From the author: published on the website When caring for a child in the first year of life, it is necessary to understand exactly what developmental tasks he is solving during this period of his life. The developmental tasks of an infant should include familiarity with one's body, motor development, familiarity with the outside world, primary social adaptation, the formation of eating behavior and the establishment of control over urination and defecation. Getting to know one's body Primary social adaptation Primary social adaptation is a very important task in the development of an infant. Man is a social being and must be able to interact with other people. Primary social adaptation occurs in the process of breastfeeding and relationships with the mother throughout the entire period of breastfeeding. Being at the mother's breast, the child learns interaction in a pair - between person and person. By observing the mother's behavior in relation to other people, the child understands the relationships in the group. Since breastfeeding should normally continue for at least 2-3 years, during this time the baby acquires the necessary skills to communicate in society. Emotional development, communication and speech can be considered as elements that contribute to the child’s social adaptation. Formation of eating behavior A breastfed child must subsequently switch to the normal diet used by his parents. This is quite natural. The nutritional capabilities of any biological creature are limited by the ecological niche of its habitat. Under natural conditions, special feeding conditions are not created for the cub, since this is simply impossible. Thus, the child must have evolutionarily determined abilities to adapt to new food, which, undoubtedly, should be reflected in his physiological characteristics and behavior. Indeed, by 6 months, the action of the ejection reflex, which did not give the baby the opportunity to swallow solid food, ceases; by this time, enzymes mature in the child’s digestive system and at the same time he develops an interest in adult food. At about 5-7 months, the child shows interest in the table and demands that he be allowed to try new food. Moreover, the emergence of food interest always corresponds to the child’s ability to grasp objects and hold them in his hands, so he is able to independently take food, hold it in his hand and bring it to his mouth. Let’s list the main tasks and principles of developing normal eating behavior in a child: • The child begins acquaintance with food products in microdoses from the moment he shows food interest, which appears at approximately 5-7 months and does not need any other products other than those that adults eat at a common table.• One of the important developmental tasks in the first year life is the child’s acquisition of skills in chewing and swallowing solid food, which are not given to us from above, but acquired as a result of training. For such learning, the child needs not pureed, but solid food. In addition, while chewing hard food, such as a cracker, bagel, a piece of hard apple, carrot, etc., the child intensively massages the gums.• It is very important that the child eats literally from the mother’s plate, i.e. the same as her. This is important because mother's milk helps the baby absorb exactly the food that he ate with his mother. • In the child's mind, breastfeeding has nothing to do with consuming food from the common table. For a baby, these are two independent processes, so it is impossible to replace breastfeeding with complementary foods - it is irreplaceable. A child can ask for breastfeeding before complementary feeding, during meals, after complementary feeding, and regardless of complementary feeding.• During the period between 5 months and 1.5 years, the child becomes familiar with the taste qualities of all products that are commonly consumed in his family and remembers them. Those products that he did not become familiar with during these periods will be consumed reluctantly or.