Some babies and toddlers develop sudden passions or aversions to particular foods and they can also develop temporary intolerances -due to viruses, gastric upsets or sometimes coinciding with teething. Allow for these temporary preferences and intolerances – foods and preferences will come and go in and out of a child’s diet. Stay flexible and ready to try new things.
Appetite also can go up and down day by day. Temporary loss or surge of appetite is a normal feature in toddlers.
If you can keep up breastfeeding for 12 months or longer, then stick to it. If you have to wean from the breast from nine months onwards, you may be better to wean the baby on to a soya milk formula milk rather than a cow’s milk formula.
If you wean from the breast after 12 months, you may still find that a soya milk formula suits your baby better. You do not have to give it in a bottle – you can give it in a cup or as an ordinary drink.
When you first try cow’s milk on a breastfed child who has never eaten it before, try heat-treated milks as follows. Either use a cow’s milk infant formula, or bring cow’s milk to the boil, simmer for five minutes, and then cool, or you can use diluted evaporated milk. Heat treatment modifies the proteins and can make cow’s milk less likely to cause allergic reactions.
If your child is lactose intolerant. If your child is very severely sensitive to any form of cow’s milk, goat’s milk or soya, one other option is nut milks. Sheep’s milk is less prone to cause reactions than cow’s or goat’s milk (>FOOD AND DRINK for more advice). Always get a doctor’s and dietitian’s advice if your child has a very restricted diet.
If your baby has multiple food sensitivities, he or she may be advised to go on a rotation diet.
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