If we let them, the children would only eat pasta and fries. Here are 10 tips to awaken their palate to new flavors.
Your baby has started food diversification and gradually discover new flavors. For get used to eating a balanced diet over the long termit is recommended start gradually with vegetables, then introduce the fruits, in a second step. And afterwards, we don’t hesitate to offer foods in all their forms, until the child likes (or not) the different recipes. Indeed, it is not always easy to make children eat everything. The latter often have dishes – based on starchy foods – that they love and do not want to change. However, it is by offering them vegetables from childhood that they will learn to awaken their taste buds and develop their sense of taste. Here are some tips and advice to give him the keys to a healthy diet.
1 – Respect the stages of food diversification
From 4 months, you can start food diversification, starting with vegetables, well mixed, with a smooth texture. You can then introduce fruits about two weeks after vegetables. From the baby’s 6 months, you can start to introduce a little vegetable broth then a spoonful of puree in his bottle. The main thing is above all not to rush it and to go about it gently. Wanting to go too fast may cause the baby to reject, so take your time.
2 – Do not force baby if he does not like a food
If your child does not like a flavor, do not insist and try again a few weeks later. This is the best way not to create disgust or systematic opposition to the meal. Besides, your baby may not like mashed broccoli, but perhaps more in the form of soup, or mixed with another food.
3 – Make him taste new foods
Initiate the principle of barter: “Yes, I would like you to have this dessert at every meal, but only if you taste this new vegetable”. “When he cries out for food, it’s an opportunity to satisfy him, but only after having tasted or eaten something new or some unpopular vegetables. can we read in the book “My baby refuses to eat”.
4 – Test playful plates, “food art”
A well-presented plate, with varied colors and above all a nice graphic design will be much more appreciated. You have the molds of different shapes for 100% original vegetable cuts! You can also have fun drawing a man with tomato sauce, mayonnaise or with the elements of the plate.
5 – Cook vegetables in different forms
Use and abuse the camouflage method to make your child eat vegetables. For example, place diced vegetables in your meatballs or mix them in a sauce. You can also present them in a slipper or a candy in brick sheets. If your child loves mashed potatoes but not fish, consider the “fish pie mince” solution, which is just as good! He doesn’t like raw beets? How about trying to present them to him in crisps? Does she hate carrots? Why not cut them into tagliatelle or fries? It has been shown that an average child needs to be presented with a new food seven times before they accept it. Do not hesitate to vary the methods of presentation.
6 – Fun dishes
“Present the small dishes in fun containers: cup, egg cup, ramekin… mini portions, one at a time, which must be eaten one after the other to have “The surprise”. Ideal for proposing a new food or making eat a vegetable. The surprise is a real treat (…) that they only discover at the end!” proposes the authors of the book “My baby refuses to eat”.
7 – Invent stories
“A busy child is a child who does not object” say the authors of the book. So to entertain your child, why not try the story of the little hedgehog? Jack the Hedgehog (aka a wedge of apple) strolls through a vegetable patch and feeds on produce from the garden. Place toothpicks in his back to which you will prick the vegetables and ask your child to eat them to exonerate Jack!
8 – Set an example by eating vegetables
It is certain that if your child sees dad making the soup with a face in front of his green beans, it will not encourage him to eat it. So eat vegetables regularly (and greedily please!).
9 – Take an interest in vegetables
To make children love vegetables, nothing beats talking to them about the seasons, taking them to a vegetable garden and picking together the vegetables that will make up the evening meal. At the market or the supermarket, don’t hesitate to make him choose the vegetables, to make him touch an eggplant, a zucchini, to make him smell the smell of fennel…
10 – Cook together
Your child will be more enthusiastic about tasting what he is proud to have prepared alone. Integrating it into the preparation of meals will only be beneficial to make him like his dish, even if it is vegetable-based!