A successful 1st year with food means that everything will go smoothly in the second year and in the years after that. Here, success means that the child has got used to eating food from 2 or 3 food groups at every meal and, during the whole day, to have eaten food from each of the four groups. Success also means that the mother believes that fruit and vegetables play an important part in her child’s diet and taught him/her to enjoy eating them. Here we should add that by eating fruit and a variety of different foods as part of our daily diet, we can avoid eating too many calories and gaining weight. Fresh fruit and fresh fruit juices which do not contain sugar protect teeth from decay.

And success is not only what your child eats, but how he/she eats it. For instance, if he/she is taking the initiative and beginning to drink from his/her cup on his/her own and to eat from his/her plate without any help. And the sooner he/she takes his/her place at the table with the rest of the family, the bigger the success. He/She might be interested in what the rest of the family is eating before he is a year old. Whatever is being cooked for the rest of the family is suitable for the baby if he/she is more than a year old, especially if it is Greek food. And because we are talking about Greek food, we must not forget dried beans and other pulses. The albumin in beans is the most bio-available in all natural food stuffs, and it is present in significant amounts. For that reason, pulses should be part of the family’s diet once a week.

Eggs are very complete foods, but that is not particularly important now that your child has a very varied diet. He/She should gradually eat fewer eggs, no more than three a week.

Powdered baby foods are no longer the only food that give your baby starch, vitamins and minerals, so you can reduce the amount of powdered food he/she eats. However they will remain part of his/her diet to ensure that it is varied.