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Get your baby off to the healthiest start in life with tips to encourage your baby to enjoy healthy foods from food writer and mum Fran Warde.
The number one desire of any parent is for their child to be
healthy and happy. The easiest way to maintain health is through diet,
the two are closely related.
Your baby is a result of what you ate
during pregnancy and what he has eaten and digested since birth. So it is really important to eat well during
pregnancy. There is no proof, but I do believe that a baby takes on
your liking for various foods because indirectly they were taken in as
a baby in your womb.
So think healthy, eat greens and lots of fresh fruit
when you are pregnant and continue while breastfeeding and then give
them to your baby when you’re weaning him.
In particular I’ve found that babies love mashed banana, apricots, peaches,
strawberries, mango – but really just try any fruit, I did and they are
still much loved.
Vegetables may prove a little harder but do not give up! You can
try to disguise the vegetables – as, for example, in my recipe for green
cheesy rice, where every
thing is chopped up so small that they can’t pick the vegetables
out, and a cheese sauce on top of vegetables works wonders!
I’ve found carrots to be popular with babies and little rounds of corn on the cob
- they
love holding things with their hands and being in charge. When the
interest in the food wanes I just remind my children that Bob the Builder eats lots of
vegetables to keep him fit and strong! The ‘one-more-spoonful’
method also seems to work (until they can count!).
It is important to try and keep
meal times happy and to try not to get cross. If your child refuses to
eat any more, just let him get down and
then I promise you when he’s hungry he will eat something. Some
little ones can go for an awful long time with no food – or so it seems
to us – but do not fill them up with milk, biscuits, bread or sweets,
keep these for a treat after a healthy and balanced meal.
