When it comes to feeding children, everything is doubtful. Decide the right time to introduce certain types of food, what the children’s portions should be, what to do so they eat healthily. And this also includes certain setbacks or situations in which parents do not know the best course of action. One of the most common has to do with children not wanting to eat solid foods. That is, this happens when babies reject this type of food, since they do not want to do the chewing exercise. Instead, they prefer crushed food. And this is a common problem that should be addressed properly.
Babies, accustomed to milk, must begin in due time a progressive process in which their diet is expanded. One of the main changes being the textures. An intermediate step is usually introduced between the feeding phase through liquids and the solids phase through crushed, puree-type foods. Although this is a positive thing, a very common failure is that this stage is prolonged excessively and the introduction of solid foods is delayed. The result is that children, accustomed to purees, reject them because they are not familiar with chewing.
In most cases, children refuse to eat solids due to lack of habit. This is how child educator Marta López explains it clearly. “You can’t expect your child to eat purees throughout his life,” she warns. The specialist emphasizes the importance of making an adequate transition to solid food, through the introduction of different textures and flavors. However, she also adds that other reasons why the child may be refusing to eat solids have to do with a lack of appetite due to boredom, because he has already eaten something previously or even for other reasons, for example, an inappropriate temperature of the food.
Marta López points out patience and understanding as the two keys to accompanying children during this transition process between crushed and solid foods. As long as the causes of this rejection are due to those mentioned above, and that other clinical possibilities have been ruled out with the evaluation of a pediatrician.
For those parents who do not know how to act with their children if they reject solid foods, the specialist offers some recommendations.
