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Looking to start solids for your baby? Here is something very useful for you mothers. For new mothers nothing else can be more satisfying than a well eating baby. The day your baby has eaten well, it is like you have accomplished the biggest task of the day.

Struggle with solid food for babies has become one of the most challenging part of the motherhood journey. Creating variety of food can be the easiest & interesting for your little ones whereas making them eat can be equally challenging at times. Have you notice that whenever your baby has just started eating right, there comes some or the other barrier just to test your patience & to make your struggle even worse? Every new day will give you different experiences and surprises.

I have been following a mix of both traditional weaning (making separate baby food starting with purees – mashed food – to solids & spoon feeding them) and baby led weaning (offering food from family pot, starting with finger foods & making babies eat on their own) for my son.

However, in my case I started with traditional weaning as I wasn’t aware about baby led weaning when I had to start solids for him. Please understand no technique is superior to other, it is all about what suits you and your child. Here are few tips that can be helpful in your child’s gastronomic journey.

 

Read about baby food techniques :

Research and study about baby food before your baby turns 6 months old and choose wisely which method you want to follow.  Read about when to introduce solids, find out healthy recipes of different textures, food that will encourage early chewing in them, number of meals to offer in a day month wise and when to keep adding.

Introduce right thing at the right time :

Make sure you do not miss on anything important, as they are quick to adapt a certain format and making changes later can be more challenging. For e.g.:  A baby is ready to eat food that will encourage chewing in them after 6 months. But delay in introducing the right texture can delay the learning of chewing process in them.

Follow a proper meal routine/pattern :

Let them know that it is their mealtime while making them sit on a chair, wearing bibs, offering food in the same plate & spoon, follow certain time period for every meal and don’t stretch them too long.  

Focus on quality and not quantity :

Let baby decide for themselves. All babies are unique and so as their diet. They can be full with just few bites. Just keep offering different varieties, shapes, textures, and they can surprise you any time.

Let them explore :

Allow them to make a mess. Let them touch, feel, throw and they will surely end up eating few morsels. Encourage them by clapping when they eat something on their own. Offer food from the family pot after one year and make them eat when all other family members are eating. Allow them to eat from your plate.

Understand reasons for food rejection :

There are various reasons for babies rejecting food or eating less at various stages from a baby to toddler. They could be hitting a milestone, drop in appetite due to growth spurts, teething, sickness, constipation, vaccination or sometimes they are just too tired to eat anything.

No Screen time and no Distract feeding:

No matter what, do not try to bribe them with the screen time for the sake of making them eat. You might want to show them TV just for a single meal but remember, once you do that, next time they know how to blackmail you when you offer them the food. In no time they will start associating their food time with the screen time. At the same time avoid distract feeding be it their toys or anything else so that they enjoy their meal time. Do not worry by paying too much of attention or reacting if they skip any of their meals or have not eaten properly, they know how to fill their stomachs.

Establish a healthy positive relationship :

Allow your child to establish a healthy positive relationship with the food or else they will simply run away looking at the plate. Force feeding can definitely ruin their relationship with the food.

Establishing a healthy relationship between baby and food is an art that you have to master. There can be many instances where you might lose your cool, especially when people don’t fail to pass their comments saying baby isn’t gaining weight.

Then the only thing you want to focus is how to make your baby eat; be it forcefully or giving them the screen time. That’s where you can go wrong. Baby’s weight is neither going to define how good or bad mother you are nor its going to define if your child is healthy or unhealthy. Till the time they are active and playful it is all good.

 So maintain your calmness and keep doing your best, rest will be taken care.