The introduction of complementary foods is one of the most important stages in the life of both the baby and the mother. Naturally, every parent tries to choose the best, wholesome and healthy foods for their child, but the child does not always agree to eat them, tries to spit out food or push out a spoon. The situation is quite common, but it is easy to deal with if you show some ingenuity.
Complementary foods for breastfed children are carried out by about six months, for artificial people a little earlier: 4, 5 - 5 months. All babies have a highly developed gag reflex, this is inherent in nature so that the baby cannot choke on saliva, vomit, and lumps from heterogeneous food. Usually the push reflex lasts up to 5-6 months, but everything is individual here.
If the baby flatly refuses to eat, grimaces and cries, it makes sense to wait a couple of weeks, but if this did not bring the desired result, then you need to start acting. It is important to develop the child's interest in food and eating, for this you can take the child with you at the table, give a spoon, an empty plate, let him study them in the game, then adaptation to new products will be much easier and faster.
The consistency of the food is important, because the child is used to breast milk, so it is difficult for him to swallow even a liquid homogeneous puree. Some mothers go for the trick and add a slightly adapted formula or breast milk to complementary foods, reducing their amount over and over again. Since milk or mixture is approximately equal to body temperature, then, accordingly, complementary foods should not be hot or cold.
In no case should you start feeding a child if he is sick, vaccination is to be done or teeth are teething, it is better to postpone this moment for several days.
It is better to give complementary foods in the morning and on an empty stomach, a well-fed child is unlikely to eat even very tasty food.
You should not experiment with complementary foods on a daily basis, each new product can be introduced no more than once a week.
In no case should you force-feed a child or try to shove food into him with cunning, this will lead to a misunderstanding of the ritual of eating.
If all the known ways to feed the child have not yielded results, some mothers advise putting solid vegetables and fruits in front of the child, that is, those that he cannot bite off on his own and give them a little to play, while playing the child may want to lick or suck some then a bite and, quite possibly, he will like the new taste.
When the child has reached six months of age, you need to feed only with a spoon. The main mistake most parents make is that they dilute complementary foods a lot and give them from a bottle.
Recently, in children's stores and pharmacies, niblers have appeared on sale, this is a device similar to a nipple with holes. A product is put inside the nibbler and given to the child, and he, in turn, sucks out new food from there.
There are several criteria that mothers should be guided by:
- the child sits on his own;
- the pushing (gag) reflex disappeared;
- the baby's weight has doubled since birth.
