You, as a parent, should decide when and what your child eats. At the same time, let your child decide how much to eat of each food. Overall, feeding a baby is not difficult. For many parents, difficulties arise when a child does not want to eat. Learn important rules that will help you avoid such problems.
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Ensure Appropriate Conditions
Take care of the conditions in which you feed your baby. Do not distract the toddler. Serve a meal in a quiet room, turn off the TV, and turn down the radio. During the meal, use a high chair intended for infants. This will limit the baby’s or toddler’s ability to move around. Place your little one’s chair at the family table and encourage him to sit there throughout the meal. You can give your baby a toy to encourage them to start eating but then hide it away so it doesn’t distract them from eating.
Stimulate the Appetite
Keep regular 3-4 hour gaps between your baby’s meals. Try to keep the feeding times in line with adult mealtimes so that you can share them. Avoid giving snacks and drinks between meals since they suppress the appetite for a larger meal. If your toddler is thirsty, let them drink some water.
Serve Age-Appropriate Meals
The portions given to the baby or toddler should be small, and their consistency and composition should be adapted to the baby’s age. The feeding scheme for children in the first year of life is helpful in planning meals for younger children. If your baby is still formula fed, be sure to choose the organic baby formula closest to breastmilk that will provide them with the essential nutrition between meals.
Introduce New Products Regularly
Respect the baby’s reluctance to new products. Offer them new products, but do not force them to eat. Remember to praise your baby when they eat a new type of food.
Accept Disorder
When giving your baby a meal, use a bib with a gutter to catch any food that falls, or put a sheet or towel under the chair. Let your child get dirty. Do not disturb them during the meal and wipe their mouth only after the baby has finished.
Let the Baby Eat on Their Own
Just serve your baby a meal and sit next to them. Eat your meal, drink coffee, or just be around. But try to interfere as little as possible with what your baby is doing. If they mash their food, eat slowly, only eat part of the meal, etc., still, let them do it their way. Thanks to this, the baby will learn to cope on their own and will not feel pressure or stress related to meal times.
You don’t have to pretend you’re not there at all. Of course, you can talk to your baby, and tell them what you eat, what texture, color, and taste the products have, where you bought the food, etc. If you see that your little one is trying to eat on their own but is having difficulties (for example, learning to grab or drink from a cup) you can help them, show them how to put food on a fork, hold a cup, etc. But wait for the baby’s signals. An infant, obviously, won’t say what they need exactly, but if you watch their behavior you’ll quickly know when they get frustrated. The older child will make it clear what they mean. Do not help the baby right away, assuming that they are too little or too weak.