When do babies need food

When Can My Baby Start Eating Solid Foods? (for Parents)

A friend just started giving her 3-month-old applesauce and rice cereal. My son is just 2 weeks younger than hers, and I am wondering if I should be introducing solids soon too. When should I start?
– Taylor

Doctors recommend waiting until a baby is about 6 months old to start solid foods. Starting before 4 months is not recommended.

At about 6 months, babies need the added nutrition — such as iron and zinc — that solid foods provide. It’s also the right time to introduce your infant to new tastes and textures.

Some babies may be ready for solids sooner than 6 months, but don't start until your baby is at least 4 months old.

How do you know it’s the right time to start solid foods? Here are some signs that babies are ready:

They have good head and neck control and sit up in a high chair.
They're interested in foods. For example, they may watch others eat, reach for food, and open their mouths when food approaches.
They don’t push food out of their mouths, which is a natural tongue reflex that disappears when they’re between 4–6 months old.
They weigh twice their birth weight, or close to it.

Talk to your doctor about the right time to start solid foods.

How Should I Start Solids?

When the time is right, you can start with a single-grain, iron-fortified baby cereal. Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cereal mixed with breast milk, formula, or water. Feed your baby with a small baby spoon. Don’t add cereal or other food to a baby's bottle because it can lead to too much weight gain. Let your baby practice eating from a spoon and learn to stop when full.

When your baby gets the hang of eating the first food, introduce others, such as puréed meat, fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, or yogurt. Try one food at a time and wait a few days before trying something else new to make sure your baby doesn't have an allergic reaction.

Foods that are more likely to cause allergies can be among the foods you introduce to your baby. These include peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies. Talk to your doctor if you are concerned about food allergies, especially if any close family members have allergies, food allergies, or allergy-related conditions, like eczema or asthma.

Infants with severe eczema or egg allergies are more likely to have allergies to peanuts. Talk to your doctor about how and when to introduce these foods to your child.

When starting your baby on solids, avoid:

foods with added sugars and no-calorie sweeteners
high-sodium foods
honey, until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
regular cow's milk or soy drinks before 12 months instead of breast milk or formula. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts

Also, do not give fruit juices to infants younger than 12 months old.

Over the next few months, introduce a variety of foods from all the food groups. If your baby doesn't seem to like something, don’t give up. It can take 8 to 10 tries or more before babies learn to like new foods.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: February 2021

Feeding Your 4- to 7-Month-Old (for Parents)

Most babies this age are ready to try solid foods. Experts recommend starting solid foods when a baby is about 6 months old, depending on the baby's readiness and nutritional needs.

Be sure to check with your doctor before giving any solid foods.

Is My Baby Ready to Eat Solid Foods?

How can you tell if your baby is ready for solids? Here are a few hints:

Does your baby swallow food or push it out of their mouth? Babies have a natural tongue-thrust reflex that pushes food back out. Wait until this reflex disappears (typically when babies are 4–6 months old).
Can your baby support their own head? To eat solid food, an infant needs good head and neck control and should be able to sit up.
Is your baby interested in food? Babies who stare, reach and grab, and open their mouths for food are ready to try solid foods.

If your doctor gives the go-ahead but your baby seems frustrated or uninterested in solid foods, try waiting a few days before trying again. Breast milk and formula will still meet nutritional needs as your baby learns to eat solid foods. But after 6 months, babies need the added nutrition — like iron and zinc — that solid foods provide.

Do not add cereal or other food to your baby's bottle because it can lead to too much weight gain.

Watch for signs that your child is hungry or full. Respond to these cues and let your child stop when full. A child who is full may suck with less enthusiasm, stop, or turn away from the breast or the bottle. With solid foods, they may turn away, refuse to open their mouth, or spit the food out.

How Should I Start Feeding My Baby Solid Foods?

When your baby is ready and the doctor says it’s OK to try solid foods, pick a time of day when your baby is not tired or cranky. You want your baby to be a little hungry, but not so hungry that they’re upset. So you might want to give your baby a little breast milk or formula first.

Have your baby sit supported in your lap or in a high chair with a safety strap.

Most babies' first food is iron-fortified infant single-grain cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. Place the spoon near your baby's lips, and let the baby smell and taste it. Don't be surprised if this first spoonful is rejected. Wait a minute and try again. Most food offered to your baby at this age will end up on the baby's chin, bib, or high-chair tray. Again, this is just an introduction.

When your little one gets the hang of eating cereal off a spoon, it may be time to try single-ingredient puréed meat, vegetables, or fruit. The order in which you give them doesn't matter, but go slow. Offer foods that are high in iron and zinc — such as meat, poultry, eggs, and beans — especially if your baby is breastfeeding. Try one food at a time and wait several days before trying something else new. This will let you identify any foods that your baby may be allergic to.

Which Foods Should I Avoid?

Foods that are more likely to cause allergies can be among the foods you introduce to your baby. These include peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, seafood, nuts, wheat, and soy. Waiting to start these foods does not prevent food allergies. Talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about food allergies, especially if any close family members have allergies, food allergies, or allergy-related conditions, like eczema or asthma.

Infants with severe eczema or egg allergies are more likely to have allergies to peanuts. Talk to your doctor about how and when to introduce these foods to your child.

Possible signs of food allergy or allergic reactions include:

rash
bloating or an increase in gassiness
diarrhea
vomiting

Get medical care right away if your baby has a more severe allergic reaction, like hives, drooling, wheezing, or trouble breathing.

If your child has any type of reaction to a food, don't offer that food again until you talk with your doctor.

Babies shouldn't have:

foods with added sugars and no-calorie sweeteners
high-sodium foods
honey, until after the first birthday. It can cause botulism in babies.
unpasteurized juice, milk, yogurt, or cheese
regular cow's milk or soy beverages before 12 months instead of breast milk or formula. It’s OK to offer pasteurized yogurt and cheese.
foods that may cause choking, such as hot dogs, raw carrots, grapes, popcorn, and nuts

Tips for Feeding Your Baby Solid Foods

With the hectic pace of family life, most parents try commercially prepared baby foods at first. They come in small, convenient containers, and manufacturers must meet strict safety and nutrition guidelines.

If you prepare your own baby foods at home, here are some things to keep in mind:

Follow the rules for food safety, including washing your hands well and often.
To preserve the nutrients in your baby's food, cook it in ways that keep the most vitamins and minerals. Try steaming or baking fruits and vegetables instead of boiling, which washes away the nutrients.
Freeze portions that you aren't going to use right away.
Whether you buy the baby food or make it yourself, texture and consistency are important. At first, babies should have finely puréed single-ingredient foods. (Just applesauce, for example, not apples and pears mixed together.)
After your baby is eating individual foods, it's OK to offer a puréed mix of two foods. As babies get older, they will learn to eat a greater variety of tastes and textures.
If you use prepared baby food in jars, spoon some of the food into a bowl to feed your baby. Do not feed your baby right from the jar — bacteria from the baby's mouth can contaminate the remaining food. If you refrigerate opened jars of baby food, it's best to throw away anything not eaten within a day or two.
Around 6 months of age is a good time for your baby to try a cup. You might need to try a few cups to find one that works for your child. Use water at first to avoid messy clean-ups. Do not give juice to infants younger than 12 months.

Child nutrition from 0 to 1.5 years old

Child nutrition is one of the important issues that every mother faces. How long to breastfeed, where to start complementary foods, how to feed a one-year-old baby?

Ashikhmina Olga Vladimirovna, a specialist in the cabinet for raising a healthy child at the Children's Polyclinic No. 1, tells about the nutrition of a child aged 0 to 1.5 years.

Speaking about the nutrition of a child up to 1. 5 years old, I would like to divide the topic into several parts: breastfeeding and complementary foods.

When it comes to breastfeeding, healthcare professionals today are doing everything they can to maintain and encourage breastfeeding (BF).

The WHO Declaration "Protect, Promote, Support Breastfeeding" proclaims 10 principles of breastfeeding.

10 principles of breastfeeding:

1. Strictly adhere to the established rules for breastfeeding and regularly communicate these rules to medical personnel and women in labor.

2. Train medical personnel in the necessary skills for the implementation of breastfeeding practices.

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and techniques of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within the first half hour after delivery.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are temporarily separated from their children.

6. Give newborns no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.

7. Practice having the mother and newborn side by side in the same room around the clock.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand, not on schedule.

9. Do not give breastfeeding newborns any sedatives or devices that mimic the mother's breast (nipples, etc.)

10. Encourage the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to these groups after discharge from the hospital or hospital.

From the birth of a baby, medical workers are ready to help mothers with breastfeeding and child care. The patronage service, which visits newborns for examinations, actively advocates for the support of breastfeeding and is always ready to advise the mother on feeding the baby.

Experts advise to feed the baby not according to the schedule, but at the request of the baby. At first, feeding can be up to 10-12 times a day. After a month, the mother can switch to the regime - once every 3 hours, including feeding at night.

If the baby constantly requires the breast and eats for a long time, it is necessary to check whether the baby is properly attached to the breast. On this issue, a woman can always contact a pediatrician or a healthy child's office. The specialist weighs the baby before and after feeding and determines how much milk the baby receives and, if necessary, tells how to properly attach the baby to the breast.

What influences a mother's milk supply? One factor is nutrition. A nursing woman should eat a varied diet at least 6 times a day. Favorably, a nursing woman is influenced by walks in the fresh air, physical activity. And, of course, as far as possible, it is important for a nursing woman to protect herself from stress as much as possible. Stress negatively affects lactation.

How long should I breastfeed my baby? Breastfeeding, according to pediatricians and neonatologists, must be maintained in the first year of a baby's life. At the same time, it is important to understand that in addition to milk, the child needs other food, which will form the taste habits of the baby, develop social skills.

Complementary foods

From 4 to 6 months, it is necessary and necessary to introduce complementary foods into the baby's diet. Why from 4 to 6 months? This is the so-called window of tolerance. Products introduced into the diet during this period are well tolerated by young children.

Complementary foods are given to the child in the first half of the day before breastfeeding, sitting in the mother's arms, starting with 1 teaspoon. For 7 days, bring up to 100-150 g of the product. For a whole week we give the same product, constantly increasing its quantity.

Meals for children of the first year of life are boiled in water or steamed, crushed with a blender and given to the child in liquid form, moreover, salt, sugar and spices are not added.

If a child develops an allergy to a certain product, we cancel it and introduce another product after 2-3 days.

Complementary foods begin with the introduction of vegetables or cereals. Underweight children with unstable stools start with cereals. Porridges are not milk based, gluten free. Complementary foods are introduced from three cereals - buckwheat, rice, corn.

For overweight children with constipation, it is recommended to start complementary foods with vegetable purees. 3 weeks - 3 vegetable purees - from cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini.

Meat puree is introduced into the artsion from 6 months: first turkey and rabbit, then beef, chicken is introduced last.

Fruit puree is introduced from 6-6.5 months. Yolk from 7 months to ¼ boiled yolk, protein is not introduced at 1 year of age.

From 8 months old, cottage cheese is added to the diet, from 8 months and 1 week - kefir, fish puree from 8 months and 2 weeks - lean fish is given instead of meat puree once a week.

Bread can be introduced into the diet from 8 months. Vegetable oil with vegetable puree, butter in porridge, 0.5 tsp each. into porridge.

Fruit juice can be introduced no earlier than 9-10 months.

It is important to introduce one new food per week to monitor the child's response to a particular food.

Do not introduce new products during professional vaccinations or when the baby is unwell.

From 8-9 months thicker food with small pieces can be included.

By the age of 1, breastfeeding continues, but only 2-3 times a day.

Nutrition from 1 to 1.5 years

Photo taken from ru.freepik.com

After 1 year, cheese can and should be introduced. Cottage cheese in such large quantities as before is not needed - 2-3 times a week is enough. Egg white is introduced into the diet 2-3 pieces per week.

At this age, we can start feeding our baby soups cooked in the second broth. We cook boneless meat, after boiling the broth is drained and filled with water. This broth can be given to a one-year-old child - it is less fat than the first.

At this age, the child can be given beets, cook borscht.

Closer to 1.5 years, we introduce salads into the diet - cucumber and tomato, beets and carrots.

By the age of 1.5, a fairly varied diet and now we can make a daily menu for him - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

I would like to note that complementary foods are a very important social component in a child's life. Complementary feeding is not only the introduction of food, it is teaching the child hygiene skills - we teach the baby to wash his hands before eating, sit on a chair at the table, hold a spoon on his own. For a toddler, these are important social skills that will come in handy later in kindergarten.

Daily ration for a child aged 12-18 months

If we talk about the child's daily menu for the day. At 1-1.5 years, the daily diet may look like this:

Breakfast:

Milk porridge - 150 ml
Fruit - 30 g
Fruit tea - 120 ml

Lunch:

Vegetable salad with herbs and vegetable oil - 40 ml
Vegetable puree soup - 120 g
Meat soufflé - 50 g
Boiled potatoes - 50g
Compote - 100 g

Snack:

Sour milk drink - 120 ml
Curd - 30 g
Fruit - 120 ml

Dinner:

Vegetable stew - 120 g
Chicken cutlet - 70 g
Bread - 30 g
Water/herbal tea - 100 ml

Before bed:

Infant formula - 200 ml

The subject of nutrition and feeding of the baby is inexhaustible. You can also read additional materials on this issue in the Internet account of a healthy child.

You can get face-to-face advice on the nutrition of a child under 1.5 years old at your pediatrician or in the office of a healthy child at Children's Polyclinic No. 1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 to 16:00 by appointment.

Address: Children's polyclinic No. 1, Zavodskaya, 32

Appointment by phone: +7 (343) 228-59-33

0.5-3-year-old child - Tarkvanem ‹ Meals - Tarkvanem

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An infant between the ages of 6 months and a year must begin to receive complementary foods in addition to breast milk in order to cover the need for energy and all nutrients.
Gradually, as the child grows, you can switch to regular food (prepared from raw materials, without the addition of salt and sugar).
Babies older than 1 year old can continue to receive breast milk in addition to complementary foods or regular food, but by 2 years of age, the child should mostly switch to regular food. In addition to the protective properties of breast milk, depending on the mother's diet, the milk tastes slightly different each time, which further helps the baby to accept different tastes when forming eating habits.
When choosing complementary foods and regular meals, it is important to ensure that there is a variety of meals on offer. Both when breastfeeding, and when switching to complementary foods and regular food, babies can experience colic or allergies. Therefore (including during breastfeeding) those foods should be avoided or used with caution, in relation to which the mother herself or the father of the child was sensitive in childhood or remains sensitive in adulthood.
For children over 2 years of age, the recommendations for nutrition and food selection are similar to adults, but in absolute terms, the recommended amounts are smaller.
Remember not to teach your child to drink juice, let alone sugary drinks.

Children under the age of 3 (actually people of any age) do not need sweet or salty snacks, soft drinks, highly processed and/or high sugar and salt foods.

Meals

The baby's belly is small, so they need to eat more often and in smaller portions. At the same time, in terms of dental health, you should not eat more than 5 times a day. That is, 3 main meals and 1-2 small snacks are ideal.

Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - it provides the body with energy so that the child can play and learn new skills.
If the child is already on a normal diet, porridge is the best choice for breakfast. Make it with a variety of grains, mixed grains, or whole grains. Porridge can be cooked with milk, water or a mixture of both (for children under the age of one who do not receive breast milk, with a subsequent milk formula). Milk mixtures cannot be boiled, so they are always added to food at the end of cooking. Do not add salt and sugar. Instead, flavor your porridge with a variety of fruits and vegetables (e.g. banana, peach, carrot).
Egg dishes work well, but try to add vegetables to them too.
For a young child, the best drink is milk (breast milk, formula milk) or water.
You can give your child a few glasses of juice a week, but it's best to have it as a snack to make breakfast more energizing. Always prefer whole fruits to juices.
On Sunday mornings, you can offer pancakes, for example. We repeat, cook them without adding salt and sugar, but add either immediately to the dough, or then berries-fruits.
If the child attends kindergarten, weekday breakfasts should be adapted according to whether the child eats breakfast in the garden and what time he eats it. Breakfast does not need to be eaten immediately after waking up, but it is useful to have breakfast within an hour.

Snacks

Snacking is important on infants and young children's menus because a young child can only eat a small amount of food at a time. Snacking gives him energy and various important nutrients needed for development and growth.
Snacks should be as unprocessed as possible (eg, fresh or dry fruits and berries, vegetables, bread, juice, oatmeal, sandwiches, unflavored yogurt, also cottage cheese for children older than one year).
Candy, crackers, cookies, soft drinks, juice drinks, ice cream, etc. are not good snacks. Even one candy or cookie between meals can ruin a child's appetite for the whole day.
Do not give your child food as a prize or consolation, or if the child is bored.

Lunch and dinner

Lunch and dinner can be heavy , especially lunch. Soups and a slice of bread with soup go very well, as well as a dessert using a minimum amount of sugar, or even a small second.
The smaller the child, the more it is necessary to use stewing-boiling in the preparation of his food. Great for a variety of casseroles. Since children want to see what ingredients food is made of, teaching a child to eat mixed dishes from infancy can hide vegetables in them that children do not really like.
For dinner, a thick salad of vegetables is suitable, in which you can add an egg, cheese, fish, meat, homemade cheese or something else. If the child eats properly in the garden, the food offered at home should not be very energy intensive. Dinner can be a specific time that the family spends together where they can talk about the events of the day and be together. Here you can discuss the menu for the next day, as well as prepare for the weekend.

All children are different, just like adults. Every child has favorite foods, as well as those that they do not like at all. Knowing the preferences of children, the child can slowly teach him to eat those foods that he usually does not eat.

To do this, you can hang on the refrigerator a list of products that the child must consume during the day. In this case, it is convenient to track the choice of products and teach the child healthy eating.

A child should be taught to eat right and healthy from an early age. Habits formed in childhood often influence the choices we make later in life. Some children are quite selective in terms of what he eats and what not; It is important that you, as a parent, be an example to your child and encourage and support healthy eating habits.
Breast milk tastes sweet, so most babies have a natural craving for anything sweet. At the same time, a child who received breast milk is more even about new tastes, because through breast milk he felt different tastes and it is easier to offer him new dishes.
Sometimes a child may refuse certain foods, it may take up to 15 attempts before the child gets used to a new food. Be consistent in your decisions, feed your child with all the products necessary for his development, do not give up even when the child refuses for the first time or the first time. If the child actually completely refuses to eat something, change this product to something similar. The most important thing is not to give up. If you are breastfeeding your baby often enough at the same time, there is no need to worry about the baby, even if it takes several months to introduce new foods along with breast milk.
Young children in their food preferences are guided by two main factors - whether they are familiar with food and the taste of food (sweetness). For children under 4 years old, the most important thing is that the child knows what kind of food it is. Therefore, new products must be introduced carefully and in small quantities, leading by example. Getting used to new foods takes time. If you do it carefully and in a playful way, the children will be very interested. The more natural flowers will be presented on the plate, the more beautiful and appetizing the dish will be, the more it will contain various essential nutrients.
When eating, the child's mood and environment (for example, whether the TV is playing or there are guests) and whether the child is hungry are important.
For eating, it is imperative to set aside time to enjoy food. When eating together with the family, the child will eat faster, the example of parents is important from early childhood. Enjoy each other's company while eating.
Appearance and correct food temperature are important for a child. The child will eat with great appetite if he sees what ingredients the food was prepared from. Try different foods and cook them in different ways to ensure food variety and availability of different nutrients.
Teach your child to choose foods from different groups so that he understands what a variety of food is. Give your child the opportunity to choose their own food from suitable foods: this or that fruit, various grains, various vegetables, etc. Teach children to eat plenty of vegetables from an early age. To quench your thirst, offer water, not juice.
A child should never be scared about food. Food is not a means of punishment or reward. Do not force the child to eat, rather attract. If you force a child to eat, it greatly affects the psyche and behavior of the child and can leave a negative imprint on his entire subsequent life.

The most important child nutrition keywords:

example
communal meal
availability of suitable food
explanatory work
time
choice and decision making

When a baby is born (recommended already during the mother's pregnancy), it is the last time to review the eating habits of the whole family.
An example is one of the factors that will begin to shape the nutrition of a young child.
A child's eating habits are also shaped by what choice of food is available to the family (including the child), how meals are organized at home, etc. First of all, they will begin to influence a child older than a year.
Many children aged 2-3 years already go to nursery or kindergarten, and often spend time at home only in the evenings or on weekends. These meals should form a conscious choice. Children can discuss with children and direct their nutritional wishes.

There are many ways to offer fruits and vegetables to your child:

The child likes to eat with fingers, sticks, matches. Why ban it?
As a snack before dinner, when you come home from kindergarten, or while watching TV, offer your child carrot slices, apple slices, etc. instead of chips.
On the birthday table, children love sliced carrots, paprika, cucumbers and cauliflower pieces with dipping sauce. Why not offer fruit on a skewer (melon, pear, watermelon, grapes).
If you're in a hurry and don't have time to eat, keep a fruit handy that you can give your child a snack.
For children, the size of fruit or vegetable pieces and how they are processed may be important. A child may prefer a whole carrot over a grated carrot salad or a stewed carrot dish.
Young children do not like to nibble on large, hard carrots, but sliced carrots are a pleasure to eat. It is especially difficult for children to cope with carrots with a hard core.
If the child does not eat fresh fruits and vegetables at all, then cut them into molds (a month, a heart), maybe you will like it? Why not do it with the kids?
The child can happily eat a small round sandwich with a face made of vegetable pieces.
If you are making a salad for children, consider their wishes. As a rule, children like to eat different foods separately.
A child who does not eat boiled rutabagas or carrots happily eats them raw. A child who does not want to eat raw carrots will gladly eat them boiled in vegetable stew.

There are many different uses for fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables do not have to be eaten fresh or boiled, they can be discreetly added to various dishes:

soups, vegetable stews, casseroles, wok
pasta, sauces, cereals, meatballs
herbs (e. g. dill, parsley) for seasoning dishes
in pies, cakes, pizzas
fresh berry sauces for desserts, fruits in jelly and jelly
fruit shakes, milk and juice drinks

Get your child used to a variety of simple salads, such as carrot or kale salad. But to get the child used to different tastes, try other salads, for example, a salad of sauerkraut, pumpkin, onions (bulb and green).

Children grow in periods, which means that there may be times when the child eats too little, and there are periods when he eats more.

It is useful to ensure that food intake and energy expenditure are balanced.
If the child is very active, he should eat more.
If the child seems to be eating too little or too much, keep a food diary - for about a week, write down everything that and how much the child ate and drank.
If the child has a bowel movement every day, then the amount of food for the child is sufficient, there is no need to worry. Often it turns out that the problem is not in the amount eaten, but in the choice of food. After all, you can get as much energy from a couple of candy cookies as from a good portion of soup. Therefore, it is unreasonable to immediately grab a jar of vitamins and minerals, first of all, nutrition should be reconsidered - sufficient, balanced and varied nutrition will provide the necessary substances. The only exception is vitamin D, which all children should receive as a dietary supplement.
As long as a varied and balanced diet is available to a child, he grows and develops according to his age, there is no cause for concern. If parents still feel that the child may not be getting all the necessary nutrients in sufficient quantities, from time to time blood tests can be done by a doctor to check the health.

Ideally, it would be better not to give sweets (candy, chocolate, cookies, soft drinks, etc.) to children under 3 years of age.
Candy or biscuits should never be given to children as a consolation, reward, or dispersal of boredom - on a subconscious level, this may affect his eating habits in the future. This recommendation is quite difficult to follow if the family has older children, but in this case, avoid bringing home sweets (sweets, cookies) and keep them on the table. Instead, put peeled-cut fruits and vegetables on the table.
To satisfy the desire to eat something sweet, nuts and dried fruits and berries are suitable, but one should not be too zealous with them either. Babies and young children can only be given nuts in a ground or highly ground form, and make sure that children do not have an allergic reaction to them. Clean water should always be available to quench thirst. You can drink up to two glasses of juice per week. If necessary, dilute the juice yourself, do not buy nectars, juice drinks and syrups in the store, not to mention soft drinks. While vitamin-fortified water is thought to help you get enough vitamins, one 750 ml bottle actually contains about 40 grams of sugar, which is about the daily dose of sweets for an adult. A varied, balanced, and regular diet (including cereals, fruits and vegetables, and other food groups) ensures adequate intake of vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients, as well as energy, and reduces the desire to eat something sweet.

The risk of being overweight in adulthood is higher in infants who received formula and complementary foods instead of breast milk as infants.
It is very likely that an obese child will grow into an obese adult. Fortunately, serious obesity among children aged 0-3 years is very rare and is primarily associated with more serious diseases. At the same time, it is absolutely possible to feed a 2-3-year-old child if he is indiscriminately offered sweets, chocolate, cookies, pastries, soft drinks, etc.
To check whether the child is growing and gaining weight normally, you can look at the growth and weight curve of infants and children, and in case of underweight or overweight, it is imperative to consult a family doctor or pediatrician for further instructions. You can not limit the nutrition of the child, guided by their own ideas.

Many young children go to nursery from about 1.5 years old. This means that often on weekdays the child eats out three times - breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner. According to how much time the child spends in kindergarten, how many times and what he eats, it is necessary to form the child's home meals. The body needs to be regularly provided with the necessary amount of energy, so it is important to stick to daily meals. Keep up to date with the weekly menu in kindergarten, make different options for homemade dinners or weekend lunches. The more different tastes and dishes you introduce your child to from an early age, the easier it will be for him to get used to food in kindergarten.

In Estonia, food regulations have been developed in pre-school child care institutions, which are regulated by an order of the Minister of Social Affairs.

It is not so easy for children under one year old, even under 2 years old, to find the right food if you are not eating at home. Meals offered to children often include too much salt or sugar. Children's meals may appeal to children (often due to their high fat, sugar and/or salt content), but their nutritional value is often very low. Instead of children's meals, it is better to choose a regular dish or soup and ask for it to be prepared with as little salt as possible. The food offered in fast food places is generally not suitable for children under 3 years old (and in fact, adults).

When a child turns one year old, the dishes offered on the occasion of his birthday are intended primarily for visiting adults and other children.
Depending on the age of the children, their age recommendations can be used.
Food offered to the birthday person must be prepared without salt and sugar. Sweets, soft drinks, potato chips and other products that are very popular at children's birthdays are best removed from the festive table of a child who is one year old, and even 2 and 3 years old.
Dishes on the festive table of a 2-3-year-old child should have a mild taste with minimal or no added salt and sugar.
Child-friendly chopped vegetables such as carrots, paprika, cucumber and cauliflower pieces with unflavored yogurt dipping sauce.
You can offer fruit on a skewer (melon, pear, watermelon, grapes).
If desired, you can prepare more dense dishes (salads, homemade pizza, etc.), but they must be prepared from minimally processed raw materials.
If you offer baked goods, try to find low sugar options (raw sugar, agave syrup, etc. are not good alternatives).

Always read the label on food packaging! This will help you make a more informed choice.
The allowable amount of supplements for children is usually less than for adults (the maximum amount is based on adult body weight). Therefore, be careful with colored sweets, drinks, cookies with a long shelf life, desserts and sausages, products containing synthetic sweeteners.
If the child is old enough to participate in the grocery shopping, allow the child to choose between suitable foods: one or another fruit, various cereal products, various vegetables, etc.
Avoid the shelves with sweets, biscuits, soft drinks, etc. , so that the child does not have a desire to buy sweets. Ideally, it would be to introduce the child to sweets, etc. in small quantities and rarely, and also as late as possible, and exactly after the third year of life. Unfortunately, this recommendation is difficult to follow if there are older children in the family.
What if the child in the store constantly whines and cries to get what he wants? Read practical tips here.

Children under 3 years of age should not and should not be given gadgets, especially with meals.
The child should not be taught to watch TV while eating, as this takes attention away from the meal and in turn creates poor eating habits in the child. While eating, all attention should be paid to the process of eating.

Children under 3 are usually very active and need extra energy.
The principle of a healthy lifestyle is that the amount of energy received from food and the amount of energy expended are in balance.
All children should be as active as possible from an early age - climbing, crawling, walking, jumping, chasing a ball, playing in the yard. Parents themselves should orient their children to the movement, be an example to them.
Mobility habits formed in childhood are the basis for adult mobility habits.