Cruising To Family Meals
As your baby approaches nine or ten months you’ll notice that they are mastering the art of moving food around their mouth in order to chew it. The muscles babies use for chewing also play a part in speech development which makes this skill even more important to learn early on. They may even have some teeth to help them chew. Also the pincer grip, being able to pick up small objects between the thumb and forefinger, should start emerging.
Quite often the transition from stage 2 to stage 3 can be so subtle that you won’t really acknowledge it - you’ll just instinctively adapt your baby’s meals.
Instead of meals being mashed, chopped food can be offered along with more finger foods. You’ll probably find your baby’s demand for milk lessening as they eat more solids. As a guide if you’re breastfeeding aim for three feeds a day, and formula fed babies should be having no more than 400ml in a 24 hour period. Some babies however do resist the reduction in milk as milk is far easier to consume than solids! It’s important that your baby isn’t filling up on milk at this age as it doesn’t provide all the nutrients your fast growing baby needs. As a result your baby could suffer a nutritional deficiency - iron deficiency being the most common.
Gradually change the texture of your baby’s meals. It can be as simple as when mashing food, leave some bits unmashed, so your baby can eat some easily and then be challenged with the rest! Continue to introduce different flavours too. As I highlighted in my previous blog on stage 2 there is a list of foods to avoid during the weaning process. Please refer back to that blog for details.
Your baby will be having three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Avoid giving your baby a meal too close to nap time as a tired baby won’t be that interested in food! At this age there is no need for snacks - wait until your baby’s first birthday.
Family meals are the perfect way for your baby to develop the love of not just eating food but sharing food too. So many learning opportunities arise during meal times plus hopefully they might start picking up on table manners! Allow your baby to feed themselves, resist spoon feeding them, even when it does get messy! Give them some simple cutlery but let them use their fingers if they choose. There will undoubtedly be refusals of some foods. Just ignore this and try that particular food another time. Remember it can take up to ten exposures for a baby to accept a new food.
If your baby starts throwing food on the floor, don’t make a big fuss. If your baby gets a big reaction from you every time they do so, they will keep it up! Instead stay calm, wait a few seconds and say something like, “Food stays on the table”. If your baby repeats, you repeat! The most likely reason for them to do this is simply they’ve had enough to eat and are bored! Other times it could be they are struggling to feed themselves and are getting frustrated. Or they are a budding scientist and are experimenting with cause and effect!
Your baby is too young to help out with meal preparation but they could sit in the highchair to watch you, with small samples to keep them going. Whilst supermarket shopping talk to them about the food you are buying and see if they can point out their favourite fruit.
Above all keep meal times enjoyable, as eating should be this! Get creative with food presentation, we all love a smiley face food on our plate! Use a cookie cutter to make fun shaped sandwiches, search out different shaped pasta and of course a picnic, indoor too, is always popular.
By the end of this stage, around 12 to 15 months, your toddler will be able to eat harder finger foods and eat some family meals. Ensure they enjoy a range of food from the five food groups - vegetables, fruit, starchy food, protein and dairy. Remember not to add any salt or sugar to their meals. In addition to three meals a day you can add in two healthy snacks.
Congratulations, you’ve successfully grown a toddler! Now the fun really starts!!
