Читать книгу Eat Up: Food for Children of All Ages - Mark Hix - Страница 19

As your baby gets older it should be enjoying a wide variety of tastes and textures, and its mealtimes should gradually fall in line with your own. Once your baby can eat pretty much everything that you can (at about 12 months), it’s time to start cooking for everyone at the same time and just mashing or puréeing food for your baby where appropriate.

Feeding toddlers can become more difficult as they start asserting their independence. They quickly realise that one of the easiest ways to do this is to refuse the food that their anxious parents are trying to persuade them to eat. Most parents worry at some stage that their child is not eating enough, and it’s tempting to compromise by giving in to demands for snacks or sweet foods instead of proper meals. At this critical time, it is important to stick to your principles and continue to offer healthy food at regular intervals.

No child will intentionally starve itself but a child that is constantly offered alternative dishes will soon exploit this situation for all it’s worth. And, of course, some of them just lose interest in food. This is where presentation becomes important. Food on sticks like koftas or satay is fun to eat, and dipping foods such as crudités with guacamole are messy but very nutritious. Eating together as a family and allowing your toddler to dip in and take bits and pieces of your meal is the best way of getting them to enjoy the whole sociable experience of eating without putting them under too much pressure.