Complementary foods add "pre-packs" – babies need this indirect preparation
The addition of complementary foods is a landmark step for babies!
This is the first step for the baby to leave the mother - it is sad to say, but it is true: the process of the mother accompanying the child to grow up is to watch the child gradually become independent, and finally really leave the mother to explore the larger world.
Many mothers may not realize this: the addition of complementary foods, in addition to providing nutritional support for the baby's physiological growth, is also an important step for children to gradually separate from us and establish attachment to the environment. The way to add complementary foods will also have special rituals, so that children not only get food in the environment, but also get psychological growth.
Montessori education pays special attention to preparing the child indirectly, creating experiences for him to receive more complex experiences to follow. In the process of adding complementary foods, we also need to follow such a principle.
So, before we actually give our children complementary foods, we can try to give our children a taste and taste the food. The best time here is when it is more than 4 months. If we observe carefully, we will find that children are particularly interested in watching adults eat at this time. If the adult is eating and just in time for the child to wake up, then we carry the child to the table and give him a chance to see it, which is a good indirect preparation. And children will also look at our mouths with relish, watch our eating process, and even learn to spit on the adults themselves.
If we observe these phenomena, we can try to introduce the taste of food to our children. We can use a very, very small spice spoon, take a drop of fresh juice or vegetable juice, put it under the child's nose, let the child smell it; if the child opens his mouth naturally, I can feed this drop of juice to the child and let him smash it.
When introducing the taste, the suggested posture is similar to that of breastfeeding, the child is sitting on our lap, at this time, the child still feels attached to us, but he tastes a different taste. At first the child may make strange expressions because of this novel taste, it does not matter, slowly he will adapt.
Because it is only about introducing the taste, it is not about the amount, a little on a small spoon is enough.
After introducing children to vegetable juice and fruit juice, we can try the taste of protein foods such as fish, egg yolks, and chicken. The introduction of the taste of these foods can be slightly later.
Note these points:
The cooking method is mainly steaming, do not use spices;
Do not choose when the child is hungry, because it is easy to eat more, here is still to introduce the taste and texture of the food, so a little is enough;
It is still necessary to continue to observe whether the child has an allergic reaction.
In a little more than a month, that is, when the child is more than 5 months old, we can introduce some starchy foods to the child, such as grinding biscuits. You need to know that at this time, it is still the stage of "introducing and trying the taste" to the child, not the formal addition of complementary foods.
If the child can already sit on his own at this time, then he may wish to put him on his dining chair and sit around the table with the adult, so that the child has the opportunity to observe how the adult puts food in his mouth.
Because the child's large body movements have also developed at this time, he will be very interested in the movement of coming to the center of the body, and will try to put the bread strip or the teething biscuit in his mouth like an adult.
Although at this time we have not really begun to add complementary foods, we have already given some indirect preparations for adding complementary foods to our children. Especially from the way we eat, children have slowly moved from our legs to the table, from adult feeding to holding and eating by themselves. These are insignificant things in our eyes, but for children, they are a sign of their growth, and they can gain a lot of self-esteem and self-confidence!
With these preparations in place, the next step is to really start the process of adding complementary foods!