11 Strategies for Introducing Nutrient-Dense Foods to Babies, Children, and Teens

superadminJuly 26, 2022

22 11 minutes read

No matter the age of their little one, it appears mother and father have fear engrained in them.

They fear about whether or not their youngsters are sleeping sufficient or an excessive amount of.

They fear about whether or not they’ve been spending sufficient time with their youngsters or whether or not they’ve been doing sufficient to promote impartial play.

They fear about whether or not that sneeze was simply one thing within the air or whether or not they want to name the physician.

In addition to these worries, one of the frequent and pervasive ones is whether or not their little one is consuming sufficient nutrient-dense meals.

From the second mother and father introduce strong meals to youngsters, loads of thought and analysis goes into what meals to serve and how to serve them so their little one finds them appetizing and, sure, even enjoyable. If the all-too-common choosy consuming stage arises, they probably fear about how their little one will thrive consuming solely a handful of meals.

While each little one is exclusive (which is what makes them so particular!), there are some nice research-based and expert-developed methods for introducing nutrient-dense meals to youngsters of all ages and making them stick as a part of their food regimen.

This article suggests eleven methods for introducing nutrient-dense meals and encouraging wholesome consuming habits in infants, youngsters, and teenagers.

Setting the Stage for Healthy Eating Habits During the Complementary Feeding Stage (6-12 months)

Complementary feeding is the stage the place infants start to eat strong meals after thriving on breastmilk, components, or a mixture of each. It units the stage for openness to making an attempt new meals and making balanced decisions later in life.

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics advocate starting this stage round six months of age. Before six months, infants ought to solely eat breastmilk or specialised child components on demand.

Note that these pointers have been up to date; till a couple of years in the past, it was really helpful that infants start consuming strong meals as early as 4 months, however analysis reveals that premature introduction of solid foods in infants is related to allergic reactions, gastrointestinal issues, choking, and a spread of different issues.

So, as soon as infants are developmentally prepared to attempt new meals, which meals must you select? Here are three methods for introducing nutrient-dense meals to infants.

Continue to supply breastmilk or components first.

This could appear contradictory, however till infants flip about one yr previous, most of their vitamin will proceed to come from breastmilk or components. Parents can really feel peace of thoughts realizing their youngsters are getting loads of vitamin whereas exploring a spread of meals for the primary time.

Consider implementing Baby-Led Weaning.

Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) is a method that introduces a variety of meals to infants of their pure type (sure, together with solids!) with out the intervention of caretakers. It is another to spoon-feeding, the place mother and father put together the meals for youngsters in a protected presentation, encouraging self-feeding, exploration, and autonomy. Most meals may be launched safely from the very begin, and analysis reveals it might assist to stop choosy consuming, honor inborn talents, permit for self-paced feeding, promote talent improvement, keep away from nutrient gaps, and even cut back the chance of weight problems. If BLW is new to you or the caretaker you might be working with, no want to fear! There is a wealth of BLW assets on-line that may assist to reply your questions.

Skip the rice and wheat cereal, and select greens, fruits, and legumes as a substitute.

Bland grain-based cereals are frequent first meals for infants. While these may be added to the combo when infants begin consuming quite a lot of meals, these cereals are typically nutrient-poor. They are composed largely of carbohydrates and, except they’re fortified, they comprise little of the vitamins infants want to begin complementing their nutrition at this age, together with iron, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc.

When infants begin consuming strong meals, they might not ingest greater than a handful of tablespoons of meals a day, so each bit counts. Instead, select meals dense in micronutrients, like fruits, greens, avocados, and legumes.

If you select to spoon-feed, these greens may be steamed and pureed. Avoid boiling them since boiling reduces the nutrient density of the meals, both by way of seeping into the water, as may be the case with iron, or by way of destroying heat-sensitive vitamins like vitamin C. Most fruits may be mashed with a fork or pureed with out cooking them.

For households utilizing the BLW methodology, you possibly can steam greens till gentle and reduce them in a method in order that infants can simply grasp them. Regardless of the strategy you select, bear in mind all the time to watch your little one when they’re consuming.

Do not add salt or sugar to meals.

As adults, savory meals with out salt or candy meals with out sugar style bland to us. To infants being launched to meals, all tastes are thrilling and new to them. While people are prone to getting accustomed to the style of added sugar and salt, infants, whose brains are growing extraordinarily quick, are extra prone to the affect of those tastes, which makes them extra probably to seek out high-sodium foods and these excessive in added sugar sooner or later. Additionally, an excessive amount of salt and sugar may very well be harmful for young children whose kidneys are nonetheless growing.

In reality, the AAP recommends that youngsters don’t eat sweets or meals with added sugar earlier than the age of two, and salt be prevented earlier than the age of 1 or longer if doable. This will assist to pave the best way for wholesome consuming habits later in life.

Strategies for Introducing Nutrient-Dense Foods to Children

During the toddler years, youngsters study and develop extremely quick. Nutrient-dense meals are wanted to sustain with that progress and improvement. In basic, it’s endorsed that youngsters proceed to drink breastmilk or components till not less than two years of age, however after a yr, most of their vitamin ought to come from meals.

They will shortly let you already know of their likes and dislikes, have tantrums when you reduce the banana within the “wrong” method, and waver between consuming all the pieces in sight to thriving on only some bites of meals a day.

Children past the toddler years are far more impartial and have a comparatively strong sense of self, which frequently comes with a really particular listing of meals they like and don’t like, with little wiggle room for making an attempt new issues. Picky consuming is frequent throughout this stage, which may trigger stress and anxiousness in mother and father and caretakers.

Here are some methods that may assist to introduce nutrient-dense meals to youngsters.

Prioritize meals publicity.

One mistake many mother and father make is just not providing a sure meals to their youngsters after they claimed not liking it as soon as. When serving their meals, you may give them sufficient of a meals you already know they may eat and will fulfill their starvation, but in addition supply a small piece of a brand new meals or meals they’ve claimed they don’t like.

Food exposure additionally consists of choosing, touching, and tasting the meals, even when they refuse to see it on their plate. They may help you break off the broccoli heads and put them within the pot, pour the sauce right into a bowl, or feed it to their stuffed animal.

With sufficient publicity, the worry and yuck issue diminishes, and ultimately, they might even attempt it unprompted!

Allow youngsters to pick meals on the retailer.

Involving your youngsters within the means of meals choice is an efficient technique for serving to them get enthusiastic about new meals. Take them to the grocery retailer or farmer’s market and allow them to decide the fruit and greens for the subsequent meal, the kind of pasta they need to eat, and a brand new sort of legume. Ask them what they want to eat it with and whether or not they need to enable you within the kitchen.

When youngsters really feel involved in the food selection process, they’re extra probably to attempt the ultimate product. They really feel satisfaction in having the household eat one thing they selected and had a hand in getting ready.

Encourage having enjoyable with meals.

Parents might need to throw their “don’t play with your food” motto out the window for this one. While we aren’t speaking about meals fights right here, permitting youngsters to contact, poke, stack, combine, and play with their meals can encourage children to try a variety of foods.

Cutting meals into shapes or utilizing utensils with beloved characters also can make mealtime extra enjoyable.

Dips is usually a welcome boost to meals to assist youngsters attempt new nutrient-dense meals. Ranch dressing for vegetable sticks, peanut butter for fruit, guacamole for chips, and cheese sauce for broccoli are all nutrient-rich dips that encourage consuming nutrient-rich meals.

Have common meal and snack occasions however don’t strain them to eat.

Most mother and father really feel an impulse to strain younger youngsters to eat, even when they aren’t in in the least desirous about consuming on the time.

One tried and true technique promoted by pediatric dietitians and nutritionists is to hold an everyday meal and snack schedule when meals is obtainable. Aim for most meals or snacks to embrace a fruit or vegetable, a wholesome fats, a protein-rich meals, and an entire grain. When your little one sits down to eat, they select what to eat from the plate and how a lot. When they are saying they’re completed, ask if their tummy feels full, and in the event that they affirm, permit them to get on with their actions. Sometimes, they might eat just some bites of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a carrot, or nothing in any respect.

You could have peace of thoughts realizing that the subsequent alternative for your little one to eat is just some hours away, the place they might choose one other sort of meals or shock you by gobbling up all the pieces on the plate.

Research reveals that forcing or pressuring children to eat when they aren’t hungry may cause them to overeat whereas additionally relating mealtimes to stress and huge feelings. They may additionally study that they affect their caretaker’s feelings by selecting whether or not or not to eat meals. Allowing youngsters to select how a lot to eat encourages self-regulation and tuning into starvation and fullness cues. They are the one ones who know the way their physique feels.

Strategies for Encouraging Teens to Eat Nutrient-Dense Foods

Many of the identical methods used within the toddler and childhood years can proceed to be efficient within the teen years. Exposure to new meals, involving them within the meals choice and preparation course of, and not pressuring them to eat are all methods you possibly can proceed to implement as your little one grows older.

At the identical time, it’s clear that your teen feels considerably extra autonomy with meals decisions, and in the event that they don’t just like the meal, they could be at liberty to scour the pantry or take a stroll to the closest sandwich store to get their fill. During this stage, methods to promote wholesome consuming may be extra complicated, particularly since teenagers are prone to poor physique picture, peer strain, and food regimen tradition, which may domesticate disordered eating behaviors and eating disorders.

The methods at this stage deal with serving to your teen construct a optimistic relationship with meals and understanding what their physique wants to thrive.

Do not speak about their physique or weight.

No matter the teenager’s weight or physique sort, keep away from speaking about the best way their physique seems or their weight. Parents have a powerful affect on their youngsters’s shallowness, and teenagers, who’re already prone to poor body image across the begin of puberty, might tie their physique picture to their self-worth.

Do not speak about your teen’s physique past the way it features. Even if the remark is supposed to be a praise (“Wow! Those new denims make your legs look so slim!), it reinforces concepts that how their physique seems is tied to their magnificence or worthiness. Additionally, mother and father usually have a misperception of their child’s bodyweight. Since meals and food regimen are perceived as being immediately tied to body weight and form, they might begin to eradicate nutritious meals from their food regimen and even worry sure meals.

This technique additionally signifies that you should be ready to discuss to relations and buddies about not commenting on your teen’s body as properly.

Be an instance.

While it could appear that teenagers need nothing to do with their mother and father, they’re watching and studying from what you do. Do the perfect you possibly can to enhance your private relationship with meals and your physique. This may embrace:

Avoid speaking poorly about your personal physique or body weight
Avoid utilizing phrases that mirror guilt after consuming sure meals
Eat if you find yourself hungry
Eat quite a lot of meals throughout every meal
Be open to making an attempt new meals, and invite your little one to do the identical
Talk about meals neutrally, specializing in their style and the vitamins they supply
Enjoy cultural meals and meals you bond over as a household

Your teenagers are watching and learning from you, even when you don’t assume they’re.

Keep quite a lot of nutrient-dense snacks readily accessible.

Parents of teenagers know that three sq. meals a day aren’t sufficient to hold their teenagers happy. Snacking two to thrice a day is regular in lots of teenagers, and it doesn’t essentially hold them from consuming meals.

Stock up on fruit, prepped greens, nuts, and minimally processed and nutrient-dense snacks. Keep these on the counter, on the entrance of the fridge, or at eye-level within the pantry. If your teen asks for chips, candies, and different enjoyable, nutrient-poor snacks, attempt to keep away from making a giant deal out of it. Severely limiting these meals may lead to bingeing or secretive consuming behaviors.

When doable, share snack time collectively, discovering a steadiness between having fun with nutrient-rich snacks and enjoyable snacks and not snacking too shut to meals.

Main Takeaways

From the second youngsters are born to after they go off and begin an impartial life, many mother and father spend an excessive amount of time worrying and fascinated about their youngsters’s vitamin and consuming habits.

Setting the stage for good vitamin begins even earlier than they style their first strong meals. Timing meals introduction and feeling assured within the vitamin breastmilk or components supplies to younger infants is the very first thing mother and father can do to help wholesome consuming habits in a while. Next, exposing infants to nutrient-rich meals from the very starting, permitting them to discover totally different textures and tastes of meals of their pure state, opens the world of meals up to youngsters.

Encouraging meals exploration with out strain or guilt about what or how a lot the kid eats helps youngsters construct wholesome relationships with meals. As youngsters turn out to be adolescents, caretakers may help to create a protected area to eat meals which can be satisfying whereas encouraging a optimistic physique picture.

At the tip of the day, the caretaker’s job is to make nutrient-rich meals available and create an setting that encourages self-regulation, optimistic self-image, and a optimistic relationship with meals. The little one’s job is to tune into their starvation and fullness cues, categorical wants, and resolve how a lot meals is sufficient.