Doctor Says First Optimization May Use Bumbu For Flavor Increasers

Illustration (Anastasia Shuraeva/Pexels)

JAKARTA - Pediatrician dr. Miza Afrizal, SpA who is a member of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) allows Mother's Water Supply Food (MPASI) to be added with spices, dismissed the assumption that MPASI must be bland.

"About 10 years ago, research at that time stated that MPASI should not have felt like it. But the more science continues until this moment, the MPASI can use taste or spices from the start," Miza said as quoted by ANTARA.

Miza said that the sense of taste has actually been working since the baby was in the womb of the final trimester. In the womb, the baby can taste the taste of food eaten by the mother. Then when born, the baby can also feel a savory taste which is the dominant taste of breast milk. So, Miza said, MPASI can use spices.

"All the time of their life, the baby from 0 to 5 months, they feel breast milk that continues to taste good and delicious. Imagine if we suddenly gave him food for the first time it was bland as much as possible, it would not be strange if many babies refused from the start," he said.

"But it does not rule out the possibility that there are also babies who prefer a bland taste," he added.

Providing spices to MPASI can also help children learn to eat, especially when they enter the neophobic phase (rasa of fear or doubt to include a new taste or texture in the mouth).

"When we are about one year old, 100 percent have a neophobic phase. Therefore, before the child enters that phase, it is better for us to introduce various kinds of flavors. So that when entering neophobia, fear or doubt try and feel something new so it is not too bad," he suggested.

Even so, there are limits that must be considered if you want to add spices to the MPASI, which is a maximum of 400 mg sodium or 1 gram of salt for ages 6 months to 1 year, and 2 grams of salt for the age of two years. In addition to through spices, Miza gives parents the freedom to introduce their taste to their children through varying MPASI food ingredients.