Did you know that many of the behaviours or habits we have as adults may have come from the experiences we had during the early years? This includes our eating habits and preferences for certain foods. You can help your baby become a healthy adult by providing a range of healthy foods and by following your child’s cues when weaning.
From 5 months – “I am curious about what you are doing!”
You will notice your baby is starting to get curious about what you are doing and will want to start to join in too. Your baby will start to put things in their mouth to explore and may start to chew at toys. Following this cue will help you when starting to wean your baby. If your baby is ready from 5 months you may like to start with puree foods as your baby won’t be fully sitting up and supporting themself just yet. But from 6 months you may like to start with baby-led weaning and offering pieces of finger foods (that are large and chip like size for your baby to grasp and hold). Your baby prefers sweet foods so try offering vitamin enriched fruits and vegetables e.g. butternut squash, courgette, apple or pear as a first food. At this stage of cognitive development your baby is starting to explore objects with their hands and may be learning to drop objects voluntarily, so finger foods follow your baby’s development as your baby can lead their own eating experience and experiment with different tastes and textures – its finger food fun! Yes your baby will make a mess and they may drop the food but with practice and being allowed to try for themselves they will eventually pick up the skill to bring the piece of food to their mouth and just like their toys will chew on it, learn to take it into the mouth and then swallow to fill up their little tummy. Offering only puree foods means they only learn to suck off the spoon and when they do get a lump in their food they are less likely to know how to chew the food. It is about experimenting and exploring so make it fun and eat a piece of what your baby is eating too so your baby can copy you and chew, chew, chew!
Top tips – from your child’s perspective:
- Offer 1 – 2 choices and expect refusal as I am learning independence.
- If I don’t want to experiment with some foods today I might like to try tomorrow so please allow up to 10 tastes before giving up;
- If I get a blocked or runny nose this may reduce my ability to smell so I may not like to taste food. Please give me more fluids and don’t worry I will experiment again when I feel better;
- Please remember that some days I might not like to experiment with food but over the week as long as you are providing a variety of healthy foods I will be getting enough nutrients;
- I can be a useful consumer of adult leftovers the next day. Freeze left overs in meal sized lots for me.
For more information on inspiring your child’s development, please contact:
Alissa Tosswill – Eat Play Grow
[email protected]
07831941419
www.eatplaygrow.co.uk