Before becoming a mother, my dream was of crafting all baby food myself from scratch and offering my adventurous eater a variety of flavors through homecooked dishes and perfect balanced meals. Unfortunately, reality led me down another route–one full of more squeeze-pack food options than anticipated!
Now a new study highlights that not all squeeze packs are created equal and suggests I narrow my choices only when they contain vegetables; otherwise my toddler could join the 30 percent of infants and toddlers who fail to consume any veggies on an ongoing basis.
“According to an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study published this month, commercial infant and toddler food markets do not appear to offer sufficient products that help caregivers encourage children’s later acceptance of vegetables that will become part of table food diets,” reports its authors.
According to their research, only 52 infant and toddler foods sold in the U.S. that they analyzed contained solely vegetables – no products contained leafy greens, beans or peas!
Squeeze packs containing multiple flavors were most often composed of fruits or sweeter vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes; only 1.1% listed dark green vegetables as being first ingredient in their available options.
Why does this matter? While newborn babies tend to prefer sweeter tastes such as those found in breast milk or formula, being exposed early on to bitter-tasting vegetables such as leafy greens can boost their likelihood of eating them later in childhood.
Parents with infants and toddlers today may find the most successful solution is offering peas, beans and leafy greens even when their little one responds negatively. Exposure will eventually turn “yucky” into acceptance! (Let’s hope!)
Down the line, researchers hope commercial manufacturers will respond by increasing greens’ presence in ready-to-eat baby food products. On behalf of all parents with picky kids I say: Thank you and please give my peas some more love!