Infant Eating Dos And Don’ts

Most babies start getting that first taste of baby food between two and four months old, the most common mistakes new parents make is giving babies desserts first. If a child develops a liking to sweet things it can be really hard to get them on the right track to eating nutritious foods. As a new parent I strolled down the baby aisle at the supermarket looking at the various assortment thinking, YUCK! None of it looked too appeasing to me so I grabbed all the tuiti-fruitis, apple sauce, custards and sweets I could find with my first son.

Everyone told me, no don’t do that to that baby he needs green vegetables and healthy foods to show him good nutrition.

I thought, well it’s good to eat fruit too. That went on for about a month and then I thought, hmmm maybe he should be eating better foods. Off to the market I went grabbing up green beans, carrots, squash and all the healthy foods. My son didn’t want any part of the new diet; boy oh boy was I in trouble. Instead of sticking with changing his diet, which was my fault in the first place, I just went with the flow and gave into his wants.

His wants led up to fried chicken nuggets, pizza, French fries, mashed potatoes and grilled cheese.

When the second baby boy came along I was determined to do everything right with him and I did, successfully! Plus in the meantime I had to start over with out first son and making the changes at first were hard because coming from the south, my idea of a good dinner included fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade pies and of course as with southern recipes flour, butter, lard and sugar were the main ingredients.

After the arrival of boy number three, the whole family was eating a balanced diet with healthy ingredients and the switch really paid off.

I admit I felt like somewhat of a failure at first and that it was my fault my first son didn’t begin with a good diet. Always start a baby out on vegetables and when its time to start giving the baby table food, be cautious about what is given to baby because bad habits are hard to break.

Adults tend to use a lot of salt, oil, butter and unhealthy additives in their food that should not be given to babies. Steamed vegetables and tender pieces of meat are ideal for baby, just limit the sweets, the oils and unhealthy additives, baby will be eating like a grown up in no time.

If a baby isn’t ready for the transition, don’t force them as long as they have a healthy appetite and are eating their baby food. There’s plenty of time for baby to get a taste of ‘big people’ food, enjoy baby while you can because their only little for awhile.