Nine brilliant tips to help your baby become a good eater (part 2 of 2)
At a year old, this little guy used to only eat three foods. Now he eats everything!
Part 2:
Cut back on milk. By the age of 12 months, nutrition guidelines recommend that your baby be drinking a maximum of 500 to 600 mL of milk per day, or about two cups. Children who fill up on milk are less likely to be hungry for other foods; and a bland, liquid diet can lead to reduced acceptance of different flavours and textures. While milk contains valuable protein, fat, calcium and Vitamin D, it lacks many other nutrients essential for growth and development. Excessive milk consumption is a major risk factor for iron-deficiency anemia in toddlers and preschoolers.
Focus on habits, not on individual nutrients. It’s easy to get caught up in manufacturer claims that those puffs contain “one serving of vegetables,” or that the boxed macaroni and cheese contains "one quarter cup of cauliflower," but are you really teaching your child to love vegetables, or are you teaching him to love bland, puffed snacks and macaroni & cheese? The same goes for the temptation to add puréed vegetables to baked goods, like "zucchini chocolate cupcakes." If you want your child to eventually learn to love vegetables, you must expose him to the flavours, textures and appearances of real vegetables. So-called “healthy” junk food only perpetuates cravings for junk foods.
Soft, steamed broccoli is an excellent "first food" for babies.
Avoid all-day snacking and grazing. Feed your child three meals and one or two snacks daily. As the French say, “Hunger is the best sauce.” Children who are hungry at mealtimes will eat both a greater quantity and variety of food. Teach children to respond to their natural cues of hunger and fullness by actually allowing them to develop and then satisfy an appetite. Avoid using food as a behavioural management technique, for example, to keep your baby busy and quiet in the stroller, or to stop him from crying (when he isn't crying from hunger).
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. You may have read that it can take between 15 and 20 exposures before a child learns to accept a food. Most parents give up after only a few attempts. Remember that "success" in accepting a new food could be something as small as your baby touching or licking the food, even if they don't actually ingest any of it. I've found it helpful to adopt the perspective that there are no foods my children dislike; only foods that they still need more exposure to. If one of my kids announces that they don't like something, I will re-frame it by saying, "You don't feel like having carrots today? That's fine. Let me know if you change your mind and want to try some."
A rainbow of colours, textures and flavours.
Just remember: some children are born good eaters, but with patience and persistence all children can learn to become good eaters.