Fostering Healthy Eating Habits In Your Baby

By: Sarah Veda

If you're concerned about your baby's health, you want to be
certain to start healthy eating habits early. The first year of
solid foods is a very important time for establishing your
child's eating habits. What your child eats, and more
importantly, does not eat, during this time can impact their
habits for life. Here are some tips for starting out right with
your child's first menu.

Watch the sugar
This is a biggie. Eliminating refined sugar from your child's
diet in the early days can help the child develop a taste for
savory flavors, which in the long run, can help them enjoy a
wider variety of foods, without having such a sweet tooth. In
addition, a low sugar diet can help ensure that your child
maintains a proper weight. So, keep the cookies and candies
away. Use fruit and yogurt as dessert. Remember, if your child
has not been exposed to sugar, she won't miss it.

Feed whole grains
Stay away from white flour. Most American diets are painfully
low in whole grains, because we are a "white bread" society.
Try using wheat breads, oats and other whole grains instead.

Keep the beverages simple
Milk, water and juice are enough. Soda and sweetened drinks
will work their way in eventually, but put it off as long as
you can. In addition, watering the juice down a bit can help
reduce the calories and sugar content. Plus, it minimizes the
risk of your child having a stomach ache from too much juice.

If at first you don't succeed, try again
Keep reintroducing healthy foods, even if they are not met with
applause the first time around. The rule in our house is that
you have to try any food you don't like every six months.
Children's tastes change, and what they didn't like a few
months ago might just taste better, so keep trying.

Evaluate the family eating habits
As your child grows, she will be spending more time eating what
the rest of the family eats, so it's important that your eating
habits be good, too. Are you serving a wide variety of foods?
Think color - too much white food has a lot of calories, and
not a lot of nutrition. Green, yellow, red and orange foods
should be on your table on a regular basis.

Establishing good eating habits for your child is one of the
best gifts you can give her. It will set her off on a lifetime
of health and well being. Remember, the best way to get your
children to eat well is to be a role model. They will eat the
way you eat, so set a good example.

About The Author: Sarah is a 41 year old wife and mother of two
boys and one girl. She spent many years as a manager in the
corporate world, and gave it up to be a stay at home mom. Go to
http://www.infantresources.com now and get her incredible baby
minicourse - absolutely free.