Babies put everything in their mouths

Your newborns sucking reflex gets him started on the milk he needs for early growth. A few months later he develops and other important instinct that can be one of your best allies when it comes to food, although you may not have thought about it this way.

This instinct makes your little angel want to put everything in his mouth from about six months in till about age 2. toys, coins, dirt... Anything lying around is fair game. It may make you frazzled or irritable on occasion, but this determination to put everything in his mouth is most likely evolution at work, guaranteeing that he is able to make the essential transition to adulthood.

What you can do: exploit this special window of opportunity to introduce foods you want your child to like. Between 12 months, when your child to eat virtually any food you do, in 21 months to two years, when conservative instincts start to surface, your child can learn to enjoy almost any new food you offer. By the time he is two, he will have a repertoire of 100 to 200 healthy foods that he has learned to recognize, eat, and enjoy. It may be years before he is this adventurous and experimental again.