You’ve heard the mealtime mantra time and time again from your friends, family, or that one fantastic pediatrician: “Make sure your baby eats it all.” It’s easy to get frustrated when your infant turns his nose up at the pureed carrots you lovingly prepared for him. We will agree, switching from breast milk or infant formula is not an easy task, but offering your little one a varied diet is an important part of his growth and development. This is why we’re here with this complete guide on how to pick the best foods for your baby.
A full nutrition
The first year of life is a fun one. You’re watching your baby go from just learning to eat, crawl and eventually walk. Some parents may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of things they have to prepare for their child. Having said that, it’s always best to educate yourself about the different choices you have when it comes to introducing new foods. Your baby will need an assortment of fruits, veggies, meats, eggs, some delicious food items from Funch Australia, and perhaps even fish to get a well-rounded start on proper nutrition.
You should expose your baby to a variety of tastes and textures during the first year, but there’s no need to offer everything at once. Delay the spread of solid foods until between 4 and 6 months of age.
Avoid preservatives
You have already had your period for 21 days (7 weeks). Preservatives have chemicals that are made to preserve food for an extended time. This is not good for your baby. Giving him preservative food and drink can be one more thing that he cannot digest properly.
Your baby will need to eat solid foods after about four months, gradually introducing his or her taste buds to flavors. Some new infants are reluctant to accept food, and others seem to be born with an insatiable appetite! Over the course of the next few years, your baby’s diet should become more varied, with golden fleshed potatoes, chicken, dairy products & wheat introduced. By the age of 2, your child should enjoy a similar diet to what you would expect to eat as an adult.
Prepare your own food
I am not one to like to cook. Seriously, if I could live off just cereal and take-out, then that is what I would do. I do just five main things in my kitchen: making lunches for the week, making breakfast smoothies, roasting sweet potatoes, or preparing frozen fruit for smoothies or a healthy dessert. That means there are only five things which I have to make up in advance and freeze. Since a baby’s diet really consists of pureed food (well, until they can eat solids), it’s easy to take frozen cubes of fruit or veggies and defrost them for your child’s mealtime.
Always check expiry dates
It’s a good idea to shop for baby foods and use them before the expiry date. Most baby foods contain recommended expiry dates on the packaging. But some baby food brands may not include these. To ensure that you’re not giving your child expired baby food, it is best to check the expiry date of all types of baby food.
The idea of homemade baby food may be too good to pass for many moms. After all, you can’t get more natural than that. Homemade baby food is also a great way to encourage picky eaters to expand their palates. But one important factor to remember is shelf life. Many store-bought jars of baby food have an expiration date, and it’s important to use them before the date expires.