Tips for introducing new foods to your baby

It’s important to introduce your baby to a wide variety of foods in the first year, but don’t be discouraged if they don’t adapt immediately to some of the tastes. Here are a few tips to encourage them to try out new foods.

Introducing new foods to your baby is often a matter of trial and error. It can be quite entertaining to see your baby’s reactions to the foods they try! But don’t go by their expression alone to decide whether they like a food or not. Instead, see whether they open their mouth again for a second helping. We’ve put together a few tips to help you encourage your baby to try a wide variety of tastes, which will then help you to give them a more balanced diet.

How to introduce new foods to your baby

Offering your baby a good variety of foods in their first year is important, as this is when they form their taste preferences. Did you know that from the age of two, these preferences may become relatively fixed until they’re around eight years old?

It can take up to 15 attempts for a baby to accept certain foods so the important thing is not to get discouraged if your baby doesn’t like something. Here are a few things you can do to help encourage your baby to try new tastes.

• Plan new tastings for relaxed times, when your baby is alert and happy – mid-morning is often a good time
• Avoid introducing new foods when your baby is hungry for milk, as this may just frustrate them. Instead, give them half their milk feed and then offer the food. Giving too much milk will leave them too full to try other foods
• Babies can often reject things that are new to them, so try putting a bit of the new food on the table or their high chair tray. Let them play with it before feeding it to them on a spoon – they may even end up tasting it on their own, by putting their fingers in their mouth
• If your baby is eager to control the spoon, then let them grasp it, while you guide it firmly towards, and into, their mouth. Alternatively, use two spoons – one for you to feed them and the other for them to experiment with – just be aware there could be a bit of mess!

If you have any questions about introducing new foods to your baby, our Careline team is on hand to help. Call us on 009647723342222 between the hours of 9am and 5pm Saturday to Thursday.