Help Your Baby Try New Foods
During the first few months of life, breast milk provides babies with all the nutrients they need. However, at some point, it will be time to help your baby try new foods. This is where the following tips will come in handy.
Rejection of unknown foods
Sooner or later, it will be time to expand the little one’s menu and you will need to help your baby try new foods.
Some kids love to try new flavors while others don’t feel like it and they prefer to eat what they know they like. In these cases, it is important to be patient. After all, babies, on average, have to taste something 15 times before they end up liking it.
Furthermore, it is not only babies and young children who suffer from neophobia (the fear of the unknown). Adults may like it too, and it may even include new foods. Young children overcome it, as a rule, naturally when they are about 5 years old.
Learning by imitation
Parents are role models for their children. Family habits make a big difference. If adults are willing to try new foods, and new things in general, children will be too.
The best way you can help your baby try new foods is by eating them first. Imitation is tied to the trust and security that older members of the family create. In fact, it also includes older siblings.
Tricks to help your baby try new foods
The meals should always be a positive and enjoyable experience, with no punishment. From a very early age, teach your children that it is also fun to eat healthy foods.
If babies are forced to eat certain foods, it will just make them hate them. At the same time, parents need to be aware that they like certain tastes better than others.
You do not have to part with your baby’s favorite food – you can combine it with new foods or foods your baby does not like. However, make sure the food is nutritious.
Vary the presentation
Colors are also an excellent strategy to help babies try new foods. Do not forget that food is also “eaten” with the eyes. If the food is not neat or enticing, babies will probably be more hesitant to eat it.
Sometimes, it has nothing to do with the taste if babies do not like the new food. If they do not feel like eating a new food, it may be because of the way it looks or feels.
Fruits, such as bananas, can be very neat. You can cut them into small pieces, or leave them in their natural shape. However, it can be very difficult for babies to chew them as they only have a few teeth.
If babies do not like fruits because they are pureed, they will not look nice, but they will be easier for them to eat.
Let your baby experiment
Rejection of new foods does not have to have anything to do with the fruits or vegetables you give your baby.
Some cutlery can be very intimidating. A great way you can help your baby try new foods is by letting your baby put the food in his mouth with his hands.
Things to avoid when your baby needs to try new foods
Some parents resort to things that, instead of helping, make it difficult for babies to like new foods. That is, usually because they do not know better. However, it can also be due to a feeling of frustration due to defeat.
One of the most common mistakes to make is to try to distract the baby. For example, one can make use of the television or videos on YouTube. However, it is important that the meals are for eating only. Spend this time with the family and enjoy eating together.
Finally, the worst mistake, without a doubt, is forcing your baby to eat. There are parents who, practically, put the spoon in their baby’s mouth, without giving him or her enough time to swallow.
If you do this, the dining will end up being a painful and traumatic experience. Furthermore, it is not good to have a system of penalties and rewards. This can lead to trauma, as well as other unhealthy situations.
