Encouraging your baby to eat new foods
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 team of feeding advisors, nutritionists and mums are on hand to help. Call us anytime on 0800 996 1000, or use our confidential instant messaging service, Live Chat available from 8am to 8pm.