Major points:

Even in a chaotic everyday life with children, you can implement Neatic for infant nutrition with a few simple tips.
Look at the ingredient list when you go shopping and only buy foods that meet the Neatic principles.
At the end of the week, plan for the coming week! This way you are prepared for more stressful days.

Neatic in infant nutrition

Maybe you are thinking: Implementing Neatic for one person is easy. You shop for yourself and pick new favorite products effortlessly. But what about a whole family? Each member has their own needs and preferences. Add to that the daily chaos of daycare, school, activities, and events. When it comes to eating, shopping, and cooking, speed is often key.

How does Neatic fit into this?

Neatic is designed to simplify life, not complicate it. Thinking about food should not dominate your day. Instead, Neatic helps you to develop a routine that makes life easier over time. Forget about trendy diets and special kids’ foods—sticking to the Neatic principles is all you need.

Learn how to get started with Neatic here.

Neatic during the breastfeeding period

The first two years are crucial for your child, as habits form and a healthy foundation is set. Nutrition is especially important during this time.

Various associations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first four to six months. Breastfeeding offers many benefits: it strengthens the bond between mother and child, reduces illnesses, and perfectly meets your baby’s nutritional needs. If you breastfeed, Neatic is easy to implement since breast milk contains no added flavors, sweeteners, or sugars.

However, some mothers cannot or choose not to breastfeed. In this case, various infant formulas are available and it is always recommendable to check their ingredient lists for added flavors, sweeteners, or sugars. If these are not contained, using infant formula is perfectly adequate for the first year of life, making Neatic easy to implement.

Neatic in the complementary feeding phase

When your child is around five to seven months old, you can start introducing complementary foods. This involves progressively giving your child solid food in the form of puree.

Supermarkets, discounters and drugstores offer a variety of different products, adapted to each age. When out shopping it is best to pay attention to which complementary foods contain neither added flavors nor sugars.

Another possibility is, of course, to make the baby food yourself. This way, you control the ingredients you use. If you do not have time to cook in the busy family routine, that is perfectly fine.

Neatic in the family diet

After about nine months, the transition from complementary food to family food usually takes place. This means that you gradually replace the pureed meals and your child eats together with the family at breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Once your child is eating the same as you, implementing Neatic is actually quite simple. Because if you are already paying attention to Neatic, your child will automatically eat according to the Neatic principles.

Practical tips for putting Neatic into practice

If you are wondering how you to easily integrate Neatic into your everyday life with children, here are a few more tips:

Plan ahead:

Take 15 minutes at the end of the week to plan for the new week. What could you cook? On what days do the kids eat at home, and when at a friend’s house? When do you have visitors? When do you have time to cook and when not?
Think about what you want to eat each day and write down all the ingredients you need on a shopping list. Try to coordinate meals so that you have as few leftovers as possible.
Go shopping once for the whole week. This will save you time in the end if you do not have to go shopping for small items over and over again.
Also, consider if there are any upcoming events where the Neatic principles cannot be safely implemented, such as when your child is invited to a birthday party. Perhaps you can contribute something that is flavor- and sweetener-free or contains less sugar.
But do not forget that you cannot and do not have to be in charge of everything. Stay relaxed if your child eats something at kindergarten or school that contains for example flavors.

Relaxed through the day:

If chaos and a hectic pace always break out in the morning, good preparation will help you get a good start to the day. For example, prepare the children’s school lunch in the evening or already prepare what is needed for it.
You can also set the breakfast table in the evening and prepare overnight oats, for example. This way you can directly sit down at the set table in the morning.
Some Neatic recipes can be baked in advance and frozen. For example, the breakfast muffins or the cereal bars are great for this. This way you always have a small supply for spontaneous playground or zoo trips.

Adventure playground supermarket:

If your kids can already read, involve them in shopping. Go on a hunt together and look at the ingredient lists. Then let your kids choose which appropriate new product they want to try. A new food product is much easier to eat when you have a say in the process.

Get into the habit of reading the ingredient lists on products while you are shopping. This will take some time and practice at first, but you will quickly discover your new favorite products without flavors and sweeteners and with less sugar.
Neatic does not mean you have to completely give up convenience foods. There are more and more ready-made products without flavors and sweeteners or with less sugar. Search through the assortment and try out new products. Especially in a busy everyday life, a quick meal like this can simply take the pressure off.

Get your cooking pots ready:

Involve your kids in food preparation. For example, they can wash the fruit, spin the salad, stir the soup, chop the vegetables, help with the seasoning… Many children become more curious to try a dish if they have been involved in its preparation and know what it contains.

Cook ahead for stressful days. For example, you can make double the amount of lasagna and freeze it afterwards. Soups, homemade pizza or stews can also be frozen. If you are washing lettuce anyway, then wash the whole head and store the cleaned lettuce in a bowl in the refrigerator. This way you save the cleaning the next day.
Baby food can also be prepared in large quantities and frozen in portions. Put in a little work once and you are set for the next few weeks.
Bring the garden into your home. It does not have to be the whole vegetable patch. But you can cultivate basil, chives or a cress basket together with your children. By the way, a butter sandwich with cress is a great substitute for herb cream cheese, which often contains flavors.

And most importantly:

Stay relaxed: No one expects everything to work out overnight and a perfect meal to be on the table every day. There may be cheat days. There will be days when nothing works out. That’s okay. And tomorrow we continue!

Bibliography:

Aromendurchführungsverordnung vom 20. Oktober 2021. BGBl. I S. 4723.

Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung: Gesund ins Leben. Netzwerk Junge Familie. Available online at: https://www.gesund-ins-leben.de/, last checked 19.08.2022.

Höfler, Elisabeth; Sprengart, Petra (2018): Praktische Diätetik. Grundlagen, Ziele und Umsetzung der Ernährungstherapie. 2., überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Stuttgart: WVG, Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft.

Kersting, Mathilde (Hg.) (2018): Kinderernährung aktuell. Herausforderungen für Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention: präventive Ernährung, gesunde Säuglings- und Kinderernährung, vegetarische Ernährung bei Kindern, Einflussfaktoren auf das Essverhalten von Kindern und Jugendlichen, Fütterstörungen, Prävention und Therapie von Übergewicht, Therapieansätze für schwer zugängliche Gruppen, Essstörungen, Allergien. 2., komplett aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage. Wiesbaden: Umschau Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH.