Introduce texture and taste in Organic baby food

The shift from breastmilk to solid foodsis an important issue for parents. When your baby turns 6months old, he/she enters the stage-1 of baby diet. This is the time to introduce other foods along with breastmilk because this is when your baby needs more nutrition than that in breast milk.

At this point, your baby will start showing signs of readiness forsolid foods,like moving the tongue around or sticking the tongue out, grabbing food from your hand, andbeing able to sit up straight without support.It’s important to introduce solid foodsnow to help the kid get used to foods withdifferently texture and tastes.

Complementary foods

Foods with varied consistencies are needed at the different stages of complementary feeding.

Duringstage 1,feed pureed foods, such as pureeing different fruits, vegetables, organic cereals (ground, cooked and pureed), eggs, pureed cooked meats and, lentils with breastmilk or water. Do not add any sugar/salt to this and keep this mixture a single-ingredient food. At this stage there is a chance of choking, so ensure that the food is finely pureed without any lumps. You can start with pureeing the food up to a water-like consistency and then gradually thickening it.

At the next level, when your baby is used to pureed foods and stops gagging or pushing the food out of the mouth, you can mashup the same foods with the help of a fork and feed this lumpy food to them. At this point they will start moving their tongue around and chew the soft and lumpy mixture. This is the stage when they will start learning tongue co-ordination and chewing movements.

Finally, when teeth start growing, you can start feeding your kid chopped, thicker and coarser foods. At this stage babies start to pick food themselves and introducing finger foods is a good option now. You can give them pieces of fruits, vegetables, bread, cubes of cottage cheese, etc.

Look for signs of willingness to trydifferent textures

Kids can be extremely finicky about food and are quick to reject foods withan unfamiliar texture or taste. Someone who’s eaten strawberries frequently since long will find its texture acceptable, but one who’s never had it will take a while to get used to it. Plus, different foods have very different textures (e.g., strawberries vs. figs). Even research has shown that giving the child multiple chances to adapt to these new and seemingly strange tastes and textures increases their chances of liking them. Greater adaptability will help your child eat a more varied range of foods and adapt a healthier eating pattern.

Complementary feeding should be started with vegetables rather than fruits because they’re more bitter and have a complex flavour. An effective and fun way of introducing new foods to your kid is by showing them different, colourful fruits, vegetables and, grains!Showing them pictures of different foods initially can help them accept unfamiliar fruits, vegetables, finger foods, etc later.

Go organic

An excellent way of ensuring that your kid eats well isto replace refined grains with organic cereals and whole grains. Whole grains, as any healthy food, have a complex texture and your baby will need some time to develop a liking towards it. But, in the long run, it is highly beneficial because organic baby foods do not have any artificial chemicals and preservatives that can harm/hamper your baby’s developing body.

Try and stick to single-ingredient foods that do not contain added flavours like sugar, salt, artificial flavours, and colouring.

Including complex textures and tastes in the baby diet for children aged 6 to 9 monthsis a great way to kickstart healthy eating.Take advantage of the window of opportunity you get at the 6-month baby diet stage and give your baby a head start.