[ad_1]
Food packets can be easy, but they may not be the best way to serve food to your children
Courtney Byrd-Williams, a behavioral specialist at the University of Texas School of Public Health, recently supervised a study on the eating habits of babies and toddlers in Texas.
They are practical, appetizing and apparently healthy. That's why sales continue to grow, but pockets can hurt a child in three ways: their overall eating habits, their experience with new foods, and even their muscle development, she says.
When you are a new eater, it may require you to fight all your life to eat vegetables that do not taste like apples.
"We found that in most mashed potatoes, it's both fruits and vegetables and fruits," she says. The researchers found no pouches containing only vegetables, which means that "kids do not learn to love kale, they learn that it tastes like applesauce," she says. This is how they begin to develop this preference for sweets at such an early age.
Even without added sugar, pureed foods are not as nutritious as their whole counterparts. A bag may contain the same amount of sugar as is found in several apples, "but few people sit down and eat three apples in a row."
Byrd-Williams, who has two children, said she understood the call, but she was surprised to see how many pockets – sometimes more than one at a time – were in the lunch boxes sent to the daycares included in l & # 39; study.
"It's not a matter of demonizing them, but we worry about overconsumption," she says. "These bags are a food sometimes. As long as children gain experience with whole foods besides sachets, this is the most important part. "
Food companies want parents to think that their baby-friendly food products, including pouches, are the only types of food they can eat, but Byrd-Williams says you can start Feed a baby with table foods as soon as it is ready solid, which is about six months old but can be as early as four months old.
This approach, often referred to as baby weaning, is the opposite of the pockets, she says. By touching food and feeding with the hands, young eaters have a multisensory experience from the beginning of the transition from an exclusive diet to bad milk or formula milk, which naturally helps them learn to chew and to swallow a range of foods. .
When you introduce children to food, you can start with bananas, avocados and other soft foods that they can erase, but babies have amazingly sturdy gums that help break down food, says -she.
Babies have a more sensitive gag reflex than older children, which is a natural way to keep them from choking. According to Byrd-Williams, some parents, and especially grandparents, are particularly concerned for young children when they trigger their gag reflex, but it's important to let them try the foods at their own pace so that they can be sure that they will not be sick. they can develop muscles of the mouth and throat that help them chew more food and move them.
Many parents will introduce a food to a child and if they do not like it, they will put it on a "no" food list, but Byrd-Williams recommends thinking about these foods. foods like those of the child. it's just learning to love, even if they're not eating it yet.
Children often need 15 exposures to new foods before they like them or accept them, and even if it's difficult to make food fun, it's not necessary to cut fruits or nuts. vegetables in crazy shapes or serve them in a bento box. bring the children to eat them.
Sometimes the goal is simply to make them feel, lick or "kiss" the surface to discover the other sensory elements of the food.
Another important lesson for parents to learn is to trust children when they think they are full. "A baby will turn his head and that's telling them that they do not want anymore," she said.
"The first thing to do to soothe a baby should not be food," she says. The food may be calming, but you do not want your child to immediately turn to food when he is looking for calming activity.
Byrd-Williams says that kids also need models to show them how to eat a wide variety of foods while sitting at a table.
For example, if the only vegetables that parents eat are mixed in a smoothie, the child will not learn to eat whole vegetables by himself.
Source link