Small steps towards weaning

Gradualism and patience. It is all you need to help and stimulate a child to peacefully face the passage between the sweet taste of milk to the "bitter" taste of baby food. The food world of the children that face weaning is a reality of tastes to discover, a universe of foods that the child will experiment a little at a time, with no hurry, with the knowledge that that baby food that seems unacceptable to us is not for him for he does not have any terms of comparison. The elements that impress for the good result of this "task" are many. But, among these, the respect of personal timing of every child like the gradual introduction of new foods are with no doubt the first rules to follow. This is true also for all foods and in any case it is up to the paediatricians to decide what diet to give the child and when to vary it.

The World-Wide Health Organization recommends only breastfeeding until the sixth month of life, to allow the child to have the complete and lasting benefits of maternal milk. For a fact some paediatricians tend to anticipate the beginning of weaning, because already at the fifth/sixth month a child's organism begins to need a major quantity of calories to assimilate different foods that are full of other nutritional values. The beginning almost always consists in substituting one of the meals (generally the one closest to noon) with their first baby food, prepared with vegetable broth made of carrots and potatoes. As the months pass, the meal can be enriched with courgettes, green beans, spinach and pumpkin, while you will have to wait a while for tomatoes to avoid risks in children that have a tendency to allergies.

If everything goes well, after about a month his second meal is introduced, continuing though to integrate some meals with breast milk or formula. It is important, from the beginning of weaning, to give the child fruit after the meal or for snack, it is full of vitamins (apples, pears or bananas), baby food or freshly smashed. Even grated cheese is suggested that, especially if aged it is an excellent source of calcium and proteins, they are essential for a child's growth. To dress baby food, you can use a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, it is particularly full of necessary fatty acids. In the first year of age it is best to not add salt or sugar to the child's food, so that he gets used to the natural taste of food. For what "desserts" are concerned, at the beginning of weaning the only "sweet" that is given is a granular biscuit to put in milk. Between the seventh and eighth month, besides introducing biscuits with gluten, until then not recommended for the high risks of allergies, you can give your child a plain or fruit yogurt, especially in the apple, pear and banana varieties. But from the tenth month you can give him pudding made of milk and fruit, made for children. With fruit flavour there is also, around their first birthday, the discovery of ice-cream. At the bottom of the list, as late as possible after 12 months, there are sweets with cream, cocoa and beloved chocolate.

In any case, and for all foods, it is necessary to keep the right consideration of the child's needs, that often needs time to accept and appreciate a new taste. Introducing new foods a little at a time, by giving him small tastes, seems to also be a good way of preventing the risk of allergies: by proposing a type of food at a time and in small quantities it will be easier to understand what food it is that provokes a possible allergic reaction in the child and then suspend it. Trying to hurry the regular process of the child's adaptation to new foods could also end up being counterproductive even under a psychological profile. It is with weaning that a child must face his first separation with his mother, abandoning a habit and shared pleasure. So, it is important that the passage occurs in a peaceful way and that in any case personal taste and timing of every child must be respected: seconding his limits and desires will help him discover the pleasure of seating and guaranteeing above all the satisfaction of finding in food, one day, the intact and reassuring taste of his childhood.

The food battle is over from the beginning

No wars at meals. To be sure that you will win the "conflict" the only road is...avoiding it. Especially when on the other side there is a child that wants to interpret his role of "little rebel" to conquer his independence: the danger of losing the battle – and in consequence credibility and authority – is very high. Even facing the most stubborn refusal the situation requires, from parents, the ability of finding a balance between the need to confirm some common living rules and the need of not turning the relationship with the child into a constant conflict. Even more if the conflict regarding food in this phase of development hides the risk of compromising the relationship that the child will have with food in the future. Eating well is learnt as children.

And, to learn, it is necessary that adults, know how to teach. This does not mean to impose, but simply have them "cohabit" with the indispensable firmness a right dose of understanding and respect for you child's real needs.

The mechanism of children's nutrition self regulation works better than we might think. Most of the time for example the child does not "eat very little", though, simply, he doesn't eat what mummy and daddy expect. Often portions that are too abundant are given to children compared to their possibilities and needs. In other cases the problem is hidden in the bad food habits: not rarely does the child, that sitting at the table seems to not be hungry, has already eaten snacks of every kind. It is important on the contrary that the child gets to lunch or dinner time with a discrete appetite. This does not mean to "overestimate" his "hunger": even for children that eat more it is best in any case to avoid increasing single portions but, on the contrary reduce them, to widen the variety of foods to give and to be able to reach an overall increase and at the same time a more balanced nutrition.

Then there are little strategies to use. Children, for example, get bored chewing: so instead of a cutlet give him minced meat. Then let's try to involve the child in preparing the meal, allowing him to participate. Even taking him grocery shopping can be useful: discovering shapes and colours of a kind of food can be an invitation to choose. And it will help the child to get tempted in tasting different foods. Have your meals together, with no television, can be a way to assign to meals the value of an awaited ritual that, besides being necessary from a nutrition point of view, it represents a chance to share your daily experiences with the family. Nevertheless let's not forget that for a child it is difficult to understand the motivation of a rule if it is not associated with an example that legitimizes it. The education of a child goes through and above all through imitation. And to be able to imitate it is necessary that adults give the first correct ex ample, even when this means sacrifice: try not to be tempted by inviting and damaging "snacks", always finish what is in your plate and be available to taste new dishes this will surely be an invitation for the child to "do as grownups do".

What is sure is that, even when strategies do not reach the desired result, embittering the conflict will always be a failure. For children meal time often turns into a conflict field only to conquer attention and where he can affirm his independence. What better chance than lunch or dinner time to say no? A child learns quickly that mummy and daddy worry about his nutrition and he quickly understands that a "no" in front of the nth plate will be stronger than many other "no's". Scoldings, forcing, blackmails ("Eat this for mummy's love"), promising presents, not only do they take to occasional results, but, the worst thing, they generate anxiety in the child highlighting the problem and increasing the level of interest of the "challenge". The behaviour that children have at meal time is often simply an index of their "personality". A personality that is made up through small attempts of emancipation. Knowing how to accept them and learning to manage them i s up to us.