Flavors for your baby: stimulates your sense of taste
The exercises that we propose to stimulate the sense of taste have to be repeated many times so that they fulfill their objective. The stimulation of the senses in general and the sense of taste in particular helps babies to increase the number of neuronal connections in the brain and that is what we should take advantage of.
The objective of gustatory and olfactory exercises is to expand the range of scents and flavors that we present to our children. The greater this variety, the greater the number of stimuli. All this results in a large number of new neuronal connections, which are the goal and the basis of early stimulation.
Taste preferences of babies
It is curious to see how sugary solutions please the baby from birth. If a sugared sample is added to a baby's bottle, an immediate increase in suction will be observed. On the contrary, if the sample is bitter, the suction stops abruptly. The taste sensitivity of the baby is highly developed: it can distinguish between sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
Although they have a marked preference for the sweet, it is essential to moderate their use during the first six months. Breast milk, in addition to enchanting them, responds perfectly to the demands of the newborn and has the advantage of adapting permanently to its evolution.
Breast milk and stimulation of the baby's sense of taste
The moment of breastfeeding is a good stimulating occasion for the baby. It is a situation that favors the appearance of affective bonds between mother and child. During each feeding, the sensory capacities of the newborn are stimulated by all kinds of pleasures: smell of milk and body of the mother, taste of milk, contact with the arms and breast of the mother, eye contact, face to face. .. We must make good use of these moments so we must try not to give food in a hurry.
Ideas for baby's taste stimulation
1. Papillas, rich, rich
When preparing the vegetable and fruit porridges, we can intentionally vary their ingredients so that the baby captures the different flavors or, at least, vary the proportion of the usual ingredients so that the final taste varies. In summer, fruit porridges can include seasonal fruits such as peaches, Paraguayans, apricots, etc.
2. Fruit yogurts
Do not just give the natural or the strawberry, we can vary and choose others of different flavors: there are many in the market. The taste also varies simply with varying the brand. It is not about changing the flavor every day, otherwise the baby may feel upset.
3. What do you know?
With great care, from very young we can stimulate their sense of taste by putting on the tip of your tongue different stews and meals that we are preparing. We will be aware that it is neither too hot nor cold, nor that there is such a quantity that it implies a danger that swallows it. If we do it as a game, our child will happily participate in this exercise.
4. I know by mouth
As children, our son's way of knowing the world around him is to put things in his mouth. It is a stimulation of touch ... but also of taste, no doubt fits. If we have toys that you can suck in your room, without toxic elements or small parts that can be swallowed, we will be favoring their development. If they are also bright colors we will stimulate the sense of sight at the same time.
Beatriz Bengoechea.Psychologist and family counselor.
