Surprising Facts About Babies Diets

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This post is sponsored by Beech-Nut. While I did receive compensation; my opinion is, as always, my own.

My boys are 16 and 20 now. I love them with everything I have and then some, but sometimes I really do miss the infant stage. Things are just so much simpler then. A parent takes care of their child and that’s pretty much that. Take food, for example. Infants are too young to be expressing opinions that they don’t want to eat something. They’re definitely too young to be making their own food choices. As infants my boys were content with whatever the fruit or vegetable of the day was that I spoonfed them. There were no salty, oily or super sugary snacks back then. Like I said, it’s a simpler time in life.

It’s no surprise that a substantial number of older children and adults don’t make the best food choices. But it may surprise you to know that children are developing unbalanced eating patterns as early as 9 months of age. This fact and many others came as a result of a Beech-Nut-commissioned study that analyzed 10 years of food and beverage consumption data between 0-24 months from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES). Beech-Nut wanted this study done in order to have a better understanding of the dietary patterns of 0-24 month olds. They also wanted to be able to identify areas where guidelines and strategies might be able to help create a seamless, earlier transition to healthier foods.

Unlike having a legal law establishing the age you can get a drivers license, there is no hard and fast law on when to introduce food-based nutrition into our children’s diets. You’ve probably that parents sometimes don’t see eye to eye on what foods young children should eat and the timing for introducing those foods on sites like Facebook. It seems there are so many different opinions!

As it turns out, there is mounting evidence that proper nutrition in the first two years of life is critical to promoting good long-term health, vitality and obesity prevention. As parents we often find ourselves in the position of trying to do the best things for our children. We care about what we fed them as infants. In 2015 many of us applauded Beech-Nut for recognizing the importance of this, and for becoming the first baby food company in the United States to be transparent and list the percentage of each ingredient used in their recipes right on the jar.

Beech-Nut still recognizes the importance of what we feed our children today. Their study revealed that as infants move from baby food to whole food, they are eating more French fries, sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets than they are vegetables and whole grains.

The study also released a fact that really startled me – by 12 months many children are consuming adult levels of sodium and added sugars. I know that we as adults sometimes have to deal with the impact of our food choices, including having too much sodium and/or sugar. I know some of the associated health risks. I was surprised and a bit saddened at the thought of our children dealing with the same things we deal with at such a young age.

Nicole Silber, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Lactation Counselor specializing in pediatric nutrition, has shared some tips on how to do better at feeding our babies. I found the reminder to shop for the right baby food to be a valid point. Giving our child quality food is just sensible. Research shows that babies have more balanced diets between 6-8 months when they are given baby food on its own or incorporated into table foods. And of course, if we choose the right foods for our infants, it makes sense to continue that habit by transitioning from real purees to real foods. It’s easier now than ever to prepare real foods for our children, reducing the amount of sodium and sugar and often being less expensive to prepare.

You can find more tips and some great information on how to better feed our babies on the Beech-Nut blog.

What’s one thing you’ve learned about feeding your child since you became a parent?

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