A lot of people use milk as a easy cop out for meals.  Don't do that!  I have heard of people who are too lazy too cook and are just satisfied to give their children a bottle of milk as a meal.  Milk, no matter what the milk companies tell you, is not a super space food with all the nutrients you need in it.  If that is so, then all busy adults should just drink gallons of it instead of wasting time buying, cooking and eating food.  The fact is that by the time your baby is around 6 months old, milk, be it breastmilk or formula milks, is not sufficient to meet all your baby's nutritional needs.  Hence, you need to start introducing solid food.

11. Eat at the Table

In conjunction with the introduction of solids, I also make it a point to have the baby eat at the table with the rest of the family.  The baby sits in his highchair, of course.  I read somewhere that family meals are important for cultivating good eating habits.  By family meals, I mean eating at the table together.  Not everyone sitting in front of the TV with a plate.  Eating becomes enjoyable because for children, it is always fun to do things together. The baby also gets to pick up good eating habits by watching the rest of the family eats.

On top of that, eating at the table naturally means no running around.  One thing I really cannot stand is a child running around during meal times while the adult who is feeding him chases after him with his food.  Even when we are not having a meal together as a family, the baby stays in the highchair to eat his meal.

On this particular point, I have been asked whether is it ok for the baby to be playing with toys or watching tv while eating his meals.  Actually, I have no hard and fast rule about it myself.  A young baby may not have the patience to stay in his highchair for a very long time.  So if a bit of tv or a toy helps to keep him entertained, personally, I am fine with it.  If the baby eats at the family table, you rarely need the tv.  This is just my personal preference.

I have also been asked what to do if the baby does not like to stay in the highchair.  Firstly, start right.  From Day 1, if you put the baby in the highchair for meals, it is more likely that he will get used to the idea right from the beginning.  It is the same as carseat.  Most babies will protest about being stuck in a carseat.   Does that mean you let the baby go without a carseat?  I hope not.  Of course, highchair is not a matter of life and death like carseats.  My point is just that similar to training for carseats, babies can be trained to sit in a highchair.

Secondly, as I said, babies do get bored if they sit too long in their highchairs.  If you cannot keep him in, there is no need to fret about it.  What I do is simply take the baby out of the highchair and finish the meal in another place.  For the next meal, I will still start with the highchair and then move on to another place when the baby acts up.  But try to stretch the highchair time and try other means of keeping him there (which is why for me, having a toy is fine).  Otherwise, the kid will just learn that 'I just have to fuss and I will be out of this chair'.

Sometimes, it may not be possible to use a highchair.  E.g. when we are eating at the grandparents' place where there is no highchair.  Or it may be a party with children all over the place.  As soon as the child is able to understand, I will always insist that he comes back to the adult who is doing the feeding to eat.  In other words, he can take a mouthful and run off to play.  But he must come back to take the next mouthful instead of having the adult run after him.

12. Avoid Processed Food

Avoid using processed food such as luncheon meat, sausages, nuggets, pre-mixes, even breakfast cereals!  Firstly, processed meat are high in fat content.  It does not take a genius to guess that food manufacturers are not going to use the choicest cuts of meat for grinding up into processed meat.  They are more likely to use fats, organs, skins which are leftovers parts that are not sold.  Secondly, meat are preserved using sodium nitrite, which is carcinogenic.  Thirdly, food that are processed usually contains high level of fat, even trans fat, sugar and sodium and have little nutritional content.  Take a look at the ingredients list of one of those children-targetted, multicolour breakfast cereal.  You will find that it is more empty carbohydrates, sugar and artificial colourings than anything.

Yes, children love these processed food and frankly, I do agree it can be quite difficult to totally abstain from it.  But it will be good not just for your children, but for everyone at home as well, if you can cut it down to the very minimum.  As I said earlier, you teach your children what to eat.  If you don't introduce such food to them at a young age, they will not cultivate the taste for it.  If you do not stock such food at home, they will have less chance of eating them.