5 baby food tips for your baby

Here are KinderCanteen's useful tips that many mothers don’t know about:

1. Introduce texture gradually

While many believe that we must directly introduce texture rich food, but KinderCanteen believe in introducing texture gradually as it avoids choking hazard. Although, babies have gag reflux which pushes the food back to mouth and prevent them from choking but it might lead to an overall bad eating experience for babies. Our 1st goal should be to make the entire experience fun.
And yes, the age intervals during which we need to upgrade texture could be different for different babies. You may change the texture as you may feel the baby is comfortable with mashed food.
 

2. Avoid Salt before 1 year 

Many of us think that by adding salt we are adding flavour to the baby’s food. But the truth is exactly opposite. 

1. Your baby's kidney is still very small to digest even a pinch of salt. 
2. We add salt thinking that we are 'adding flavour to their food, but this is not the case for the babies, they like natural flavours like Spinach, Ragi, Jowar etc more than salt. But once you start adding salt/sugar then they will never be able to enjoy taste of vegetables and other ingredients because taste of salt is too empowering. 
3. Kids who start salt or sugar early tend to become fussy eater later in life. 

3. Don’t use reward system

Using food, especially desserts or sweets, as a reward will backfire. Research shows us time after time that doing so will shift your kids’ food value system to favour the sweet treats. Translation- telling your child “if you eat your vegetables you can have toys / chocolate” makes them think the chocolate is more important than the vegetables. 

4. Avoid Sugar or 'organic Jaggery' before 1 year

Avoid sugar, even a pinch until the baby turns 1 year old minimum for the below reason:

1. Health experts say babies given sugary foods can develop a sweet tooth early in life.
2. Sugar-heavy diets in children can lead to health issues such as obesity and diabetes later in life.
3. Research has also shown that intake of refined sugar may depress the immunity which may further lead to high risk of infections and diseases in babies.

Many people believe that jaggery is organic and is not as bad as sugar. But the truth is that jaggery, even so called ‘organic jaggery’ is also a kind of processed sugar and needs to be avoided until the baby turns 1 year minimum.

5. Khichdi, Dalia or porridge is not enough for babies.

While Khichdi and Dalia is very good for babies they are not enough for a baby’s growing organs. A baby also needs to have oats, ragi, barley, buckwheat, soya, chana, Jowar, Kulthi dal, corn, cow peas (chawli) etc along with cooked sprouts. Also, wheat sometime might be the cause of colic in babies. A better alternative of wheat is buckwheat which is gluten free and colic free. At all cost our goal should be to give our baby a balanced diet full of healthy nutritients. You must get organic gluteen free ingredients or you may also consider buying essential ingredients from KinderCanteen if you please. 

Explore Plant-Based Baby Food