Baby feeding is a highly debated topic these days.\u00a0Should you use baby led weaning or feed purees? \u00a0Is it better to offer fruits or vegetables first? \u00a0And when should babies get their fist taste of solids? \u00a0But there\u2019s another question that isn\u2019t asked as often: \u00a0How many times should you offer your baby a food before deciding they don\u2019t like it? \u00a0Maybe this doesn\u2019t seem like a big deal to you, but research would beg to differ.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Studies dating back to the 1980s have been exploring this topic and have consistently found that repeated exposure does, in fact, help increase food acceptance (1). \u00a0One study found that after being offered a vegetable 10 times, babies increased the amount they consumed. \u00a0The babies also showed an increase in positive nonverbal responses during the feedings, according to their parents. \u00a0Nonverbal responses could include things like facial expression and body posture (i.e.leaning in toward the food as opposed to away). The results were consistent for formula-fed and breast-fed infants (2).<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, studies have also shown that most caregivers only offer new foods five times or less before deciding an infant doesn\u2019t like it (3, 4). \u00a0 This statistic isn\u2019t so terrible on it\u2019s own, but when you couple it with the fact that 75% of Americans (including children) don\u2019t eat enough fruits and vegetables, it becomes problematic. \u00a0We are not giving babies the chance to accept these nutrient-dense foods. \u00a0And we know that increased vegetable intake is associated with all sorts of good things like chronic disease prevention and weight management, to name a few (6).<\/p>\n
What can you do with this information? \u00a0If you are a parent of an infant, the follow up is fairly simple. \u00a0Offer new foods at least 10 times before determining your child\u2019s preference. \u00a0And if you decide your child dislikes a food, it should still be offered.\u00a0 Never force your child to eat anything, but non-preferred foods can be offered along with favored foods to give your child the opportunity to change his tune. \u00a0At the risk of stating the obvious, if you do not routinely offer a particular food, your child will never have the chance to learn to like it.<\/p>\n
And if you have an older child, the principle holds true. \u00a0Do not remove an item completely from your menu just because your child refuses to eat it. \u00a0Keep it on the menu- just offer it along with other foods you know your child likes. \u00a0Request that they taste it, but do not coax or plead with them. \u00a0And perhaps most importantly, model healthy eating habits yourself. \u00a0Try foods that are new to you as well and talk to your children about these experiences. \u00a0(\u201cI tried roasted cauliflower\u00a0for the first time at that restaurant and I really liked how crispy it was!\u201d). \u00a0After all, your children are watching!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Baby feeding is a highly debated topic these days.\u00a0Should you use baby led weaning or feed purees? \u00a0Is it better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/BabyFeeding_FunnyFace_full.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventtherapy.com\/advent-therapy-d\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}