A pediatrician’s tips for staring your baby on solids
Parents should skip the rice cereal and avoid giving babies processed white flour during the first year of life, says HealthMaker Alan Greene, MD, chief medical officer at Scanadu. He shares other dos and don’ts for parents to keep babies healthy.
Transcript
[SOFT MUSIC] ALAN GREENE: When it comes to food, I've got a few simple dos and don'ts. [SOFT MUSIC]
So one of the most important things to start with is something that we call the whiteout campaign or whiteout program, which is for the last several decades 98% of kids
have started, their very food, is processed white flour. We call it rice cereal. And that's the one food they do give again and again
and again and again until they're solidly imprinted on it. I would just skip the process white flour in the first year of life.
There's no need for it for kids. And they'll thank you. Beyond that, when it comes to food, I've got a few simple dos and don'ts.
And one of them is to make the first meal a family meal. Rather than the baby over there eating something entirely
separate from the rest of the family, let's start this idea. The kids meal is a new idea in the last several decades.
Baby food actually is a pretty new idea, too. So pick something that you could share. It could be either a real tasting baby
food that you like, you use it as a sauce or spread or dip. Or just take a real food like a sweet potato or avocado banana,
have some yourself, and share it with the baby. Build a culture of family meals. The other thing that I think we should do very differently than is common,
right now most people wait three to five days before starting new foods. And they just do one ingredient at a time.
And that trains picky eaters. The only reason for doing that is so you can sort out food allergies if they happen to be allergic.
More than 90% of kids never have an allergy. And if they do, it's not that hard to figure out. Instead go for variety.
Speed it up. Try something new every day to build an adventurous palate. [SOFT MUSIC] [AUDIO LOGO]
child development
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