I gave a foolish presentation about nutrition and solid foods to a local mother’s group when I was six months pregnant with my first child. It can take up to 20 times for a child to accept a new food, but they will ultimately eat it, I promised the newish mums as I enthusiastically ran through my PowerPoint presentation.
Even though I hadn’t given birth yet, the professionals all agreed that I should. I had no concept what it was like to laboriously prepare a dinner for my child only for them to refuse it. What matters is that you keep providing, even if your child dumps their time-consuming prepared dinner on the floor.
A little over a year later,then my infant began solid foods. The books were read again, and I packed the freezer with homemade food. I felt vindicated because my child was (and still is) open to trying most foods. In those early months, I questioned almost everything, like most new mothers do, but my area of expertise was food and nutrition. anything I at last felt assured about.
In so many ways, parenting makes us more modest. Four years later, baby number two entered the world, and this time, when it came time to start solids, I was prepared. She was exposed to even more flavors and sensations since I didn’t have time to create as much baby-specific food; instead, I just chopped or mashed what the rest of the family was eating.One refusal turned to three. Then five.
Pretty soon, we were down to a short list of foods. Absolutely no vegetables; they couldn’t even touch the plate. Apples were the only acceptable fruit, and whole wheat anything was off-limits. Even tomato sauce was a no-go.
I’m hyper-aware of the long-term impact of an early introduction of diet culture and food restriction on children, so I work hard not to label foods good or bad. Instead, we focus on making choices and highlight foods that make us strong, help our brain and heart, or allow us to move our bodies more.
But when my daughter started flat-out refusing all the foods that helped balance out her diet choices, I ignored most of my dietitian training. Forget calmly offering rejected foods; I did everything I taught other parents not to do. I coaxed (OK, begged) her to take just two more bites. I rewarded her eating with dessert. I found myself getting emotionally invested in whether or not my daughter would just try a taste of the dinner I made her.
