The saying, ‘childhood sets the foundation of your future life’ is quite right when you talk about health and nutrition as much as it for other things. I am a mother of a 10 months old baby girl and I understand each parent’s struggle to keep up with your child’s untiring enthusiasm to run around the house for his/her amusement. To add on to the adventure a glass of milk in your hand makes it really difficult to keep up with that enthusiast pace, but you just cannot give up. A dose of nutrition for your little one is more important than anything else at that point of time, to avoid any kind of nutritional insufficiency that would hinder his/her growth.
An infant’s need for nutrition is very different from that of an adult and that is the reason the food we usually prepare for ourselves might not do the job for them as well as it does for us. This difference is majorly due to their optimum need for micronutrients in their food. Micronutrients are the building blocks in a child’s growth years. It is the first 1000 days in which child needs these micronutrients like calcium, vitamin, iron and zinc to support all kinds of developmental process and healthy physical growth. Micronutrient deficiency is the result of neglected dietary habits of the kid which lack these micronutrients. It is a major cause of concern as a baby who suffers from micronutrient deficiency experiences problems related to healthy physical and mental growth.
Back in the day, parents usually fed their babies with vegetables and pulses as they were mostly the food choices for other members of the family too. The things are slightly different nowadays, as the food choices have increased, unfortunately enough with most of them being unhealthy like fast foods or carbonated drinks. It is a constant fight to pull your baby away from these delicious looking foods and making them eat bowl of veggies you prepared for them at home. Such behaviors are common in every household with a baby, and that is why it is important to build healthy eating habits from the very beginning to avoid the troubles in the future.
To build healthy eating habits in your kids, make sure that you are the one setting good example for them at the first place. You cannot expect to munch on the ice-cream sundae sitting in front of your baby while convincing them to eat those vegetables or fruits. Secondly always make sure that you prepare a variety of interesting foods at home so that they do not crave for outside food.
It is your responsibility as a parent to keep a check on your baby’s diet and support his healthy growth, so be a responsible parent and set a good example for your kid.