Eating is a thing that can develop children's hands, eyes, and brain abilities. In real life, we often see many parents chasing their children with rice bowls to feed them. The children are not paying attention to eating, and the adults are also very tired.
Children still need to be fed when they are 3 or 4 years old. Is it because the children themselves cannot eat by themselves?
In fact, children's independence in eating is cultivated. When the baby is old enough, parents must seize the opportunity to cultivate the baby's ability to eat independently, so that the baby can learn to eat independently under the guidance bit by bit.
"I want my baby to learn to eat independently. The main reason is to let her understand from an early age that eating is her own business, not someone else's. Others can help but not eat for her. It also allows her to perceive herself earlier whether she is hungry or full. I think this is really important. Too many children who are fed by adults do not know that they are hungry and full. They say they are full, but the adults will say that they are not full and continue to feed them. As a result, children do not even have a sense of control over eating when they grow up." — Advice from a Mom
The benefits of baby's own food method
1. Promote brain development
For babies, eating by themselves is a very complicated activity, which requires a high degree of coordination of hands, eyes, and mouth. At the same time, it is accompanied by the coordination of multiple groups of muscles in the upper body. Great for baby's brain development.
2. Promote the development of the baby's digestive system
Because when adults feed, they cannot match the baby's eating rhythm well, so the baby may not chew the food completely, causing indigestion, which has a great impact on the baby's digestion and absorption. Let the baby eat by itself, human beings are born with an appetite, so the baby can control how much to eat.
When the baby is one year old, it is the time to train the child to eat independently, usually between 12 and 18 months. At this time, the coordination ability of the baby's eyes, feet, and hands develops rapidly. If it is properly guided, it will get twice the result with half the effort.
In fact, when the baby was 10 months old, he began to like to eat with his hands. Many parents think that it is unhygienic, wastes food, or will dirty clothes, tables and chairs, so they will stop the baby, and then put the food out of the baby's reach. In order to clean and facilitate cleaning, they will feed the child by themselves . Over time, the baby will develop resistance to eating.
Let the baby eat by himself, this is actually the best time to train the baby to eat independently. Facing the food on the table, the baby chooses to touch it by himself, which is a sign of the baby's gradual development of independent will. Babies grabbing rice with their hands can improve the baby's perception of food, build the intimacy between the baby and food, and make the baby fall in love with eating. At the same time, the baby eats with his hands, which is conducive to improving the flexibility of the baby's fingers and promoting the coordination of hands, eyes and brain.
After the baby is one year old, the functions of all parts of the body tend to mature, the brain development has also reached a critical moment, and the learning ability is strong. At this time, parents should slowly guide their children to eat independently. Although the baby can only scratch and take randomly now, parents must not stop it. At the same time, you can gradually guide children to use tableware, scoop food with a small soft spoon, and deliver it to their mouths.
Many parents see that when their children first start using tableware, it is difficult to feed them into their mouths, and they cannot help feeding them when they are anxious. In fact, the process of children using tableware is also a process of exercising their hand-eye coordination. When they can successfully scoop up food and feed it to their mouths through repeated practice, babies will have a sense of autonomy and confidence. When the baby changes from passive acceptance to active eating, his interest in eating independently is established.
After the baby learns to eat independently, sometimes he has a bad appetite and does not want to eat, or has emotions and does not want to eat by himself. At this time, parents tend to give in, thinking that the child has not eaten much, and feed the child. In this way, the child will give up eating independently after getting used to being fed.
How to train your baby to eat by himself
1. Let the baby grasp more things
Since the baby is born, the mother can massage the baby's small hands every day, let the baby grasp more things, and gradually develop the baby's grasping ability, so that the baby's hands will be more flexible when learning to eat by itself, and it will be more comfortable to eat.
When the baby starts complementary food, on the basis of feeding with a spoon, introduce some finger food every meal, let the baby grab and eat.
The food provided at the beginning should be easy to pick up, so that the baby can experience the feeling of success and stimulate the baby's interest. Thick strips of food are the most convenient to grasp.
In the United States, there is a very popular concept called baby-led weaning (BLW, baby-ledweaning), which means that babies learn to eat by themselves from the beginning of complementary food, completely skipping the stage of adult feeding. At the beginning, there is very little food in the mouth, but through multiple exercises a day, the baby will gradually eat better and better.
2. Adopt baby-specific tableware
- [Cute kitty shape] The silicone suction weaning plate designed in cute kitty-shaped, which attract your little ones' interest & make fun meal time.
- [Safe for baby] The suction plates for babies made of 100% food grade silicone material, which can be rest assured for eating safety and happily.
- [Dishwasher & microwave safe] Silicone material can resistant high temperature, soft & flexible, safe to use in microwave and dishwasher.
- [Designed for baby] The silicone dish designed for growing babies, toddlers and children.
- [Powerful suction cup] Suction cup base is non-slip, strong suction firmly attached to any hard, flat surface, suitable for most high chair trays, ensuring that the plate stays in place and preventing your child from tipping and spilling food all over the floor.
- [Nutritional balance] The size compartments of the divider plate are arranged in an orderly manner, allowing you to put some different foods more nutritious, meat and vegetables.
- [Safe Material] Baby silicone bowls set are made of food grade silicone, which are BPA, PVC, Phthalate and Lead free, safe for baby.
- [Stronger suction base] Silicone baby bowls featuring a stronger and reinforced suction base, which sticks firmly to any table surface.
- [Ideal gift] Silicone baby feeding set is an ideal gift for friends, colleagues and newparents or who are pregnant.
- [Easy to clean] Cleaning is like a breeze. Hand wash with mild soap in warm water or just throw it in the dishwasher and it's clean.
3. Allow your baby to treat food as a snack
Babies still get most of their nutrition from milk before the age of 1, so babies who have just started to add complementary foods will regard eating as play time, because they still don't understand that "eating" can "fill their stomachs".
Food is like a "new toy" to them, which is why there is a lot of grabbing, throwing, grabbing spoons, etc.
However, many parents do not understand the baby's behavior and feel that it is not eating well, so they blindly stop it. The result is self-defeating, which not only discourages the baby's enthusiasm, but also continuously strengthens this "bad habit".
For babies at this stage (before 1 year old), the less we take it seriously, the easier it will be for the baby to pass this stage.
4. Encouragement is the most important
In the process of learning new skills, in addition to interest, the baby also pays and encounters some difficulties. Your encouragement will give him a strong motivation virtually.
When he gets stuck and throws things because he can’t pick up the food, or when the food is all over the floor because his fingers are inflexible, don’t blame, use your kindest words to comfort and encourage him, and let him know that you are always there His side supports him.
5. Appropriately let the baby feel hungry
Many babies don't eat well because they don't feel hungry, so making your baby feel hungry is a good way to get your baby to eat. When the baby stops eating after a few bites, the mother will act normally and tell the baby to put away the food if she is full. After a few days like this, the baby will want to eat very much. When the mother puts the food in front of the baby, he will go to do other things by himself, and the baby will eat independently.
"The baby is eleven months old and eats on her own. From adding rice noodles at six months to not liking liquid food, she began to encourage her to grab it with her hands. Then one day she was playing with a spoon and she actually fed the empty spoon to her mouth accurately. Here, I taught her to eat with a spoon, every time I made myself like a little cat, although cleaning is very tiring, but I think it’s good to not chase after feeding when I grow up.”
