Bigger pieces of food are much easier to grasp, hold, and control. Watch how a 6- to 9-month-old baby interacts with toys, and you’ll notice they use all of their fingers and the palm of their hand to grasp things. Go BIG with food sizes. It may seem counter-intuitive, but for young babies, bigger is better. When you swallow, point to your stomach and say: “The spaghetti went all the way to my belly!” You may feel a bit silly, but modeling is a game-changer for many young babies. Model with your mouth open. Throw your manners out the window and chew with your mouth open so babe can see what you are doing. Talk to baby and describe the food: “This is delicious spaghetti with Grandma Mary’s famous sauce! It’s tangy and sweet at the same time!” See the tips below for helping baby pick up and bring food to their mouth or dive in to our video on transitioning from spoon feeding to self-feeding. Picking up food with their hands and bringing it to their mouth is an entirely different story-the concept that hands bring food to the mouth is brand new. Spoon-fed babies learn that food comes on a spoon, it’s put in their mouth, and swallowed. This is very important with spoon-fed babies. ![]() Once they are paying attention, bring the food to your mouth and smile. Get baby’s attention. Tap their highchair tray or table with your fork or finger, call their name, and make eye contact. Babies learn from watching us, and many young babies need more modeling to realize that food goes in our mouths. When baby is ready to start solids, pull baby’s highchair up to the table or put baby on your lap while YOU eat. Channel a dinner party vibe-laugh, smile, and enjoy your meal so baby can see the fun of eating. Pull up the bouncing chair so baby can watch you eat or sit baby on your lap. Even before you start solids, bring baby to the table. (Cue screaming for the breast or bottle.) Babies who are too hungry and don’t yet have the skills to self-feed will end up melting down at the table. Plus, an overly hungry young baby is not primed to learn. Remember: Baby’s primary nutrition should be from breast milk or formula until 12 months of age. At this age, avoid feeding schedule changes to make baby hungry enough to try solid foods. Sometimes the youngest eaters just need another week or two to wrap their heads around eating.Īvoid feeding schedule changes. Encouraging or pushing baby to eat before they are ready can lead down a bumpy road of food refusal. This is communication saying they are not interested or ready yet. This is normal.Įven with spoon-feeding, many babies will turn away from the spoon when they are not ready. Many babies at this age are just not cognitively ready to self-feed, even if they are showing the motor milestones for readiness. Evaluate whether baby is truly ready for solids (see our page on readiness or check out our video) and make sure baby is truly meeting all of the developmental signs before starting solid food.Ĭonsider waiting a week or two. If baby is less than or around 6 months old and showing signs of readiness, but doesn’t engage with food offered, try not to worry too much. You cut the food just right, set the meal just so, but instead of enjoying it, baby doesn’t touch a thing.Īt 6 months of age or younger, babies are often just not ready. Or maybe you started with spoon feeding and decided to make the switch to finger food. Baby doesn’t bring a single thing to their mouth. And then, in the blink of a camera, at the height of your anticipation, your bubble bursts. You have the highchair, bib, and you know what food you want to introduce first. You’ve done all the reading about starting solids. In other words, stay calm and don’t give up! If baby is 6 months old or younger The most important thing you can do is bring calm confidence to the table and believe that baby can learn the skills for eating. For some babies, they simply might not have the interest, skill, or desire to eat at that moment for others, it may be more complicated given their history (reflux, a bad gag, negative associations with the highchair, etc.) It’s imperative to listen to baby’s cues in any of these situations while guiding them to learn. ![]() ![]() If a baby is not eating, they are trying to communicate something. There are many reasons why a child may not be interested in eating, but what do you do when babies or toddlers aren’t interested in even touching their food? Chase the why If you have just started solids and are not sure how to go about it, check out our course videos on starting solids, baby-led weaning and responsive spoonfeeding and consider downloading our Starting Solids bundle.
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