How Do Solid Food Affect Children And Adolescents?

Initially, the introduction of solid foods may be slow and uncoordinated or even unsuccessful, but with patience, persistence, responsiveness and time from their caregiver, the infant will begin to like the foods and develop feeding skills over a period of a few months. As these feeding skills develop the variety and quantity of solid food increases; consequently resulting in a gradual decrease in breast milk consumption (Queensland Health, 2008). According to Queensland Health (2008), when introducing solid food it is recommended that it is “warm, sloppy, smooth in texture and mild in taste”. Therefore, a good start as recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents for solid food introduction is iron-fortified

This of which is highlighted by the six month old infant of this case study spitting out rice cereal and willingly eating jelly. It is important for caregivers to be persistent in overcoming this food neophobia with their infant in order to prevent failure to thrive from occurring. Failure to thrive refers to when an infant does not adequately grow over a period of time, usually due to lack of energy and nutrients. This of which may occur as a result of an infant’s poor oral cavity development (Wardlaw, 2013). In order to overcome this food neophobia, a calm and casual yet consistent approach to solid food introduction is required of the caregiver, as infants learn to get used to new foods through repeated exposure during complementary feeding (Stirling-Reed, 2015). Therefore, it is essential that individual new foods are gradually offered using a small spoon approximately every three to four days where typically eight to ten regular exposures to a new food are required for food acceptance, however, this may vary as each infant is unique (Queensland Health, 2008). In addition, it is important to wait the recommended three to four days between introducing new foods in order to isolate any foods that may cause an allergic reaction (Nutrition Australia, 2009).These strategies can then be implemented by the mother of the case study in guiding her six month old infant to happily