After the first six months of a child’s life, there becomes a need to introduce a different food. The beneficial components contained in milk are no longer sufficient for the full development of a growing child. Mothers of babies are very sensitive to the introduction of complementary foods, strictly following all the recommendations of children's doctors. But what to do when, after lengthy preparations, the child refuses complementary foods? Unfortunately, such cases are not isolated.

What does Dr. Komarovsky say about this? Let's see:

Reasons for refusing complementary feeding

Possible reasons children refusing complementary feeding:

1. Habit. The child is accustomed to his usual food - breast milk or formula. This food is familiar and pleasant to him, while he is wary of complementary foods.
2. It's not tasty. Most of the very first vegetable complementary foods (broccoli, cauliflower) have a specific taste and smell that not all children like. This difference is especially felt by formula-fed children who ate sweet milk every day, and now they are trying to give them some kind of unsalted, tasteless consistency.
3. Disease. An approaching or ongoing illness can spoil the baby’s appetite. When something bothers your baby (fever or teething), complementary foods are unlikely to interest him. By the way, you cannot introduce new complementary foods at the time of illness. After illness, appetite is gradually restored.
4. Mom's misbehavior. Persuasion and the use of force remain in the baby’s emotional memory, which is why the process of eating takes on a negative connotation. Each time the use of food will turn into a tragedy.
5. Physiological unpreparedness of the body for complementary foods, that's why the child refuses complementary foods. It is advisable that digestive system the child is ripe for complementary feeding. The approximate time frame for such maturation occurs at 5-6 months, but for some children this process is delayed due to individual characteristics. Thus, the child’s body has no need for other food, which is why food refusal follows.

How to recognize that physiological readiness has already occurred? Some factors indicate this:

• The child has reached a new level in development: he has learned to sit and hold a spoon and is trying to use it. Now he is not just a spectator, but also an active participant in the meal.
• Children under six months old have a push-out reflex, when they involuntarily push food out of their mouth with their tongue. This reflex begins to fade when physiological readiness to accept thicker and harder food occurs.
• When physiologically ready, food is accepted through the gastrointestinal tract without special problems. If complementary feeding is given too early or physiological readiness has not occurred, then the child may experience diarrhea, increased gas formation, and abdominal pain.

Avoiding complementary feeding while breastfeeding

I would like to note that both infants and artificial infants can refuse complementary feeding, but the latter are more susceptible to this risk.

Breastfed babies are already familiar with many tastes. The fact is that mother's milk contains notes of taste of a particular food. Thus, over the course of 6 months, the child became familiar with adult food. The introduced complementary foods are not new to the baby, and therefore are accepted by him without refusal. We would like to remind you that, based on WHO recommendations, breast milk is the main source of nutrition for children under 1 year of age. Complementary foods only complement it. Breast milk contains many beneficial substances that a baby needs. At one year of age, about 70% of these nutrients The baby should receive it through mother's milk, the remaining 30% through complementary foods.

Thus, you should not attach much importance to a baby’s refusal to complementary foods. Even if he is 9 or 10 months old and does not want complementary feeding, it is worth letting go of the situation and not forcing the child.

Refusal of complementary feeding during artificial feeding

Formula-fed children receive an adapted formula that replaces breast milk for 5-6 months. That is, all these months the baby receives food of the same taste. Of course, the child gets used to this taste. Complementary feeding is perceived by him as something completely new. Sometimes “artificial children” are happy to get acquainted with tastes that are radically different for them, eating everything that their mother gives. But there are times when they do not want to eat complementary foods, mistaking it for something foreign and unnatural. Most often, artificial children can refuse pureed cabbage, sour apple, fish, and meat. At the same time, they like sweet fruit purees.

The mixture is also the main type of nutrition for a child under 1 year of age. So you shouldn’t try to completely switch your baby to complementary foods against his will! There is no need to be upset or panic if your child refuses complementary foods. You should continue to introduce him to adult food (while following the rules for introducing complementary foods). The baby will definitely get used to it and love complementary foods.

About psychological readiness

It is desirable that the child has an emotionally positive attitude towards the process of eating. It is important to arouse the child’s interest in the process of eating food and the desire to try it at the very beginning. When the child begins to enjoy food, there will be no problems with refusal, and they will not arise in the future. That is why there is no need to be afraid to seat your child at a common table. The baby watches the actions of other family members and learns to do the same himself.

It’s a good sign when a child demands this or that product from his mother and reaches out to him. This indicates the child’s psychological and physiological readiness to eat. Showing genuine interest, the baby wants to quickly feel the taste of the desired food. Having received the desired object, the child immediately calms down.

• Let your baby get a little hungry, don't feed him immediately after waking up, and don't breastfeed. Before meals, arrange walks in the fresh air, as well as active games indoors.
• Add some breast milk or formula to your complementary foods (not recommended in the early stages of introducing complementary foods). The milky smell of familiar food will attract the baby to complementary foods.
• If a child flatly refuses a particular product, don’t force him! You can try to mix an unloved product with one that he eats with appetite. If this doesn't help, give your baby other foods he likes.
• Don't try to forcefully diversify your baby's menu. It is quite normal if a baby eats only one type of complementary food every day. Also, do not try to bring the volume of complementary foods to the “required norm”. If your baby only eats a couple of spoons, don't force him to eat more.
• What to do if a child refuses complementary feeding? Many children enjoy eating at a common table, in the company of adults. Seat your baby at the table during family dinners. Give him the opportunity to examine the food (touch it, taste it). At this time, feed the baby. Give a spoon to a baby over 10 months old.
• Never scold or punish your child when he refuses to eat! Any negative emotions at the table can lead to a systematic refusal to eat! The dining atmosphere should be friendly and pleasant.
• Take a break, forget about complementary feeding for 7-9 days. After that, try again. Most likely, the result will be positive.
• Never turn food into a theatrical performance with toys or watching cartoons. Busy playing or watching cartoons, the child does not notice the taste of food, automatically swallowing it.
• Try to adhere to a certain feeding schedule. For example, give your baby porridge at the same time in the morning and vegetable puree in the afternoon. This makes it easier for your child to form the habit of eating complementary foods.

Listen to expert advice on what to do when a child refuses complementary feeding:

Let's sum it up

Unfortunately, not everything in our lives goes according to plan. Clear planning of the schedule and menu of complementary foods often leads young mothers to disappointment. Even for a long time A one-year-old child refuses to eat anything other than breast milk, so don’t panic. Over time, he will definitely start eating “adult” food, if only because no one healthy man the world cannot live without food. It is important to listen to your child, offer unobtrusively, and act consistently. Then mother and baby will definitely be successful!

Mom shares her experience:

Supplementary feeding and complementary feeding

Two very commonly used words that require explanation because they are not the same thing at all.
If there is not enough mother's milk, the child is supplemented with either formula, donor milk, or milk from farm animals (cow, goat). All these products are supplementary foods. Fundamental point: supplementary feeding is when there is not enough mother’s milk, i.e. supplementary feeding occurs only with mixed feeding.
Everything that a child of the first year of life receives in addition to milk and formula is complementary feeding. That is, the child is deliberately fed, prepared for adult life and to adult food.
Taking into account the above definitions, the topic of supplementary feeding can be considered exhausted. We have already figured out what to give.

Now more about complementary feeding. So, the true essence of complementary feeding is that you won’t be satisfied with just your mother’s boobs for the rest of your life.
When to start complementary feeding?
Parents, as we have already mentioned, repeatedly (and from medical workers, and from friends and neighbors, and from grandparents) will listen to advice regarding the fact that, they say, it’s time - it’s time to give juice, puree, yolk... They will hear these tips at the age of one month, and at two months, etc. The older the child is, the more people around him will express their indignation and point out to parents their greed, laziness and pedagogical failure. Those around you are not to blame - they all want the best. You just need to know that the very practice of feeding infants with juices and yolks originated precisely in those times when without this it was impossible to provide the child with adequate nutrition.
In the recent past (some 30-40 years ago!), in the absence or shortage of mother's milk, the child received various dilutions of cow's milk or donor milk. Both the first and second needed processing - first of all, boiling. Most of the vitamins were destroyed. It is not surprising that under these conditions, a lack of vitamins, iron, and mineral salts very quickly manifested itself in the form of various diseases - hypovitaminosis1, decreased hemoglobin, poor weight gain, rickets, and developmental delays. And in response to this, competent and reasonable recommendations for those times arose - about juices, and about vegetable purees, and about yolks, and about fish oil.
We must not forget that the nutritional characteristics of the inhabitants of the country of victorious socialism did not always make it possible to provide a nursing mother with nutritious, high-quality and varied products. IN similar situation- when mother's milk simply could not satisfy all children's needs - the early administration of juices, purees and yolks to the child was quite logical and completely justified.
We repeat once again:
if a nursing mother can afford nutritious and varied diet(i.e. vegetables, fruits, meat, bread, and fish), if parents are able to purchase high-quality adapted milk formula for their child, then if all these conditions are met
There is no need to feed anything until the baby reaches the age of six months.

Regarding the timing of the start of complementary feeding, a few more additional paragraphs as food for thought.
The author’s opinion may well seem controversial, especially taking into account the fact that the “Guide to Children’s Diet” that we have already cited indicates: from the age of one month you should give Apple juice, and from four months - vegetable broth.
Studying such instructions, you constantly experience the deepest doubts. It is completely incomprehensible how other mammals manage to exist to this day? No, we can, of course, assume that the mother wolf uses some unknown herb in order to help the wolf cubs get on their feet (more precisely, on their paws). Having read science fiction, you can even imagine how a wolf father brings valuable vitamin-containing vegetables from a hunt to a two-week-old wolf cub. But even with maximum mental effort, it is not possible to understand where the polar bear “gets” vitamins? Why did smart Nature punish human children so much, where does this inferiority come from? Why can all other animals live without vegetable soups, but our children cannot? But the author cannot admit that the Creator was mistaken.
And further.
The science of vitamins, their deficiency and the need to correct natural feeding arose many years ago, when no one had ever heard of adapted milk formulas.
Reworking existing guidelines and challenging nutrition academics has never been easy.
Remember: juices, vegetable purees, fruit cereals are not just complementary foods. This is a very serious business.
In an unfortunate developing country, when a nursing mother is starving and/or has a monotonous diet (for example, only rice, or only dates, or only fish, or only bread), giving the child vitamins is quite advisable.
If you can buy one chicken egg per week with your salary, it is quite logical to give a four-month-old baby a quarter of a yolk. But if you can buy a dozen eggs, then it’s better for a nursing mother to eat a fried egg of three eyes.
It is impossible to see the benefits of early complementary feeding. By and large, parents simply put a bold tick on their own conscience, saying, “We did everything right.” But thousands see the harm - the appearance or intensification of allergic reactions, bowel disorders. In short, everyone is busy: academics write instructions, industry produces juices, pediatricians recommend juices, mothers give juices, children drink juices, pediatricians treat diarrhea and allergies, mothers buy medicines and other juices - “the main thing, guys, is not to grow old in your heart.” ..

How to start complementary feeding?
Any new food is included in the diet gradually and with caution. First, a few spoons (option - a few sips) and supplement with the usual food (mother's milk, formula). Assess the reaction - behavior, skin rash, sleep, stool. If everything is fine, then increase the dose. Something is wrong - wait a while with this product and do not start new experiments until the painful manifestations disappear. Never feed your baby anything new if he is sick, or for three days before and three days after any preventive vaccination.
If a child refuses any complementary foods, do not insist! His body knows better than you whether it is necessary or not. Although it is not difficult to deceive Nature. After drinking tangerine juice (for example), the baby will probably smile. It’s just too likely that after some time all family members will have no time to smile.
It should also be taken into account that complementary feeding is not only a change in the composition of food, but also a change in its physical characteristics - that is, from exclusively liquid food we move to denser and often heterogeneous food - with all sorts of lumps and other inclusions. Hence the need for spoons, bibs, cups, plates, etc.

Complementary feeding products: where to start and how to continue?

Neither pediatricians nor nutritionists have a single, agreed upon opinion on this matter, although the composition and possible options products are generally defined and generally accepted.
This:
1) vegetable purees;
2) cottage cheese and fermented milk products;
3) milk and cereal porridges;
4) meat (fish) dishes and egg yolk.
Each specific author of any “nutritional” recommendations quite convincingly substantiates the correctness of his particular scheme. Consider the following example. In terms of the amount of iron, mineral salts and vitamins, vegetable purees are noticeably better than, for example, fermented milk products. The conclusion suggests itself - start with vegetable purees. On the other hand, the child does not tolerate sudden changes in the composition of food very well. It is clear that the difference between milk and fermented milk products is noticeably smaller than between milk and vegetables. Consequently, vegetable purees are theoretically more useful and more advisable, but practically the probability intestinal disorders, in turn, will be noticeably higher. The author, being a practicing doctor, offers readers a certain course of action. The main, again practical, advantage of this particular option is the least likelihood of unwanted reactions.
So, the strategy and tactics of complementary feeding or, more simply, a specific sequence of actions with explanations and comments.

Let us emphasize once again (and readers will forgive me for repeating myself many times, but due to the importance of the issue, it simply cannot be done otherwise): the topic of complementary feeding does not exist until six months. Nothing! Not at all! We feed my mother - high quality and varied. There is no or not enough milk - we strain the family’s material resources and buy a good adapted milk formula. It doesn’t matter what this mixture is called and doesn’t matter, it’s a standard formula, so to speak, or a special formula for a problem child - soy, low-lactose2, hypoallergenic, for premature babies, etc. If a child under six months has problems that require use special mixtures, which means we choose them (those mixtures that are suitable) and do not conduct any experiments.
Let's start with fermented milk products: optimally - low-fat kefir or kefir with What is DAIRY KITCHEN? . Nai best time- second feeding (interval, approximately, from 9 to 11 o’clock in the afternoon). Why exactly fermented milk products? Because there is no fundamental difference in composition compared to just dairy products. Because, and this is already important, any fermented milk products in general and kefir in particular contain fermented milk bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria, firstly, are antagonists (in other words, enemies) of many harmful microbes that can cause intestinal infections, and secondly, they form substances that are actively involved in the digestion process and, as a result, improve it (digestion); thirdly, they reduce the load on the child’s weakest and most immature organ - the liver.
The first time we will give it very little - two or three teaspoons (and we will give it from a spoon). Then we'll feed you a familiar product- mother's milk from the breast or formula from a bottle. We will have the opportunity to observe during the day. Provided that everything is in order, the next day we double the dose and so on. This, as you remember from the school mathematics course, is called a geometric progression. Its peculiarity is that everything increases quite quickly: the first day - 10-15 ml, the second - 20-30 ml, the third - 40-60 ml, the fourth - 80-120 ml. Stop. If any problems or suspicions of problems arise on any day, pause. Do not increase the dose, maybe even reduce it, and if the problems really bother you, then stop altogether.
On the fourth or fifth day of using kefir, add cottage cheese directly to it and stir well. You can make cottage cheese yourself (there is little science), you can buy it. The main thing: confidence in quality - purity and shelf life. The first day - one spoon, the second - two, etc., total at the age of six to eight months - 30 g, after eight months - 50 g. You can add a little sugar to both kefir and the mixture of cottage cheese and kefir. The decision whether to add or not depends on the taste of the kefir itself and whether the child agrees to eat unsweetened kefir.

Any prohibitions on the use of cottage cheese (the most common motivation is the rapid overgrowth of the fontanelle, you cannot have too much calcium, and cottage cheese contains a lot of it) have no basis logical basis. In 30 g of cottage cheese, the amount of calcium is approximately 47 mg, and in 50 g, respectively, 78 mg. Compare for yourself: per 100 g cow's milk- 120 mg, in 100 g of human milk - 35-50 mg.

Thus, it takes an average of seven to ten days for one feeding to be completely replaced - 150 g of kefir + 30 g of cottage cheese. And all other feedings are still the main product: mother’s milk or an adapted milk formula. And in this mode, without twitching and stubbornly repelling the attacks of advisers, it is advisable to spend three to four weeks.
We begin to replace one more feeding - preferably the very last one, before bedtime. We use milk and cereal porridges. Three types are the most rational - buckwheat, oatmeal, rice. You can buy porridge - there is a huge amount of milk porridge for baby food on sale, but you can cook it yourself. At self-cooking we use flour (rice, buckwheat, oatmeal); If you don’t buy flour, we make it ourselves using a regular coffee grinder. Regular cow's milk is most often used as the main solvent. Flour and sugar are added to milk. It should be noted that instead of cow's milk, it is often better to use milk formulas intended for children over six months old (the same “follow-up formulas” with number 2, which we have already written about).
Recipe: PORridge
Dissolve 10 g (approximately 1.5 teaspoons) of the appropriate flour (buckwheat, rice, oatmeal) and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in 20-30 ml of boiled water room temperature. Pour the resulting solution into boiling milk with constant stirring (the amount of milk is 100 ml). Cook for 3 minutes. Ready. Since sugar is not standard, you may have to add a little more.
Regarding the preparation of porridge based on the mixture. Cook the porridge from the appropriate flour in water, and when it cools down, add the mixture in half proportion: that is, if 3 tablespoons of the mixture are needed per 100 g of water, then 1.5 tablespoons per 100 g of porridge in water. That's all the wisdom.
Readers will most likely be surprised not to find semolina porridge on the list of recommended products. But it is semolina porridge that was used most often before, and perhaps even now, and remains the most beloved, truly popular children's porridge. Everything about it is good: price, ease of preparation, consistency, taste. And the children love her. One small problem: semolina is rich in gluten. Gluten protein - in smart medical language it is called gliadin - sometimes provokes the occurrence of quite serious intestinal diseases. This occurs in situations where there is gliadin intolerance. Keeping this information in mind, one should not, however, deny semolina. It’s simply safer to feed other cereals, and use semolina a little later - after eight months.
So, we are already eight months old. We eat four to five times a day: once kefir, once porridge and two to three times the main food - formula or mother's milk. The long-awaited time for vegetables and fruits has come. It has come, but we haven’t figured out yet whether we have teeth or not. If there is at least one, no questions asked, let’s start with the vegetables. If not, which doesn’t happen often, let’s wait a little longer. First, test feeding - how our child will generally react to vegetables. Prepare vegetable broth. On the first day we suggest 30-50 g, on the second - twice as much. If everything is fine, go to vegetable soup or vegetable puree and, gradually increasing the dose, completely replacing one of the feedings with vegetables.

Recipe: VEGETABLE BROOCH
Potatoes + carrots + onions + cabbage: cut finely, pour boiling water over it, cover with a lid and boil until completely boiled. Strain through cheesecloth, bring to a boil again and pour into a bottle. The approximate proportion is as follows: for 50 g of vegetables, 100 ml of water.
Recipe: VEGETABLE PUREE
We cut various vegetables, added a little boiling water and simmered; As the water boils, add boiling water. Rub ready-to-eat hot vegetables through a sieve, add hot milk and a pinch of salt. Beat well and bring to a boil. Add vegetable oil to the finished dish. Vegetables - 100 g (potatoes - at least 20 g); milk - 25 g; vegetable oil - 3 g.

We feed for two to three weeks vegetable dish(soup or puree, it doesn’t matter), then, by analogy with vegetables, we test for meat - cook the soup not in water, but in meat broth (ideally chicken). If there are no problems, add the pureed meat directly to the soup; after another couple of days, again directly to the soup, add a hard-boiled chicken egg yolk - first 1/5, then more. In any case, until the age of one, you don’t need more than half a yolk.
Now about the fruits. We will give them on the day when we see the first “hatching” tooth. And if this tooth shows up before six months, we’ll be patient. It is not at all necessary to start with juices - fruit purees or baked apple pulp are no worse. Juices and fruit purees do not replace the main meal; they are given in addition after breastfeeding or formula feeding.
At nine months of age, three feedings are completely replaced by complementary foods. Let's repeat: once kefir + cottage cheese, once porridge, once soup. Porridges are very diverse. Soups are very diverse: both in the composition of vegetables and in the type of meat, as long as they are not very fatty. We already eat both the yolk and vegetable oil. We drink juices - 30-50 g.
What else can you do? Add crushed cookies to kefir and cottage cheese. Mashed potatoes with milk and mashed meat. Baked apple. The bread crumb is in the soup, and the bread crust and a piece of apple can be given to the hand - sucked (gnawed). From 10 months you can prepare soup not with meat, but with fish broth.
What to do with the main food, which by 9-10 months seems to have ceased to be the main one? It is clear that we mean adapted milk formulas and (or) mother's milk. If the mother has milk, it is advisable to feed the baby at least once a day until the child is one year old. After a year, this no longer makes much biological sense3. High-quality milk formulas, which are certainly no worse in composition than cow's milk, can be given up to two or three years.

When carrying out any “nutritional” tests and innovations, remember:
Our main task is to keep the baby healthy, and the older the child, the less dangerous experiments related to nutrition are for him.
But always be very careful with genetically non-native foods (remember, in the chapter “Pregnancy” - what my great-great-grandmother did not eat, and we do not need). Children in low-income families get sick less often, primarily because there is not enough money for overseas delicacies.

A child’s liver is one of the weakest organs, and even in an absolutely healthy and normally developing child, it finally “ripens” and becomes like an adult’s by about 12 years of age. Any undigested particles (the same ones that cause allergies) must be neutralized and eliminated from the body. And the liver plays a primary role in this process. As the child grows, many foods that previously caused severe allergies begin to be tolerated quite normally - the liver matures. Grandmothers say: “I’ve outgrown it.” They say it right. Therefore, if a child develops signs of an allergy from chocolate, strawberries or orange juice (rash, itching, intestinal upset with normal temperature body), this does not mean that the baby is doomed to be separated from chocolate for the rest of his days. Be patient. And you don’t have to look around, lamenting: “Why is it possible for everyone, but not for me?”
Any pediatrician knows: on Mondays children get sick more often. Do you know why? Because on Sunday they go to visit their grandmothers, and, unfortunately, we consider food to be the measure of love.

For the first four months, the baby was fed exclusively on breast milk or formula. The time has come for the first complementary feeding, since by the fifth or sixth month the baby will no longer have enough nutrients from milk for full growth. By the first half of the year, the mucous membrane of the baby’s neck can already adapt to swallowing solid food particles.

It is worth introducing the first complementary foods for a child only when he gains twice the weight than at birth and sits steadily. The baby must definitely develop a so-called “food interest”; he must be interested in the food that the rest of the family consumes.

Accustoming your baby to new food

It is better to start feeding your baby with vegetable puree. It has all the necessary advantages for a new baby’s nutrition:

1. A varied composition of mineral salts necessary for the baby’s growing skeleton.
2. A large number of vitamins and biostimulants.
3. Plant fiber that regulates intestinal function.
4. The content of alkaline salts necessary for good metabolism, improved breathing, toning nervous system and removing excess water.
5. The absence of sweets will help the baby better accept the second complementary food - porridge.
6. Keeping dense lumps in the puree will prepare the throat for swallowing solid food.

It is necessary to accustom a child to complementary feeding gradually. We start with one or two spoons before the second or third breastfeeding. In addition to vegetables, you can add half a yolk and a little to the puree. vegetable oil. Over a month, the amount of puree is increased to 150 g (three-quarters of a glass) and completely replaces one breastfeeding. You can also divide complementary foods into several doses. It is important that the baby enjoys food.

Innovations in nutrition often do not go smoothly; sometimes the child does not want to eat complementary foods. Of course, not all children are eager to try new food. Babies' taste buds are well developed and from birth they become accustomed to the sweetish taste of milk. It is important to immediately establish contact with the baby regarding food, otherwise further feedings will turn into torture on both sides.

What to do if your child refuses to eat complementary foods

So, the first and second attempts to feed the baby failed. The child does not want to eat complementary foods and what to do if he spits out food or even starts vomiting.

1. First of all, don't be afraid. At this time they have a functional origin. Most often, vomiting occurs when the period of breastfeeding is prolonged.
2. Secondly, the child’s desires and tastes must be taken into account, but still affectionately insist on one’s own. Taste can be developed not through coercion, but through the use of small pedagogical tricks.

Here are a few practical advice if the child does not want to eat complementary foods:

• give the new kind eating on an empty stomach;
• follow the diet - the baby must want to eat;
• First, sweeten the puree a little with breast milk or formula;
• find out your baby's taste preferences: some children eat better mashed potatoes, others from Brussels sprouts, and serve others with a mix of different vegetables;
• if the baby doesn’t like the new dish, don’t insist, try offering another dish, and come back to this one in ten days;
• introduce new foods gradually, feed one type of puree for a week and then try a new one;
• seat your baby at the table during a family meal, show and tell how you enjoy eating. Give him a few grains from your plate and let him try;
• the most important thing is no violence, it’s not scary if the child remains hungry once, it’s better to eat little, but with pleasure;

It happens simply that the child does not feel well: or that is why he refuses to eat complementary foods.

There is no need to distract the baby with toys or try to feed unnoticed. In the first case, the formation of the wrong habit of eating while playing will begin. Feeding unnoticed will not bring any benefit to a small organism. When the baby does not want to eat, salivation in the mouth and the production of gastric juice are reduced, and food is poorly digested.

An excellent way to accustom your baby to new foods is the method of pedagogical complementary feeding. The child is simply seated at a common table and given to try what he wants in minute quantities: a piece the size of a pea or a sip of liquid.

Doesn't want to eat from a spoon

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Doesn't want to eat porridge

Porridge begins to be given to a small family member from 6 to 7 months. First, one teaspoon each of buckwheat, rice or corn. Gradually, the volume of complementary foods increases to 150 g, and the range of cereals expands. Porridge for a six-month-old baby should be cooked using water or vegetable broth, without adding milk or sugar.

As with vegetable puree, what happens is that the child does not want to eat the porridge. In this case, it’s also worth cheating a little. Add a little breast milk to the finished dish. The taste will become more familiar to the baby, which will allow him to quickly get used to the new food.

Complementary feeding is not always a replacement for breastfeeding, but only a necessary supplement to good nutrition baby. This is like an introduction to “adult” food. It’s okay if the child flatly refuses purees and porridge. Be patient. Watch your baby, because in this case he is the most important adviser.

On the topic of complementary feeding:

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Secrets and tricks of the first feeding

Anna asks: “A 7-month-old breastfed baby refuses to eat complementary foods: he closes his mouth, it’s hard to put anything from a spoon into his mouth, even fruit puree. Whereas in the nibbler she likes apple and pear (recently given after introducing vegetables). If it gets into the mouth, it more or less swallows some vegetables or porridge. What should I do? Songs, dances, cartoons, etc. don’t help.”

The introduction of complementary foods is often accompanied by difficulties: pushing out new food with the tongue and a categorical refusal to swallow even a spoon.

The reason may be one or several factors at once.

1. The baby is not ready to introduce complementary foods. The administration period of 6 months is calculated for the average child. Readiness will be indicated by doubling your weight, the appearance of your first teeth, the ability to sit, and the fading of the “pushing out” reflex for new food. Not all children are ready for complementary feeding by six months. For example, the protective reflex of pushing out can fade away in some as early as 4 months, while in others it can persist up to 7 months.
2. The introduction of complementary foods coincides with the baby's illness. Teething begins at 6 months. What affects the baby’s well-being: temperature, painful sensations in the mouth, irritability. And this is not the best time to introduce new food.
3. The child has no expressed interest in food. When the baby is passionate about playing during feeding (in your case, songs, dances, cartoons), but is indifferent to the food offered. Outstretched spoon with food during fun entertainment, on the contrary, can cause irritability and moodiness.

If readiness to be introduced to new food depends on physical development For a child to develop an interest in food, parents need to try hard. And here it is important for the baby to participate in the family meal in a high chair. If you express a feeling of satisfaction with the food at the same time, over time the child will become interested and want to try the food offered.

Complementary foods are introduced only before breastfeeding. A hungry baby will be more willing to try a new dish and refuse it if he has had his fill of breast milk beforehand.

Alternatively, you can delay feeding time by 1-2 hours.

An unsuccessful attempt is usually repeated after 7-10 days.

Refusal of ready-made vegetable complementary foods from a supermarket does not mean that the same puree from another manufacturer or homemade will be rejected.

And one more thing: a baby up to one year old does not need additional salt or sugar, so do not rush to give cereals and purees to your taste.

The purpose of complementary feeding during breastfeeding is only to introduce new foods that differ in taste and consistency from mother's milk. But the main source of nutrition for up to a year will still be breast milk.

Your baby has reached six months of age, his first tooth has already appeared, and now the period of introducing complementary foods has arrived. The logical stage in the development of each toddler is the transition from a diet consisting exclusively of mother’s milk or formula to a variety of adult foods. These are dairy and non-dairy porridges, vegetable, meat, fish and fruit purees, fermented milk products, bread, cookies. Some mothers prefer special baby food - a safe, but expensive option for complementary feeding. Some begin to give the baby immediately pureed adult food, for example, borscht or cutlets, as our grandmothers did. There are many feeding options. The main thing is that the baby should gradually get acquainted with more adult food; no one keeps babies under one year old on milk alone.

After about six months of age, babies slowly begin to try new foods.

The situation may turn out differently. It happens that the little ones start eating cereals and vegetables with great pleasure, but sometimes they don’t want to eat them. The unusual taste of food causes an internal protest in them; babies continue to demand only their mother’s breast or a bottle of formula. You can often hear from a young mother that she complains about her baby, saying that she doesn’t want anything but the breast, turns away from the porridge, spits out the puree. Every attempt to feed the baby like an adult becomes a real struggle - mother and child are stressed, a lot of food has been transferred. What to do when a child refuses complementary foods?

We transfer the baby to adult food

The main food for babies up to six months is mother's milk in the case of breastfeeding, artificial formula if the mother does not have milk, or a combination of the first and second types. The essence of complementary feeding is that the child must be gradually transferred to more adult types of food; this is required by the physical growth of a person, first of all, development gastrointestinal tract. You need to be careful when introducing the baby to “human” food, since the gastrointestinal tract is already tuned exclusively to milk. New food is stressful for the body; it can provoke a new surge of colic, constipation, diarrhea and other manifestations of dysbiosis. In order to neutralize the negative consequences, you need to follow the rules for transferring to complementary foods.

Complementary feeding should be introduced carefully, since the baby’s stomach is still designed exclusively for breast milk

When to start?

Previously, it was believed that you need to start after reaching six months of age and the appearance of the first tooth. Modern pediatrics is more loyal to the issue of time - everything depends on the individual characteristics of the child’s development. Often, even doctors and nurses advise introducing apple juice drop by drop from 3-4 months, even store-bought, and not freshly squeezed, zucchini puree. What WHO and Dr. Komarovsky advise on this matter:

• The ideal age is after reaching 6 months. It is prohibited to introduce new foods before 4 months (we recommend reading:).
• Ideal weight is at least 6.5 kg. The baby should double its weight by the time the new food is introduced.
• The baby should confidently hold his head and turn it in different directions.
• The child sits without any problems. Feeding a baby who is not yet sitting with anything other than milk is problematic.
• The tongue thrusting reflex is neutralized.
• The baby can stretch his lower lip forward, which means he can take a spoon with his mouth.
• It is ideal if a breastfeeding baby shows interest in “human” food when he sees adults eating food. This indicates the baby’s moral readiness to be transferred to a new table.
• The baby is active, he crawls, plays, is energetic and asks for food.

Rules for successful transition to adult food

Sometimes you can hear from mothers that they are trying to introduce the most different types complementary feeding at intervals of 5-7 days. Like, the zucchini didn’t work – we’ll give it to you in a few days cauliflower. The baby turns away from the buckwheat, we’ll give him oatmeal right away. The result is that the child refuses complementary feeding and suffers from colic and diarrhea no less than a newborn baby. This is mistake. Here are a few simple but important rules, which will help not harm the baby.

Consult your doctor

Trust not only your own intuition, the advice of grandmothers and friends, and the Internet.

Your main assistant in raising your baby is an experienced pediatrician, but at the same time keeping up with modern medical trends. An ordinary local doctor can only be guided by generally accepted standards and give generalized advice, without taking into account individual characteristics your child.

Listen to yourself

A good mother may make a mistake, but not often. If you see that the child is not yet ready to introduce complementary foods, do not rush. Maybe you sense your baby’s psychological instability. No one except you knows the child’s body so thoroughly. Doctors, for example, often miss small signs of allergies and dysbacteriosis - redness of the lips or hands, flatulence. This may be a reaction to a new product.

A mother should trust her intuition, because she senses the child’s needs best of all.

Breastfeeding and artificial feeding - there is no difference

Previously, it was believed that bottle-fed babies needed complementary foods to be introduced earlier. The amount of nutrients in the mixtures is not enough; children need to diversify their diet as quickly as possible. Modern pediatrics has a different opinion - it is not so important what kind of feeding the baby is on; the temporary aspects of introducing new food are universal.

New food - only for a healthy baby

Tastings are contraindicated for children who are in any kind of unhealthy condition. Fever, dysbiosis, cold or viral infection, stress, time before and after vaccination are periods prohibited for introducing complementary foods. The body is already in under stress, he is struggling with negative factors– new food will not be perceived as it should be.

Everything new - a little bit

Each new product should be given to the baby from minimum quantity, this is the only way you won’t cause serious allergic reaction. Perhaps your child has an individual intolerance to apples or will strongly dislike cauliflower. You cannot know anything in advance, because a person will try each product for the first time in his life. The optimal dose is half a teaspoon, even if you are giving the product to a baby in the 8th or 10th month of life (we recommend reading:). Over the course of a week, gradually increase the amount to the age norm.

To begin with, you should give your child less than a spoonful of the new product - this will allow you to track the reaction

No violence

Consider the child’s wishes, but without fanaticism. Learn to determine whether your baby is just being capricious, or whether he is really disgusted by zucchini, or buckwheat porridge he eats with pleasure.

A baby is also a person; nothing can be done to him by violence. It is necessary to introduce complementary foods, and a variety of them, but do not persist too much, wait it out.

Monocomponent

Start with one product. Do not immediately give peach-pear juice or meat puree with broccoli. At first, only apple juice, only meat puree, only zucchini. Monocomponentity allows you to determine how a child tolerates a particular ingredient. If your stomach hurts, you will not understand which product was not suitable for your baby.

The right start

One of the main conditions for the successful introduction of complementary foods is the right start (see also:). If you start giving your baby adult food made from sweet fruits, he will then have great difficulty eating bland vegetables. Where to start tediously:

• with monocomponent vegetable purees, if the baby has a tendency to constipation (see also:);
• with dairy-free cereals if the child often diarrhea.

If a child has diarrhea, it is better to start introducing complementary foods with cereals

Why does a child refuse “human” food?

It's time to introduce new food. You did everything according to the rules, guided by your own intuition and the advice of a qualified pediatrician. The baby still refuses to eat new food. Possible reasons why a child does not eat complementary foods:
(we recommend reading:)

• the child is not psychologically ready to switch to a new diet;
• the baby is not yet accustomed to the new taste, you need to carefully try again;
• the baby has a psychological barrier, perhaps accidentally created by you;
• the baby does not feel well, teething or stomach pain may occur;
• The baby is simply capricious and has a selective taste.

What to do?

What to do if the child does not want to eat complementary foods? You can train your baby in the following ways:

1. Develop your baby's food interest. Sit him down at the common table and let’s taste, bit by bit, what the adults eat. The main thing is to give only dietary food. Some parents are keen on this process and may even let the baby try fried potatoes or chocolate candy. Komarovsky calls it “entertainment for moms and dads.”
2. Give new food to a hungry child. A well-fed baby will not want to eat anything, especially something new. After the walk, active games Babies usually develop an appetite.
3. Giving a child who is not yet accustomed to complementary feeding cookies, bread or other foods from which a piece can break off and enter the respiratory tract is unwise. The baby will be scared and will have a psychological barrier to accepting new food.
4. Does your baby refuse canned food? Try cooking yourself. The same vegetable, meat and fruit purees are easily prepared using a blender and masher. Some babies only eat what mommy has prepared.
5. Playing with food is not good, but sometimes it is okay. Cut vegetables and fruits, for example, zucchini and apples into cubes, let the baby stand in a pyramid - and try it out during the game.

Mom can make puree on her own - there’s nothing complicated about it

Use your imagination and be calm!

Remember the following rules:

• Fight your child’s selective appetite, otherwise he will grow into a terrible capricious child. The best method of struggle is hunger. Let your grandmothers call you a sadist, sometimes a hungry child is better than a little one and a whim.
• Be less nervous yourself and don’t make your child nervous. Focusing on complementary foods, like anything else, is harmful. Remember that there were no children under 3 years of age who ate only milk; sooner or later everyone switched to adult food. It is impossible to force a baby, just like an adult.
• Never punish your baby for turning over a plate or smearing mashed potatoes on his bib. Remember that he is still very small and cannot eat neatly.
• Does your baby refuse food that he used to like? Take a break of 7-10 days.
• Combine food with play. Let the spoon turn into an airplane, and the plate of porridge with the image of your favorite toy or cartoon character.