What Do I Feed My Baby?
By Janice Connelly, YSB Prevention Director
What, how much and when to feed a baby can be one of the most stressful questions that parents attempt to answer. As a parent, you want your child to eat the foods that will make him healthy and strong, but every child has his own needs and preferences. Reading the "expert” recommendations can be confusing and then, when family and friends offer advice the choices become even less clear. It can seem as if as soon as you figure out nutrition at one age, your child’s needs or preferences change.
One important thing to remember, no matter what the age of your child, is that mealtime is about more than nutrition. It is a time for the two of you to connect and reconnect. When a new baby lies in his mother’s arms nursing or drinking from a bottle, gazing into her eyes and that mother talks softly to her baby, the baby is being fed both emotionally and physically. When your pre-schooler has an after school snack and the two of you talk about his day at school, he is learning that he is important and that you care about him and what happens to him. Of course you want to feed your baby the best food for healthy growth and development, but even when he won’t eat that food, you can still provide the emotional nourishment he needs for healthy growth and development.
Whether your child is a “good” eater or a “poor” one, it helps to slow down and enjoy the experience of nourishing him. Babies and children are very much in tune with their parent’s moods. Approaching meals and feeding times with a relaxed and positive attitude can help your child to remain calm and receptive during meal times. If you become frustrated or upset, there is a good chance that your child will also become upset.
Many times, when a parent chooses to really insist that their child eat a particular food, that child will be even more firm in his refusal of it. If a parent can remain flexible and offer their child some choices, the child may become more flexible and willing to try different things. As hard as it may seem, parents who are willing to offer choices and even let their child occasionally refuse to eat are more likely to be successful in getting their child to eat healthy foods.
Snacking can be another area of concern. Snacks are an important part of your child’s diet. Offering healthy snacks for your child can help him to eat a healthy and balanced diet. However, allowing your child to eat things like candy and chips for snacks can interfere with meals and lead to a poor diet. Again, it helps to be flexible. Letting your child choose from a variety of healthy foods for snacks can give your child the feeling that he is in control while it also helps you to know that the foods he is eating are actually helping him to grow and thrive.
Children really like things that are familiar. Just as your toddler may like to have the same story read to him several times a day, every day, he will also prefer to eat foods that he has eaten before. If your child refused to eat a new food the first time you try, try again another day, then another day. Once the food seems more familiar, your child might be willing to try it – it may even become one of his favorites. New foods aren’t as “scary” if they are served with comfortable foods. When you plan a meal, you might have better success in getting your
child to eat a variety of foods if you include favorite foods, along with new foods or less favorites in the same meal. That way, there will be at least one food item that your child will eat at each meal – so you can both feel successful.
Children’s appetites vary over time. During times of high activity or during growth spurts, children will eat more than usual. When your child is not feeling well or has not been very active, he might eat less. This is another area where being flexible can help both you and your child to feel good about your child’s diet. If your child is hungry more frequently than usual, remember that healthy snacks can really be good for him and won’t necessarily interfere with meals. Some parents will allow their children to eat things like fruits and vegetables whenever they want, even if it is right before a meal. After all, what difference does it make if your child eats carrots at 4:30 or green beans at 5:00? He may even eat both, giving him two servings of vegetables instead of one.
Three important concepts in having a positive food experience with your child are: positive attitude (yours), flexibility, and variety. If the two of you learn to enjoy meal and snack times together, you will build your relationship and your child will have positive, healthy feelings about food. If you are able to be flexible in what and how much your child eats, you will feel better about the experience and your child will be more likely to eat what his body needs to grow and thrive. If you offer your child variety, he will eat a variety of foods, leading to a healthier diet overall.
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