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As parents, we strive to give our children the best start in life. We go into parenting with the best intentions.
You plan to give your baby, and then toddler a wide variety of foods. You are going to help them to love everything and avoid developing into a picky eater.
I want to talk about different parenting strategies when it comes to introducing foods and how that may look, or why you may fail.
Part of this is going to be my actual story and part of it is based on a theory that I believe would have led me to better success in this area.
Let’s jump into it!
Purees: A Double-Edged Sword
Purees are a common way to introduce foods. They have been seen as safe and straightforward. I do not think purees are the worst or best thing ever.
They are a basic way to start giving baby-friendly foods.
But what are purees? They are completely changing the texture of the food. They are altering the eating experience.
Eating involves chewing.
Eating involves unique foods having unique qualities.
By choosing to puree everything we make it all more alike.
Variety in food is a good thing. And we are removing it. We are making foods more uniform.
You are also not going to be able to keep up with purees forever if you are making them yourself.
I had an experience with a family that was amazing about making homemade purees.
Their problem was at 3 and 4 years old their toddler would only eat vegetables in puree form.
In the short-term this was good—they were getting their veggies, but in the long run, it was a failure in my opinion.
On the contrary, though, that child was getting nutrition from the pureed vegetables, so was it a total loss?
Let’s continue on the baby-led weaning and we will come back to dive deeper into this point.
Baby-Led Weaning: Embracing Natural Exploration
Baby-led weaning is all about slowly and safely introducing solid foods to your baby. Often the foods are cut into a french fry-style shape or small bite-sized.
Baby-led weaning is about keeping foods in their more natural form.
Things like applesauce, soup, or mashed potatoes are similar to purees. Other foods like broccoli however retained its form. It may just be steamed to be softened a bit.
With baby-led weaning, it must be done safely. There are numerous resources spelling out how to safely offer your baby foods.
I think baby-led weaning is an amazing strategy for introducing foods to your baby.
The main benefit is that they become accustomed to food in its natural or more natural form with only slight alterations.
Sneaking Foods: A Temporary Solution?
In the beginning, we typically directly feed our babies foods, as they become toddlers and decide to get picky sneaking foods comes into play.
I am not entirely sure about this strategy.
This is where you are making veggies into chicken nuggets, or something of that nature. Or it could be like the earlier example where basically the veggies were in puree form, like a smoothie.
This can work to a point. Even as adults it is a good idea to sneak extra value and nutrition into our meals.
However, there is also the idea that our children have a decent relationship with fruits and vegetables. If they grow up only eating them sneakily in food, they may not grow up to choose them themselves.
I feel like sneaking food can be a lot of work and effort for the parent and not get the long–term results you are after.
Once again though, is it worth the effort if your child is getting the nutrition?
Start Right from the Start: Setting the Foundation
Ok, this is my great philosophy!
What we have been waiting for!
What I think would work best is to establish healthy meals that you regularly make BEFORE your child is born, or while they are still on milk only.
Start figuring out a list of quality meals that you and your spouse enjoy.
Start practicing meals that you would be proud to serve to your little one.
Start using baby-led weaning to get them to eat a version of the meal you are eating.
Don’t always make a separate meal. I think this is a trap that is sooo easy to fall into. I am guilty of it myself!
I think this is the key to getting your family to eat a single meal together.
You need to get started figuring it out before the baby is participating.
Where I went wrong was I didn’t cook proper meals with my husband. I threw random things together. I cooked like we did when we were both single.
I wish I had worked harder at creating a list of proper meals and mastering them.
What Are Your Goals? Clarify
A big question to ask is what are your goals?
Do you want your baby to have a good relationship with food?
Do you want them to simply get the healthy foods in their body, or the method doesn’t matter?
Do you want to only serve one meal at meal times?
I think knowing your goals and working backward is huge.
For example, I would say a lot of us would, in a perfect world, make one meal and the whole family eats it.
How do we accomplish this? Well, to put it simply quit making multiple meals!
Make a single meal and find ways to safely introduce it from the start. This way your baby becomes accustomed to eating what you are eating.
If it is all they know then they are likely going to enjoy most of the foods.
Conclusion: Failures and Growth
Introducing healthy foods and meals has been one of my biggest failures with my children. I can blame it on a number of things.
My first child has allergies and that threw me off my plan.
How to Safely Introduce New Foods to Your Child with Allergies
I was never really taught how to make good, healthy meals.
My husband and I enjoy different foods.
At the end of the day, you have to work on this. It doesn’t come easy for everyone.
We are all doing our best, or at least we should be doing our best.
That would be a question to ask yourself.
Are you doing your best?
I know the answer for myself is no. I have not done my best and that is why I consider this my biggest struggle with parenting.
Check Out My Articles
Everything You Need to Know About Introducing Solid Food to Your Baby
Raising a Happy and Healthy Baby: Our 10-month-old’s Daily Food Routine
How to Save Money by Making Your Own Baby Food
Get Your Cooking Game On: 5 Easy Foods You Can Make from Scratch Today
Brutally Honesty Mistakes We Have Made with Our Child’s Food Allergies