Setting your baby with habbits for life

NYCNika

From the day he was born, one of our priorities was to give him good nutrition and instill healthy eating habits so that he does not have to struggle to "unlearn" bad behavior or preferences, like I do. I hope to make being healthy natural for him.

1) BM exclusive until 6 month old - no food crossed his lips until than.
2) supplementing BM lightly after 6 month - I started with veggies, so he would get used to them and like them before I introduced fruit. He still likes all the veggies he had as a baby! Brocolli, califlower, sweet potato, carrots... He is now 2. I guess those preferences are set really early

The only thing he eats that comes from a package is cheerios. (as a treat on his yogurt). Never pop-tarts or pizza pockets or such junk.

Sweetened beverages: no commercial juice (he can have as much fruit as he wants and he loves fruit)
I occasionally make him his own "wine" -- fresh pomegranate juice I hand squeeze for him, about 2oz or so, he loves it! I do it because he cannot eat pomegranate seeds by himself yet.
He can have coconut water as a treat.
Besides that, only milk and water. When he gets older, I will make him coco, like I make for myself or DH - skim milk, unsweetened organic coco and minimal amount of sugar if any.
He never had soda.

Steel cut oats with baked apple is something he loved from young age and could eat huge portions of. It is the most common breakfast for him. He equally likes buckwheat for breakfast and he loves Greek yogurt.

I don't keep him on any restriction or low-fat diets, I just make sure everything he eats is minimally processed, fresh, and cook everything for him from scratch.
I grind his meat myself and we only make brown rice in the household.

I buy plenty of wild, low on the food chain fish for him. (it is crazy expensive and I have to go to special store to even be able to buy it fresh).

I don't want him to grow up fighting to unlearn bad nutrition habits. I want it to be natural to him.

I also make sure that treats are really good. For example, when I make buttermilk pancakes once in a while, I make them from scratch, with fresh buttermilk, and they are moist and more delicious than any you can buy outside. That way easily accessible ones like from diner or a fast food place will suffer in comparison and be less appealing.

He also surprises me sometimes. For example, never in a million years did I expect him to like celery. I let him try it when he asked me, and what do you know, he liked it. Does not like avocado though. Go figure.

Every time I think about what to feed him, I think "is it good for him?"

It already paid off because I have a child who does not thinks that veggies and fruit is what a snack is and likes most healthy foods. I am not perfect, of course (he has a thing for a fresh baguette and we can't leave Fairway without it). Neither am I fanatical -- if he is offered a piece of cake at a birthday party, not a problem. If we go out to a cafe he can have whatever we are having. As long as his household eats healthy, he should be fine. How he eats at home is a bigger factor than anything else.