Talk Show Smart Baby – Gunung Agung

Last Sunday, I got a great opportunity to share my book in one book store called Gunung Agung, located in Mal Kelapa Gading 3, North Jakarta. In general, I shared about nutrition and stimulation for baby's first year.

After I finished sharing about stimulation, there was a question from the audience. He asked me about his 2.5 years old boy who doesn't like to eat fruit nor vegetable. He said he tried to make juice from the fruit but still the little boy unwilling to drink it. As soon as he tasted the juice, he spilled it out and refused to drink. So, what should he do to give balance nutrition?

This is really interesting and many parents didn't really know about this. According to Joan Beck, a writer of the best seller book in US, all babies have a "sensitive period" in the first year of her life. After drinking breast milk exclusively for 6 months, baby is ready to learn to eat. So this is the perfect period to teach baby the taste of various foods. When baby tastes the food, she will memorize the taste and save it in her brain. Soon, when she grown up, she will recognize the taste of foods she tried in the sensitive period and will eat it happily. Thank God I knew this information before!

If parents never give fruits and vegetables during this period, baby will not have any memory about this. So, no wonder if she becomes a picky eater when she grown up.

So, that's the first thing. And second, as parents, we should give a good example. If we want our children to eat fruit and vegetables, while we never eat one of them, don't yell at your children if they follow your example. They will say to themselves, "Well, my mom and dad never eat that either, so why should I?" Learn to be a good example for your child is another thing to do.

If those two didn't work, try to be creative with the food!

1. Try to make creation with the carrot. Make a flower, butterfly, bug, or anything you can make. You can find a cute cutter in the cooking store department.
   


2. Instead of using chicken, try use cauliflower or broccoli, dip it into egg, pour out bread crumb and try to make cauliflower nugget or broccoli nugget. They will surprise with the taste!
   


3. Make juice with fruits. Make a popsicle with it. They'll love to eat popsicle with natural juice!
   


4. Cut watermelon or melon with a star shape cutter or flower shape cutter and put some ice on the top of it. Who knows they would like to try it.
   

I hope my idea could help you dealing with the food!