I wrote on Sunday about portion sizes in infants between 6-12 months and ratios of protein to carbs and vegetables/fruit. I often get also questions about ensuring that my child “gets everything they need” from food. Food intake is of course more than just achieving energy, protein and fat intake but also making sure your baby has sufficient vitamins and minerals. Without these your child can not achieve optimal growth and development (including brain, muscle, eye and others), in addition the immune system requires vitamins and minerals to function. When you plan a meal, think about the variety of colours of the foods you are giving – sounds mad, but it is easy and works. Fruit and vegetables of different colours tend to have different vitamins and minerals and complement each other. Red and white meat and white and pink fish also have differences in their nutrient content. For example, lamb with potato and carrots and spinach – here you have some protein rich in iron, a carbohydrate source and vegetable sources rich in vitamin A, iron, folic acid and vitamin C. Compare this to a meal of chicken, with potato and sweet corn and cauliflower – you do have a protein source that has iron and a carbohydrate source, but you do not have a vegetable source high in vitamin A (yellow/orange or dark green) for example. If you replace the cauliflower with broccoli you will make this meal much more nutritious….and also more colourful. Another example is pasta with peas and salmon – 3 colours and each provides totally different vitamins and minerals. Remember that 60% of eating occurs through the eyes. So its important to ensure that your baby is exposed to different colours of foods (including textures and temperatures) to develop their acceptance of different variety of foods in the future. Now what about fruit? Banana is a favourite for all mothers, as it is convenient and you can puree, mash or give it as pieces. I think it is a great fruit to always have as a back-up. You can use a banana as one portion of fruit per day, but you do not want to give three portions of bananas as fruit/day, because this would provide you with exactly the same nutrients. So again looking at colours you can vary the nutrient content easily – banana, mango and apple – 3 different fruit, different colours and different vitamins and minerals. Below is a photo of a baby bowl with different colours of foods at the ratios previously discussed.
