Today’s article, “9 Tips To Get Your Child Happily Eating Probiotic Rich Foods”, is written by our special guest, Wal Herring.
Wal Herring is a Qualified Nutritionist Mother of 4. She has 20 year’s clinical and practical experience in Nutrition and is Author of Healthy Little Eaters. Wal runs a blog ‘Adventurous Little Eaters’ where the focus is on baby and child gut health and raising kids who have a healthy relationship with food. Check out her free email course’s.
Think fermented food is just for adults? Think again. Use one or a combination of these 9 tips to get your child happily eating probiotic rich foods and they’ll be devouring it in no time.
Imagine your kids happily devouring probiotic rich food such as sauerkraut, or asking for a pickle as their snack.
Kids happily eating fermented foods could seem like a far-off dream, especially if they are refusing broccoli. But you can make that dream a reality. How do I know?
I have been where you are. The rollercoaster of providing your kids with healthy food. The excitement at the thought of providing something healthy, yet the let down when your kids decide they won’t like it… even before they try it.
It’s draining and the thought of adding in one more food that they are likely to screw up their nose up at… it’s exhausting.
Trainings kids taste buds to accept the sourness of fermented foods requires effort. But the effort that you put in gives back 10-fold. To know that your child is getting some probiotic rich food with extra nutrients and enzymes when bugs flying around, or, when their immune system is down – is a huge relief.
9 Tips to Get Your Child Happily Eating Probiotic Rich Foods
Below are 9 ways that will help to get your kids eating probiotic foods… without bribing, rewarding or punishing them if they don’t eat it.
1. Make Probiotic Food Familiar for Your Kids
When was the last time you ate something new? Something that you had no clue existed before it was put on your plate?
Whether you’re an adult or a child, eating something new for the first time can be daunting. Before you even give an inkling to your child you want them to eat a fermented food… make it familiar.
- Point out the cabbages in the supermarket and talk about how it’s made into sauerkraut.
- Put some probiotic rich food in the middle of the table as you would sauces or water. Don’t ask them to eat it, just make them aware of it.
- Tell stories of the first time you ate it, how it tickled your tongue and made your cheeks go funny. Laugh about it.
When your kids eventually try sauerkraut and the unfamiliar feeling of that sour food makes their taste buds sweat, they will know this feeling is not only normal, but something to smile about.
Note: Do your kids have a negative association to your fermented foods? Take a break from it. In a few month’s time, serve it again but make the driving force behind them trying the kid-friendly fermented food is fun. A positive association with that fermented food.
2. Start Probiotic Food When They’re A Baby
Feeding good bacteria through Fermented foods is the F in baby’s FIRST foods (click for the free email course).
Although babies can and do spit foods out, if you serve the same food to them the next day, they’ll happily open their mouth again. This is the perfect time to start training babies taste buds for the sour taste of fermented foods.
Make baby-friendly fermented foods by simply adding sauerkraut juice or a juice of your favorite probiotic food to your baby’s puree.
When I was introducing solids to my 4th child I gave them Fermented Sweet Potato. Now it’s one of our families regularly eaten fermented foods. Spreading it over a pancake style Dosa, is a heavenly start to the day, for both myself and my kids. Or, spread it over sandwiches and wraps for a kick to lunches.
Note: Introducing some of the more allergenic foods to your baby as the fermented version is a great way to get their digestion use to these foods. For example, kefir before milk, sourdough before bread and miso before soy products.
Probiotic Apples
3. Empathize with your kids about the “new” fermented food
Do you remember the first time you ate your very own probiotic foods? I do. I was unsure. I was hesitant. Was it off? Was that sour-taste normal? Was it meant to be fizzy?
Speak about your experience with your kids. How you were unsure the first time you ate probiotic foods.
And, maybe you didn’t really like it the first few times you tried it. But how glad you persisted, one bite at a time, because probiotic foods add a tantalizing taste to your meals and you know your gutties are looked after.
Empathize with your kids about how the first bites can seem weird and make you feel unsure. But keep persisting and they’ll be rewarded.
Note: I have taught my kids that they have a pet in their gut – called gutties. We need to take care of these gutties and feed them everyday. When we take care of them, they look after us and help us stay healthy.
4. Eat and Make A ‘New’ Fermented Food Yourself
Kids learn more from what we do than what we say. Bring your kids into the fermenting process and experiment with them.
Make a fermented food that you have never tried before. When they’re with you on this journey, they’ll see how unsure you are. How you are trying something that you have never tried before.
When you lead by example, you are unconsciously teaching your kids how to react to uncertainty and ‘new’ foods.
When you taste it, don’t ask them to taste it. Most of the time they’ll want to try it to join in with you. Speak out loud what you are thinking.
If you don’t like the fermented food. Wonder out loud how you could make it better for next time. If you like it a little, speak out loud “I think I’ll need to try this a few more times before I really like it”. And if you love it, be excited and speak out loud how you’re glad you persisted with trying something new. This step is about you.
If they don’t eat any of your new fermented food goodness, don’t be deflated. You’ve taught them a lot.
- It’s ok to try new foods.
- It’s great to experiment with cooking sometimes even if you don’t get it right.
- Taste buds can still be trained as an adult.
The old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force him to drink” is useful here; Lead your child, but don’t force.
5. Play Games when Trying Fermented Food
What makes you want to learn? If you asked researchers, the resounding answer is… it must be fun.
Make trying fermented foods fun for kids. With a positive learning environment, eventually your kids will need no prompting to finish their fermented food goodness. They may even ask for more.
You maybe wondering…
How do I make Fermented Food fun?
Every child is different to what they find fun. But one game that I have found universally work for my kids as well as my client’s kids, is to play the sour-face game.
Most people when they suck on a lemon will make a sour-face.
Eating sauerkraut or another fermented food can induce the same face. So, make it in to a game… who can keep a straight face while eating a bite.
It’s all about the game. Your job is to make the game fun.
Give them your full attention, watching for any slip up they may have. Cheering them on the same way you do when they’re chasing something that’s just out of their reach.
This very game was a game-changer when my 3rd was going through the 2-year-old, I’m-not-eating-that phase. She is now the one that will hog the jar of my kid-friendly fermented foods when it’s put on the table. Her brothers and sisters have to pry it off her.
Enjoying fermented foods is learnt, so make the learning fun.
6. Try Kid-friendly Fermented Foods
What foods or flavors do your kids already like?
Do they like cumin in their chili or on their roasted root vegetables? Then add cumin seeds to your next ferment.
Do your kids enjoy garlic bread? Then make a fermented garlic paste and put that on their next garlic bread.
Start with flavors your kids already accept. Write a list. Next to the already accepted flavor, brain-storm ways you can get that flavor into your next kid-friendly fermented food.
Work with what you have, with what they already enjoy eating.
7. Try Different Textures
What textures do your kids prefer?
This is similar to the flavor’s but with texture. Some people love their sauerkraut minced up; others prefer their fermented foods to be in chunks. You can make the same recipe of fermented foods, but cut the vegetables in a different way.
- Do your kids enjoy the crunch of a carrot? Maybe start them on Dilly Carrots.
- Do your kids prefer the smoothness of a puree? Start them on Fermented Sweet Potato.
- Do your kids prefer their vegetables not touching and big enough to hold? Start them on cauliflower big enough to hold.
This combined with the flavors they already accept will help you find a winner.
8. Make Sauerkraut Kid-friendly
Babies and kids naturally prefer sweeter foods.
This doesn’t mean we should always serve them sweet food. Part of our job as parents is to help kids explore other tastes and train their taste buds for sour and bitter foods.
However, we can use this sweet preference to our advantage by adding an orange or a fruit to your next brine.
The orange lightens the taste once it’s ready to eat. I have found my kids will eat twice as much of my ‘kids favorite sauerkraut’ when I add in an orange to the brine than when I don’t.
Make your next batch sauerkraut kid-friendly by adding in an orange or another sweeter fruit, it could make the difference between your kids eating one bite, two, or half the jar.
9. Start small
Forget about kids eating ‘enough’ fermented foods. Think long-term.
You want them to be eating fermented foods at 20 not because they ‘have-to’, but because they enjoy eating it.
With that in mind, come back to the daily routine and think if they try it (even one mouthful) while in a positive frame of mind… you’re winning.
If they start with putting one slither of a cabbage on their tongue and then spitting it out. That’s great! Their taste buds have just experienced something new. Their taste buds are officially in training.
Over time (which could be a year or more) the amount will gradually grow, and your kids taste buds will grow to love that fermented food goodness.
Personal Note: When I introduced my 4th to sauerkraut he was 8 months old. He would put it in his mouth and spit it out. It was only when he was 17 months old that he grabbed a handful and ate it all, saying ‘yum’ as he ate it. Looking back he must have “tried” (eating it but spitting it out) sauerkraut on average 3 times a week for 9 months before he swallowed any.
Overview of the 9 Tips to Get Your Child Happily Eating Probiotic Rich Foods
Getting kids to happily eat fermented foods requires a little effort on your part to provide encouragement to train their taste buds for it. But once their taste buds accept the sour and fizzy taste… there will be no stopping them. They’ll be asking for their favorite fermented food with their dinner or as a snack.
To help get them there, employ any of these 9 Tips to get your child happily eating probiotic rich food.
- Make probiotic food familiar to your kids
- Start probiotic food when they are a baby
- Empathize with your kids about the “new” fermented food.
- Eat and Make A ‘New’ Fermented Food Yourself
- Play Games when trying fermented food
- Try kid-friendly fermented foods
- Try different textures
- Make sauerkraut kid-friendly
- Start small
Kids enjoying fermented foods may seem like a far-off dream, but I know it can be a reality… How do I know?
Because I’ve been there. Fermented foods have not always been a part of my life or my kids’ life… But by using a combination of the 9 strategies above I got my four to accept fermented foods as a part of everyday life.
I am certain this will soon be your reality.
Remember… Every ‘try’, no matter how small, is a step closer to the far-off dream of kids happily devouring fermented foods.
Wishing you all the best on your fermented foods journey with your kids.
Wal
Wal Herring is a Qualified Nutritionist Mother of 4. She has 20 year’s clinical and practical experience in Nutrition and is Author of Healthy Little Eaters. Wal runs a blog ‘Adventurous Little Eaters’ where the focus is on baby and child gut health and raising kids who have a healthy relationship with food. Check out her free email course’s.
