FOOD FROM 12 MONTHS: EATING LIKE THE ELDERLY

When the baby turns his first year, most pediatricians recommend taking another step in their diet and start offer you the same food what parents eat At this stage, babies should leave crushed meals behind, if they still took them, to ingest the Solid food, just like us. From Chicco Moments we want to give you some guidelines so that this transition is simple and everything goes smoothly.

With spoon or without spoon?

Some parents decide to start complementary feeding, at 6 months, offering food cut into small pieces or simply chamfered with a fork. This method, alternative to the spoon and to ingest all crushed foods, it has advantages such as, for example, that it is a more natural transition between breastfeeding and solid food intake, according to experts.

This form of feeding can be started although the baby does not have teeth, because if we offer soft or easily discarded food, you will chew them with your gums, learning the chewing process and swallowing them properly. Vegetables, bread, pasta and fruit are some of the ideal foods to start.

If you are in this group, surely and almost without realizing it, your baby has gone learning for himself to eat the same foods that you usually prepare at home, being one more at the table.

How to enter solids

Although Baby Led Weaning is an increasingly recommended and endorsed method by pediatricians, not all babies, not all parents, are prepared to start complementary feeding in this way. In any case, if you decided to start with porridge and purees, or make a mixed method combining both options, you should know that, about 12 months, approximately, is time to start replacing crushed foods.

A good way to do this is to offer the baby the least crushed purees and thicker for a few days Thus, you will begin to notice a thicker texture in food and your palate will become accustomed to this density that until now did not know. You can do this process progressively, passing from the fine purees that until now you prepared until you offer the crushed vegetables only just enough and with very little water, so that, in the end, you will end up noticing small pieces of food that you should chew and swallow.

It is important to always monitor the process, observing how they tolerate food

Simultaneously, you can also offer other solid foods, such as bread, banana, pear, rice or noodles, letting them take them to their mouths alone, knowing the textures and flavors of each product. It is important that always supervise the process, watching how they tolerate food to avoid choking. And so, little by little, go progressively incorporating new foods that you like until you leave the porridge behind.

You must keep in mind, and this is something that stops many parents from abandoning the crushed ones, which chewing is a tiring process, and that it is normal for him to eat less than when you offer them a mash, since there they simply must open their mouths and swallow. But this effort to eat like the elders should do sooner or later, so do not despair if you see that they eat only a few pieces.

New foods to incorporate

Between 6 and 12 months, babies will start trying most foods in our diet. Some products, however, the We will start offering past the year of age, for being considered allergens. Remember that the new foods that you incorporate into the baby's diet you must offer them one by one, waiting at least 3 days before introducing a new one, to observe possible reactions, intolerances or allergies.

The new foods that we incorporate into the baby's diet must be offered one at a time.

So, at this stage, your baby can start eating blue fish and legumes. If you also meet the year on these dates, you can enjoy the seasonality of some berries, like strawberries, and peaches, whose intake is also recommended to start from 12 months.

From the year it is also recommended to offer children green leafy vegetables, such as chard or spinach, once a week. With the same frequency you can offer a egg cooked, giving it to taste the yolk first and after a few days, the clear one, which is the part that causes more allergies. The Cow milk and its derivatives, yogurt or soft cheese, can also be consumed after 12 months.

At this stage you can start adding salt to your meals, always in small quantities, and you should continue to control the intake of sugars. To prepare food, ideally always opt for the olive oil.

Eating healthy, eating as a family

One of the great advantages of children eating like the elderly is that you can start cook the same menu for the entire family. This, in addition to being more comfortable and practical, is very beneficial for children, who from very young eat the same as their parents, internalize it as an adequate diet and establish a very healthy and natural relationship with food and with the act of eating itself.

Therefore it is ideal that you you all feel together at the table, provided that the labor obligations allow it, and enjoy family meal times. Forget about TV and mobile, and take advantage to talk, laugh and explain how the day went at work or how about school. In addition to being unique and special momentsAccording to experts, eating as a family avoids some eating disorders.

For the kids to be one more at the table they must feel as such. That is why it is important that let's pay attention, let's interact with them and participate, in his own way, enjoying that moment.

They must also feel comfortable and at our height, so it is recommended that you choose a high chair that is comfortable and allows you to adjust it to the height you want. You will find this and many more features at Polly Progres5, in Chicco. It is a easy to adapt evolutionary highchair to the growth of the baby and that you can use from birth, as a hammock, until 36 months, first as a conventional highchair and then as a booster seat. You can see more details in this video.

If you consider these tips, the transition from crushed food to solids It will be much simpler and respectful for your baby. In short, it is about involving him at the table and providing adequate food for him to learn to eat like the elderly.