Mom’s experience sharing: How to teach your baby to eat by himself?

When babies reach a certain stage, mothers can teach them to eat by themselves. This can not only exercise the baby, but also liberate the mother. So how to teach babies to eat by themselves? Let's take a look at how this mother did it~

I have always felt that in addition to character development, teaching babies to take care of themselves is a very important thing! Among them, teaching children to "eat by themselves" is the first priority.

Since Q Bao was able to hold a bottle while drinking milk, I have started to teach him to eat independently. Eating is to maintain his body functions, and enjoying food is a happy thing. Eating happily and eating by himself is the dietary concept I want to establish for Q Bao.

There are actually many mothers on the Internet who share their experiences in helping their babies learn to eat independently, and the methods are quite detailed. Before starting, Pi Dan also did her homework, but she did not follow them completely. Instead, she made minor adjustments based on my and my son's personalities. For example, from the beginning, she let the baby grab the food, let him eat happily, and then clean up after he was done. Such photos and videos can be found on the Internet.

Most of them are full of food on the table and the floor, and happy babies eating all over their bodies and heads. Happy dining is the idea of ​​this group of mothers. The baby looks very happy and eats with both hands. How happy. However, I can only gasp when watching such videos. This is too scary! I feel scalp numb and very tired when I think about letting Q Bao finish eating like this. For example, using large pieces of food allows the baby to practice grasping, swallowing, and chewing at the same time, but this requires adults to accompany them because the baby's swallowing ability is insufficient at the beginning and there is a possibility of choking. These practices and demands are actually very good for babies, but Pi Dan feels that they are not in line with my personality and acceptance, so I made some adjustments. Let me share the process and methods of how I took Q Bao to learn to eat by himself~

The first stage of letting your baby eat: creating a happy eating atmosphere

When switching from liquid milk to solid food, most babies will have a tongue-sticking reaction of resistance. This is normal. There are many teaching manuals on the Internet that say that when starting to eat solid food, you should not force your baby to eat a lot. You should let him get used to it and like it. (Raising a child is really troublesome, right? You have to cook for him and care about his mood.)

So when I first let Qbao eat complementary foods, I usually encourage him with exaggerated words like "Great!" at a high pitch and clap my hands. Whenever he takes a bite, I praise him by saying "XXX is delicious" No matter what dish we eat that day, I always tell him that it is delicious. In short, I encourage him constantly and maintain a happy dining atmosphere. In the early stage, if he doesn't like it, I stop eating. I need to let him adapt to the change in his eating habits. At this stage, I don't need to worry about his picky eating. I need to make him like eating (Qbao is a child who loves to eat, so he doesn't reject complementary foods. If he doesn't like to eat, it will be harder for mothers. Come on)

The tableware at this stage is mainly small spoons, because the baby's mouth is still very small. For bowls, I use the porcelain bowls at home to heat the complementary food directly in the electric cooker, and then put them into the feeding bowl. The preserved eggs are served with the combi tableware set given by a friend, because the baby can't eat by himself yet, so it's fine for mom to use whatever is most convenient for her.

Let your baby eat on his own in the second stage - simple things to eat by himself

Starting from about seven months, I also let Q Bao eat some simple solid food by himself, usually snacks like rice cakes, or cut fruits. Let him grab the solid food, not only can he practice finger activities, but also let him experience the joy of eating by himself. I will give this kind of snacks after meals or after a nap, which is a bit like a small reward. I will say, if you eat up the meal obediently, mom will give you rice cakes. I give it after a nap because there is still some time before dinner, which can prevent him from being too hungry. In addition, I rarely give Q Bao snacks. Children have limited appetite. If they eat too many snacks, they will not eat well at the main meal.

The third stage of letting your baby eat - guiding him to use a spoon to scoop food

When he was about one year and one month old, he began to want to hold a spoon and wanted to eat by himself and would grab the food on the plate. At this time, I would prepare two spoons, one for him and one for me. When Q Bao tried to scoop food by himself, I would use my hand to assist his hand and bring the spoon to his mouth while constantly praising him for being so good (my mother really worked so hard).

While feeding him, teaching him how to use the spoon and guiding him, slowly Q baby can scoop better and better by himself. In the beginning, he was not accurate and could not scoop much, but later he became more and more accurate. He will improve every day if he keeps doing it.

For this stage of tableware, I chose the Happy Plate. I chose it because of its compartmentalized design and the fact that it is not easy for children to overturn it. But in fact, because Q Baby loves to eat, he will not overturn it before finishing the food.

After using it, I feel that although the design of the plate is great for separation, the edge is too shallow. It is not so convenient for children who are just learning to scoop food. It is easy for the food to run out of the plate with a little force, but Q baby will pick it up and eat it, because I will also scoop the food that falls into the bib pocket for him to eat, after all, it is not dirty, and later he will do the same.

Overall, I think this plate is suitable for snacks or for children who can already use a spoon well. From 1 year and 1 month old, Q Bao started to learn to use a spoon to eat by himself. Of course, he still grabs food with his hands. But most of the time, he can use the spoon to eat all the food in the bowl. I also replaced the bowl with a deeper bowl so that it is not easy for him to flip it out when scooping food.

From not being able to hold a spoon at all to now being able to pick food in the bowl accurately, even if I mix it evenly, he can still pick out the food he likes and eat it all, leaving behind the food he doesn't like. Seeing such progress, as a mother, I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Teaching children to eat by themselves is really important.

During meal times, I don’t have to chase him. I can eat together with the music on the music player. The child can start with the food he likes and enjoy the initiative of eating independently. The mother also doesn’t have to delay her own meal time. Currently, Qbao can finish a meal in about 20 minutes. I can let the child learn to eat by himself smoothly. I think there are several keys to success, which I will summarize below.

Foodie: Every child has different preferences, some prefer eating, some prefer sleeping. Q baby is really interested in eating so it is relatively easy to guide him to eat. If your baby doesn’t like to eat, it will be quite difficult.

Pleasant dining atmosphere: When he first started eating complementary foods and every time he drank milk, I would make the atmosphere as high as possible, for example: Q baby, let’s eat. Today we have XXX that you like. Then I would play music and eat with him and listen to it. I wanted him to have a pleasant impression of eating. At the beginning, when he took a bite, I was really exaggerating.

Encourage regular meals: Apart from main meals, I rarely give snacks. Even though he is now 1 year and 9 months old, I only give him a small amount of low-season rice crackers or natural fruits every day. The time I give them is a little far from the main meals, and the quantity is not much. By the time the child eats, he is hungry and can concentrate on eating.

Appropriate amount of activity: Of course, you have to move after eating. Breakfast is because the child will be hungry after a nap, but you need to arrange appropriate amount of activity before lunch and dinner to burn off the child’s calories. After the activity, calm down before eating, and the child will eat well when he is hungry.

The above is the process of Pi Dan leading Q Bao to learn to eat. I hope that all mothers can also make progress soon. Come on, do it every day, and you will definitely see the baby's progress~