The moment when a child begins with complementary feeding, at six months, can become a real burden for many parents, who are excited to prepare food ("my child will finally eat other things") to receive a Authentic rejection of their children.
We all know that Ideally, a child eats everything, that is, varied, and that is the goal of every parent. However, there are babies who are very clear about what they want and what they don't and, interestingly, what they usually want least is fruit and vegetables. We will explain today what can be done if we are in this situation, fearing (we and the baby) the time to take the spoon.
Not force eat
The first thing to keep in mind is that we don't have to force children to eat fruit and vegetables and, in fact, no food. The goal at six months is for babies to start eating things other than milk, basically because their diet for the rest of their lives will be that, varied, and not based on milk.
As the idea is that little by little they are trying new foods, textures and flavors, and the grace is that they enjoy trying and learning, we cannot turn the moment of eating into a martyrdom for a child, forcing him to eat, making us nervous and making him nervous. No, because the only thing we will get is that there comes a time when I do not want to prove what you are going to give him ("Force me to do it and I will end up hating him").
About this I always explain that I hate roast chicken a lot, but it's psychological. I can eat grilled or battered chicken and I love it, but if you touch roast chicken, I ask for something else, please. The reason is that in my childhood I ate roast chicken every Sunday of God, and I ended up abhorring it. It was not a direct obligation, but there was nothing else to eat. So much was the pitcher to the source that in the end it broke.
So the ideal is to prepare the vegetable with the chicken and give him what he wants. If you are not pissed off, if you are still curious, it will open your mouth. After the first scoop you can decide that with that there is already enough or that you accept a second. If you make a face of what horror and do not want more, we can choose to repeat the recipe in later days or to change ingredients in case we find a formula that you like more (now we talk about it).
In any case, it is recommended that if you close your mouth or turn your face don't insist. The important thing is that he feels respected, that he feels that he can decide when to start and when to finish, because if he feels he has no control, that you are going to force him, he won't even want you to approach with a spoon. It's like when the typical commercial of electricity comes to the door of your house to start asking for bills and stories to make an offer that you can not refuse. I don't even open, because I know he will insist and insist and I know that I will have to defend myself. And who knows, maybe even have a good offer, but as many times what they do is try to deceive you, I no longer take a chance.
Repeat the recipe?
I just told you that at the first scoop it still looks like "this tastes like lightning" and I recommend you repeat the recipe? Well yes, maybe yes, because several studies have concluded that the acceptance of food is closely related to the number of exposures to it, or what is the same, that the more times a child tries something easier, it is that he ends up liking . In fact, even the necessary tests have been quantified, and they say that a food has to be tested between 10 and 15 times to be well accepted, or to be finally rejected (I can already taste the olives a thousand times, which I assure you will still not like).
An example of this is beer. The first time I tried it, I knew cold pisses, but you know, a teenager with few means who enters the world of alcohol and partying with friends like drinking beer, even if you don't like it. Well, as I tried it more times I was taking the taste and even ended up enjoying it (come on, I like it, although I don't drink anymore).
As I was going, you can repeat the recipe several times, or you can also go playing with the ingredients, removing some and putting others, to do the most variable thing, if we believe that you will like it better or accept it better.
The example is paramount
It is absurd to complain that your child does not eat vegetables or fruit if you do not eat it either. There are parents who do not try it and only buy it to give it to their children. Of course, in that environment, in that environment, the child may end up complaining about the situation: how can you tell me to eat it? if you don't eat it!
When they are babies they do not make this reflection, but if we are eating vegetables and fruit in front of you, you may want to try our dish. By this I mean yes, that the ideal is to eat with the children in the same place and at the same time. If he eats first and then we will never have an example to imitate and to learn from.
Did we try some milk?
We know that milk likes, but it seems that fruit and vegetables not so much. Well, we can try with add crushed milk. It may sound weird, but it's not so bad. Milk is a flavor that you already know, so it can help a little so that your palate doesn't complain so much about the strangeness of the new flavors. If you drink breast milk, you have to get some milk (better not to give artificial milk, if you have not tried it, because of the risk of allergy), and if you drink formula, it is prepared a little and is put into the porridge.
And in pieces?
The other option is give pieces, which is often the most feasible because this way our example is much more valid and because it can do what best serves children to learn: steal our food. We can give them Russian salad with minced meat so that it can take whatever it wants with the fingers, we can give them broccoli, boiled carrots, beans, potatoes, ... and fruit cut in slices (in tacos no, there is a danger of suffocation). It's amazing to see children who don't want to see a fruit porridge eating a tangerine or a banana greedily because what they wanted was not to be crushed. The same does not happen with 6 months, but perhaps it will happen later.
Summarizing
Patience, it's all about patience. It is difficult to leave the milk, which is quite good, to change it for flavors that are not the most tasty. If we do everything naturally, offer and withdraw, without insisting more on the foods we think are healthier, but by offering them all with the same impetus, children do not feel forced to eat anything ("if you force me so much, if you insist both, very good does not have to be ") and can eat everything when they feel like it (some days eat more vegetables, and some less, but eat).
Further, we should not make food an emotional issue. We may make food with great enthusiasm or love, but we cannot feel hurt if our son rejects it because it is not us who rejects it, but the food, which may seem horrible, no matter how much love we have put. There are other ways to give love to our children and they prefer to show it to us in other ways.
Photos | deanwissing, devinf on Flickr On Babies and more | More ideas for children to eat vegetables, Practical advice for children to eat more vegetables, Vegetables to accompany the children's snack
