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“Help, my son ate very well until a few months ago, and now refuse food that he used to adore ”. Or “My child agrees to eat only pasta or ham”. Just take a tour of the communities dedicated to parents to notice that the refusal of food or the food selectivity are fairly common themes. Conditions that cause many worries to mothers and fathers.
Typically, the first difficulties appear after it weaning, reaching the maximum expression of the fight against the spoon in the period between 2 and 3 years. But don’t worry. “Eating you learn how you learn the multiplication tables, that is repeating the same thing several times, in a short time, with a positive attitude. So, the more a food is offered the more it comes appreciated“. Dr. Margherita Caroli, long-time pediatrician and nutrition expert for the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS) which, at the Congress of the Scientific Society entitled ‘Napule è’ (2021 edition), presented a policy document on complementary nutrition.
The importance of nutrition in the first 1000 days of life
It is now proven that feeding in the former 1000 days of life it is able to influence not only the health of the child, but also of the adult who will be. In fact, it was in these years that the streets of metabolism, which will then be responsible for the good or bad functioning of the organism, both because at this age they begin to settle habits and tastes foods that then stabilize in later ages, and which will be increasingly difficult to change as the child grows. A real preventive action able to protect the child from cardiovascular disease e obesity and the development of some tumors.
How to start weaning
In terms of complementary nutrition, in the early stages of introduction of the solid foods for infants, it is necessary to remember that “complementary feeding must be differentiated if the child is breast-fed or formula-fed. For example, in the case of children breastfed – explains the expert – you have to start with the proteins (are enough 10 grams per day of meat or fish); while, for babies nursed with formula this supplementation is not necessary (given that the formula milk has a protein and iron load higher than the maternal one) and it is necessary, instead, to give foods with different flavors, changing a lot, starting from fruits and vegetables. This is because formula-fed babies are used to a single flavor, while breastfed babies feel different flavors based on what mom ate. In a way, weaning the breastfed baby is easier ”.
Baby food
Another issue addressed by the steering document is that of baby food marketing. “Following a European law – explains the pediatrician and WHO consultant – companies can indicate i 4 months as the minimum age from which their food is adequate. In fact, the WHO says it must leave at 6 months and there are plenty of documents showing how the administration of solid foods before that age is useless if not harmful. Thus, the European Commission asked to EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) to issue an opinion on the age at which solid foods can be started, with the aim of varying this indication on baby food packaging, forcing companies to write ‘from the sixth month completed ‘. EFSA has expressed its opinion by supporting the administration of solid food before six months does not create problems, but it does not lead neither advantages, for which there is no reason to give foods other than milk before six months ”.
When he refuses to taste a food
“Parents – advises the expert – should not go into crisis if the child refuses to taste a food or if, once tasted, eat little of it. Just as you do not learn a multiplication table on the first try, in the same way you cannot appreciate a food administered only once. It must therefore be administered at least 10 times, at close range, without impositions and remembering that no child will die if he goes to bed almost fasting. Sooner or later he will eat, all healthy children eventually they eat when they understand that there are no alternatives ”.
Feed him the first hunger
“We are genetically programmed to appreciate i more fatty and sweet foods”, Explains Dr. Caroli. “We must therefore have patience and stimulate the child to appreciate even the most bitter or acidic flavors or those of vegetables“. Likewise, he adds, “it is good to know that hypoglycemia in the initial stages of hunger is the one that stimulates the taste buds and makes them more prone to new flavors. Starting from this information, we must learn to propose ‘at first hunger’ and not give up ”.
In kindergarten he eats, at home he doesn’t
What to do, however, when the same foods eaten willingly at the kindergarten canteen or school, are they rejected at home? “In this case – notes the pediatrician – it means that the parents are a bit ‘weak’ and the children have understood that they can leverage to obtain what they want. Parents – he keeps in mind – must be a wall of protection and support for children, a wall that must not crumble at their first ‘no’”, Concludes the expert.
