Posted on January 23, 2010 by Andreya Bajec

Being a parent you have one of the greatest gifts, the ability to mold your child into who they can become in the future. Or at least start them on the right path. The most impactful years in a child’s development are those first few years of life, so why not use those crucial years to give the best that you can to your children.
I myself know just how important it is to eat right and how healthy food choices can benefit our overall health. That is why I wanted to start my son off with the best eating habits that I could offer. So as soon as my son was old enough to start eating solids, I started to make my own baby food. Which really isn’t that hard to do and is actually quite fun coming up with creative new recipes. I believe the key is to try a variety of flavors with your baby and get his taste buds going early. Of course there are some flavors and textures that your baby may not like, so I often would experiment with small amounts first (I would go and buy some of the basic organic baby food jars) to see what his dislikes and likes were. I did however find that if you try and keep offering the new food that they didn’t like the day before, they may surprise you and actually end up eating it after all. Babies and toddlers learn to like most foods that they originally rejected but in the process they do things like spit out the food if the texture, flavor, temperature, or other aspect is unusual to them. This is all the part of their natural learning process. I still stuck away for the “high allergenic” foods until a year or so just to be on the safe side, and of course always made sure my food was prepared correctly to prevent choking.
If there is one book I would recommend to all mothers out there, especially those of you who are breastfeeding, it’s the Dr. Jack Newman’s Guide to Breastfeeding. There is where I got amazing advice in regards to starting your baby on solids. Looking back to that time (which wasn’t so long ago), I remember just letting my creative juices flow and the possibilities were endless. Garlic and olive oil were the two key ingredients that I always started out with and I always had him drink his water at every meal. Don’t even get me started on the importance of water! He absolutely loves his water and still to this day does not drink juice (unless it’s real juice from a juicer).
One of my son’s favorite meals was curried tofu with spinach and carrots. Another favorite was lean ground pork or turkey sautéed with spinach, celery and carrots then pureed up with some applesauce and apricot. YUMMY! Giving my son such a wide variety of flavors and options has really made him into the great eater he is now at 15 months. He always eats a well balanced meal at every sitting, whether it is his rice cake with cream cheese and sliced pear for snack or his chickpea whole wheat macaroni and cheese with cucumber for lunch followed by some yogurt and applesauce.
My child loves to eat and knowing that he eats high quality nutritious rich food makes it all the better. So for all you moms and moms to be out there, think about what you’re feeding your children, and make sure you are starting them off with every best effort to optimize their health early.