The title word means a fear of anything new. Recently,
scientists have discovered that certain eating disorders stem
from an early childhood refusal to eat specific foods. Some
adults have a mental condition which causes them to fear the
consumption of certain foods, ranging from meat to various
types of vegetables. They are afraid that these foods might
taste bad or that they are actually spoiled.
Why do some babies lap up anything and everything which is
offered to them while others purse their little mouths and
spit out anything new? In fact, I have seen identical twins
behaving in this way. One eats everything with great gusto,
while the other will not touch meat or vegetables.
When we introduce a baby to food, we are advised to give him
just a little bit at a time at first, to make sure that he
can digest it and is not allergic to it. However, once he is
on solids, we should try to introduce as varied amounts of
tastes and textures as possible, as early as possible after
six months. But what can one do with a baby who refuses most
foods?
Offer a taste of apple sauce, for example, twice or three
times a day for about two weeks. By that time, he may have
succumbed to the good taste and even begin to enjoy it. It is
not worth trying to smuggle the detested food into his cereal
if he happens to like cereal, hoping that he will not detect
it. You are hoping to accustom him to that particular new
food, and the longer you let him enjoy just mother's milk or
formula milk to the exclusion of all else (after he is six
months old), the more difficult it will be to convince him to
eat solids, if by any chance he happens to be a neophobic
baby.
If you are dealing with one of those babies who balks at any
new taste, it is worth persevering for at least two weeks. He
might not even dislike the food, yet he is afraid of any new
taste. If you offer a spoonful of new food at the beginning
of a meal, when he is really hungry, a really determined baby
will get so angry that he refuses to eat altogether after
that, and only wants milk. Thus it is a good idea to offer
the new food when he is calm and not roaring for food, but
also not too satisfied. Each mother knows her own baby
best.
If the baby spits it out or turns his head away when you try
to feed him, after many days of trying, my personal feeling
is that you should capitulate. After all, there are some
foods which adults dislike, too. He may take to that taste
when he is a little older when he encounters it in a
different texture, or when he is old enough to pop it into
his own mouth.
A baby knows how much he needs. When you prepare a plateful
of food and he refuses the last three spoonfuls, don't try to
push them in. He has had enough, and you just overestimated
his capacity.
Food phobia is definitely an illness, but has no connection
to anorexia or bulimia. On the contrary, some sufferers are
quite obese. Anorexics are afraid of the fat content in the
food, but a neophobic is afraid of the food itself.
Researchers traced the cause of some, though not all,
neophobia, back to childhood. Most babies do not carry their
phobia into adulthood. Some are more choosy than others about
what they eat, but on the whole, food is something to be
enjoyed.
[Tip: If the baby balks at the spoon, dip your finger -- or
his -- into the applesauce, etc. and then bring it to his
lips.]
