves, with ones they haven’t tried yet! Try all kinds of flavors to get the most nutrients and exposure! Mix apples and blueberries, try beets or figs! Think outside the box!
- Exposure. Keep baby close in the kitchen while preparing foods and at the dinner table. This allows the baby to see you preparing the food and also enjoying what you prepared as a family! Family meal times have demonstrated lots of positive benefits for children as they grow up; better school performance and increased self-confidence!
- Set an example. When it comes to babies and children, it is what you DO, not what you SAY, that has the greatest impact. Babies and children are constantly watching and observing YOU, so if YOU are not eating your vegetables, chances are pretty good that your children will follow the same eating habits. Having a baby is the perfect time to start expanding your own horizons and trying foods that you may have grown up thinking you did not like. Try them again!! You might be surprised!
- REPEAT. As babies grow and turn in to toddlers, they can go through all kinds of stages where certain colors, tastes, and textures don’t appeal to them. Be patient. Keep encouraging those foods!! It can take up to 15 times before a child will accept a new food. If you can get your child to try something at least 6-10 times, the likelihood of that child coming to enjoy that food increase dramatically! Maybe you could try switching up the way you prepare certain foods; baking, roasting,sautéing, blending, etc.
Superfood Suggestions:
Babies and toddlers need superfoods too!!
FISH: excellent source of omega-3′s and protein, all beneficial to baby’s growing noggin’. Choose varieties lower in mercury like salmon or pollock and puree 75% veggies with 25% fish.
LENTILS: Fiber, protein, and iron are important nutrients for babies and toddlers. Make sure they are getting enough by incorporating lentils! Puree with brown rice and you got yourself a complete protein with all the essential amino acids in the right amounts!
LOTS OF VEGGIES and FRUITS: Babies and toddlers get tons of nutrients from all different varieties of vegetables and fruits; folate, beta carotene, Vitamin A, D, E, and K, Vitamin C, B Vitamins… to name a few! Mix sweeter veggies like carrots with more bitter varieties like spinach. Encourage as many as possible!
I am fully aware that all kids are different and not every child is going to fall in love with every healthy food. Just be patient. Tastes and food preferences are constantly evolving, so it can literally take years to raise a healthy eater! All I ask is that you try to keep a positive, healthy attitude, encourage a WIDE variety of WHOLE foods, limit the sweets and other processed foods, and I know your child will grow up to be a healthy eater!
Resource: BabyTalk Magazine March 2011
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Such great advice! No kiddos of our own yet, but we are definitely an example to the other kids in our life.
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Ummm, can you re-post this in about 4 years when I have a baby?! haha. Great post! I will definitely use this information in the future. I am very nervous about having a picky eater on my hands, because I’ve seen my mom struggle with my brother (not fun). I was not a picky eater at all, so I hope my children are the same way!! I actually bought a juicer in hopes of learning how to use it and of becoming a juicing “expert” by the time I have kids
BTW, you won my giveaway, congrats!!!! Send me your address when you can.
I think it’s so interesting to read about how to feed kids and such… In case you hadn’t noticed from my post a few days back
IT’s such a balancing act! I really think everyoen who has kids shoudl take developmental psychology, I learned SO MUCH valuable information!!!
I can’t wait to have kids…one of the many reasons is so that I can introduce them to a variety of healthy and delicious foods. I’m passing this post to some of my friends who are young mothers. Thanks for sharing, sweet woman. I hope you have a great Wednesday. Happy Hump Day!
These pictures of babies are enough to make me want to have one right now!!!
SO adorable!
LOVED the point about how it can take up to 15 tries to learn to like something. i watch my nieces and nephews who are picky eaters, and i suspect it’s mostly because they’re allowed to be. but i guess i’ll learn how tough it really is when i’m a mom myself!
I saw your comment on eatspinrunrepeat and I just wanted to let you know if you are going to get a PT cert I would recommend NASM or ACSM. Those two are most highly recommended in the fitness buisness, ACE is a close third as more people have it. Let me know if you have any questions about the process, I am NASM certified and have been for almost 4 years.
I have found that if you take something they don’t like and top it with something they do and slowly add more of what they don’t like bite after bite, they will it it on its own. For us it is more of a texture problem. If she doesn’t like the texture she will gently take it out of her mouth and place in my hand!
totally agree with you that feeding a baby isn’t always the easiest, and a lot of people worry about their child getting enough nutrition. i think the reason it is recommended to introduce new foods one at a time (instead of in combination foods) is in case the baby has a bad reaction/allergy. this is a really good website to look at too (from WIC): http://www.dhss.mo.gov/living/families/wic/wiclwp/pdf/R_0618_Foods_To_Grow_On.pdf
BOOKMARKING!
Thanks so much for this post! Just read the whole thing and know I will be coming back again! I will also need to get that book on Amazon!
oh my gosh girl! I can’t tell you how many of my clients gawked when I told them their babies could eat fish and actually would benefit from it — they were either convinced fish was bad for their little one or they hated fish and didnt want to cook it for their kids. womp womp. keep spreading this awesome post! <3
Thanks for this!! My kids are definitely picky eaters…but I do believe in setting a good example and to keep introducing new foods and not to give up…but I never push…I just offer and I don’t reward either. My son is 3.5 and he is catching on. He told me that he wanted broccoli for dinner the other night.
I love this! So helpful for women having children or have kids.
xoxo
Kathleen
Um, this is not helping my baby-craziness.:)
I’m a very picky eater. It’s frustrating that I don’t know how to prepare foods that are “new” to me for my 14-month-old. I’m afraid she’ll end up a picky eater like me. Perhaps I should try the different foods 6-10 times, as well!
Great post Erin! I don’t have any children yet (nor do I plan to have any really soon either!) but these are some great tips. I plan to set a good example for mine, just as I’ve seen so many moms in the blogosphere doing already.
Oh I wish I knew this stuff when my boys were babies! I am going to forward this to my nephew who has a new baby. This is the type of info I want everyone to read. By the way, the “setting an example” part is so true and important! As a toddler, my youngest would eat ANYTHING, if it came off of MY plate. Guess that’s where he learned to love Indian food and Mexican food!
I really like th part about setting an example. I think children will follow their parent’s lead in many ways, including eating habits. Also, if parents eat healthy there is probably less unhealthy food in the house for kids to be exposed to.
I loved this post – it’s so helpful as my little one is just starting to eat oatmeal. We tried rice cereal with him and he didn’t like it at all. He’s not too fond of oatmeal, but he likes it much better than the rice cereal!