Heinz advice on fussy eating

There is a lot you can do in the early stages of weaning to help your baby learn to enjoy food and to avoid fussiness at meal times.

Here are some tips and hints to help you, and your baby, on your journey of discovery of food.

• Experiencing a wide variety of flavours early on will help lay the foundations for a healthy, confident eater and make them more open to new tastes. Heinz recipes offer many interesting taste combinations that your baby will love.
• Be prepared to offer a certain food many times over, even if it is initially rejected. Babies may need to be offered some food on more than 8 occasions before they are accepted so keep on trying.
• Include a range of diferent coloured foods to keep things interesting and fun, for example, red pepper carrots and broccoli.

Once you start weaning, try to eat together as a family whenever you can. If you or the rest of the family can eat something similar at the same time, it will encourage your little one to copy. But leave out these ingredients when preparing your baby’s meals:

• Salt - babies need no more than 1g of salt per day
• Adult stock - use a very low salt stock such as Heinz organic stock cubes
• Ready-made adult sauces - these often have too much salt
• Raw eggs - due to the risk of food poisoning
• Nuts - as these can cause choking
• Honey - avoid until they reach 12 months of age

Almost all babies will go through periods of fussiness. But there are plenty of ways you can help steer them through these challenging times.

• Make sure baby is not filling their tummy with drinks just before a meal, especially calorific ones such as milk and anything with added sugar such as fruit cordials or carbonated drinks.
• Keep meal times relaxed and try not to let them drag on for too long. Babies do not generally continue eating beyond 20 minutes.
• Keep portions small and include a variety of tastes, textures and colours.
• Try not to coax or bribe your baby with the promise of other foods. This can set up the idea that some foods are rewards and better than others.
• Most of all enjoy this time together, after all family meal times are such an important part of life. Try not to get anxious about your baby’s eating habits. Your baby will pick up on your anxieties. If on the odd occasion your baby does not seem to be eating much, rest assured that if they are gaining weight and seem well, then in the vast majority of cases they are getting as much food as they need.