Tips For Leaving Chopped Food Behind
Minced food is the food a baby eats. When the pediatrician believes that the time has now come to introduce solid foods into her diet, she suggests to the mother which ones are best suited for her baby’s nutrition. Each time she does this, she also shows her how to start with chopped foods to help baby digest them.
Over time, however, the baby’s teeth begin to come out and, more than baby food or mashed potatoes, he needs to include chewing among his activities. To do this, he must be given solid foods that stimulate him.
The whole family must contribute to its learning, just as in the case of other teachings. How can you teach him to accept chopped food ?
To abandon the minced food, take an intermediate step
Moms, chances are that if you suddenly stop giving your baby chopped food to offer him something more solid, he will reject it.
You have to take into account that when you started offering him food with a spoon, you only gave him baby food. For this reason, you cannot expect him to accept out of the blue the solid foods you offer him.
To pave your way and prevent the whims of a hungry child who does not want to eat (a difficult time to bear), we offer the following advice: go from minced puree to mash food with a fork.
We invite you to do this gradually. At the beginning, grind the food you put in the blender each time for an increasingly shorter time and choose to give it to the little one with more lumps.
Even if you proceed little by little, your child is likely to continue to refuse what you offer. We assure you, however, that in this way the food will be more accessible and very soon he will begin to accept it.
No abrupt change is good for babies. Remember that.
Don’t worry if your child doesn’t want to eat
Chances are, when you bring the spoon to his mouth, he ends up spitting out the food, holds the bite in his mouth without chewing or doing anything, starts coughing to alarm you and make you think he is choking, or just starts crying and doing. the whims.
If this is the show that goes on every night, don’t despair. It will take a lot of patience to keep insisting on cleaning him, bringing the spoon to his mouth as often as necessary, singing, giving him another spoonful to stimulate him to eat and all the subterfuges you will need to feed him.
Under no circumstances should you get upset and allow your child to notice your anxiety.
He needs to get used to the fact that it is time to eat, while you will steadfastly continue to offer him the new foods as you are doing. Calmly, smiling, letting him know that this is a pleasant moment that you like to share with him.
Offer him solid foods that he can already eat
If your pediatrician tells you that you can already feed him bread, pancakes, or soft biscuits, serve them in a plastic bowl so he can pick them up himself and put them in his mouth. This way he will learn and practice chewing.
Give him your plate
Children love to eat from the adult plate. Even if your child does not know what he is eating, because he does not know that food, if you chew next to him you will see that his mouth will water.
So, if you want your child to eat, for example, pasta with tomato sauce, we invite you to eat together with him from the same plate, of course using different cutlery.
What matters is that the child sees how you chew, that you eat the same thing that he eats and that you like it.
After you quit the mince food, don’t go back
Whenever you start giving your baby solid food, don’t go back to giving him baby food for reasons like “he didn’t want to eat today”.
While it may be difficult for you, it is important for your child to get used to the idea that “this is the food there is and this is what I have to eat”.
Offer him different menus
There are many recipes that you can prepare for your child to vary his diet.
Remember that he is in a phase in which he is assimilating new flavors and different dishes, and he needs to adapt to the fact that not every day he will find himself eating the same thing as he did when he ate mashed potatoes.
In this way it will better assimilate the variations and will not reject food.
