Baby’s First Foods Can Promote Health or Obesity
If the initial diet you expose your child to is quite high in grain carbohydrates and fats, then you may be setting your child up for a lifetime of struggle with obesity. A more varied diet rich in fruits, vegetables, healthy grains and proteins low in saturated fat, can be the key to a healthy weight and optimal weight gain milestones.
Encouraging movement as soon as your child becomes mobile is also crucial to healthy growth patterns and preventing weight issues. If a child who should be crawling is left sitting in front of a TV for hours of viewing time, the outcome can easily be higher weight gain and an overall higher level of body fat by the time they are school age.
When you begin to introduce finger foods to your baby, offer whole grain/high fiber cereals, but also consider serving edamame, small cubes of baked butternut squash and sweet potato, and very ripe, soft cubes of fruit, without the skin on.