I ate at the restaurant with a few friends two days ago.
A child of about 2 years old next to him ate very well, "his ears do not smell foreign affairs, and he is bent on only eating in the bowl."
Another slightly older child looked east and west, and the mother did not eat if she did not feed. Halfway through the meal, he ran out to play, and coaxed the little ancestor to be happy before he was willing to sit down and continue to "open his mouth with rice."
The same child, how can the gap be so large?
I can see at a glance that the child does not eat well, mostly due to the problem of the habit of adding complementary foods.
If you develop good eating habits from an early age, you don't have to follow behind to feed.
To seize the critical period of the baby's independent eating, once ignored or wrong, it is necessary to feed to the end.
Today, we talk about what is the golden period of the baby's independent eating, and how to grasp this period, through 4 points to let the baby develop a good habit of eating independently.
What is
The golden age of self-feeding
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
When the baby has the willingness to eat on its own, it will "emit" some signals, which is the most suitable time to cultivate the baby's ability to eat independently, which we call the golden period of independent eating.
Generally speaking, about 8 months is the golden period for babies to eat independently, but the specific "varies from baby to baby". We can judge based on three signals.
1
Seeing what parents have in their hands, they want to grab a handful
Babies especially like to grab food from adults' hands, although they can't consciously put things in their mouths, or just pinch them and fall off.
2
Reject previous favorite foods
When the adult puts the baby's favorite food in front of him, the baby will unceremoniously knock it off; and when he looks at the food in the adult's hand, the mouth will make a hmmm sound, which is very obvious - "Mommy I also want to eat, give it to me!"
3
Imitate adults eating
Babies will imitate the repetitive chewing of the mouth when adults eat, the sound of lips rubbing, the use of chopsticks to pick vegetables, and will exaggerate the bar to smash the mouth, and will also use a spoon to poke food.
So after observing these signals, what can be done to make the baby better learn to eat on their own? Let's start with two things.
The golden age of self-feeding
Food can be prepared in this way
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
1
Try a variety of combinations to give your baby choice
Sometimes I try my hard to prepare a meal for the baby, and as a result, people turn their heads and leave without giving any face. That kind of frustration, ah, when you become a mother, you can only experience it!
Later, I changed the "combat method", a kind of complementary food you do not like to eat, then I do a few more dishes, there is always a can catch your stomach, right? It proves to be really useful!
Especially when the baby's appetite is not good, prepare a few more complementary foods, use different ingredients, color combinations, and beautiful and interesting presentations to attract his attention, and the success rate will be greatly improved.
2
Finger food to satisfy your baby's desire to do it himself
If your baby just has the urge to grab food to eat, but feels frustrated because it can't be caught or is difficult to chew, it also greatly reduces the baby's willingness to eat on its own.
Therefore, you can prepare some finger food with moderate size and softness for the baby, which is not only convenient to take, but also exercises the baby's grasping ability.
The golden age of self-feeding
Eat well at 4 o'clock
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
1
Establish a sense of ritual at meals
Prepare a special set of tableware for the baby, let him sit at the table with the adult, and establish a sense of "eating by himself like mom and dad".
At the same time, do not turn on the TV when eating, do not play with the mobile phone, and do not let the baby play while eating. Creating this sense of ritual is to tell the baby that eating is a very important thing that needs to be taken seriously by everyone.
2
Don't feed while eating
Babies are still young, and it is difficult to sit and eat in a regular manner. Even so, we must adhere to the principle of "sitting at the table to eat" and cannot be easily compromised.
The baby plays everywhere, and the mother chases and feeds, which not only makes it easy to overeat, but also fails to eat independently.
Moreover, once the wrong eating habits are formed, it is even more difficult to correct them later.
3
After-meal rewards? NO！
In the face of babies who do not eat, many parents will blurt out a classic line:
If you don't finish eating, there is no xx.
In order to get this reward, the baby may finish eating quickly, but this is completely coping, and the ensuing may be indigestion.
Babies don't want to eat, maybe they're not interested in the food they're preparing; maybe they're cooking in a way that's too monotonous; or maybe they can't chew it.
For example, try to use potatoes and sweet potatoes instead of the usual white rice, steaming and stewing and stewing for tricks, maybe the baby will have a big appetite.
4
Let the child come on his own
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Noodles full of noodles, rice falling to the ground, soup sprinkled all over the body, this scene for some parents is estimated to be very broken, can't help but hand in hand to feed the food.
Especially the older generation will take a spoon to feed the baby because they can't look at it, and the result is that the baby can eat more skillfully after 20 months...
But in fact, compared to letting your baby learn to eat on his own, these are really not important!
Eating chaotically and eating slowly is a situation that most babies often have when they first learn, and we as parents, as long as we relax our hearts and give the baby a little more time.
Afraid of a cold meal? Can be heated, no rush ~
Afraid of spilling everywhere?
Pad a plastic tablecloth under the dining chair, make a suction cup bowl, no problem ~
If you want your children to eat well in the future, you want to have some Buddhist system.
The less intervention there is, the sooner the day your baby can eat on his own.
In this process, the baby chooses and matches his own food, and can also help him be an assertive person.
This article is expert
Li Liangli
Collaborating experts
The first batch of registered dietitians in China / Master of Nutrition from Fudan University
Gu Chuanling
Audit specialists
The first batch of registered dietitians in China / directors of the Capital Health Nutrition and Gastronomy Society
Planning and production
Producer: Lan Lan
Typography: Xiao Ho
Title image source: Stand Cool Helo