Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what’s for dinner? Check out their cute “Quest for Yum!”video and see what happens!
Gone Is the Milky Way!
Feeding my baby used to be so easy. When she was hungry, I simply nursed her or prepared a bottle, and a few minutes later she was full and satisfied. My baby is now ten month old. Those days are over!I remember being so excited the first time my daughter ate solid food. Her first taste of something other than milk came at six-months-old, when she happily devoured a few heaping tablespoons of cereal. I was overjoyed! My baby loved to eat! Little did I know that trouble was just around the corner.As we progressed from cereal to a greater variety of food, it became so much more difficult to find foods that she enjoyed eating. I would purée a wide assortment of meats, vegetables and fruit, but it was always hit or miss. This became such a source of anxiety for me. Although her pediatrician assured me that she was growing remarkably well, I couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t eating enough. I needed to find new ways of enticing her to eat.
Some Solid Answers – Feeding Tips For Growing Babies
Some of the tips I found useful and have since had success with include:
– Allowing her to play with her food– She has developed a sense of pride in feeding herself, and although it is very messy, I have decided to let her do it. Often she ends up playing with her food, but by using this method she has discovered (without a fight) which foods she enjoys, and this has helped me weed out why she was rejecting certain other foods.
– Making sure she is hungry when I start a feeding– In the beginning, I was so caught up with the “it’s noon, time for lunch” rigidity that I forgot to consider if my baby was even hungry. This led to her pushing the spoon away and me becoming very frustrated! Well, no more. Now I look for cues that she is indeed ready to eat, and I wait a while between milk feedings before having a solids feeding. This has saved me countless sessions where I used to end up begging a ten-month-old to please, please, please just eat one more bite!
– Re-introducing rejected foods – My daughter used to despise meat, yet I never gave up on it. I simply took a break from it for a few days, and re-introduced it when she was in a good mood (and hungry!). It took a few attempts, but she now eats meat regularly. Like adults, babies sometimes need to try a new food a few times before they acquire a taste for it. Hey, I was the same way with sushi, and ask me how many times I ended up craving it when I was pregnant!
You Live, You Learn!
Finally, I have found that when I am unable to make my own purées, my baby prefers fresh-tasting, organic food over more commercial varieties. I have had great success with foods like Plum Organic Baby Food, and my baby actually recognizes the packaging of her favorite foods and get excited to eat them.We had fun watching their cute Quest For Yum video: Baby crawling and looking for yummy food!! Be sure to check it!! Lots of fun!!.Feeding my baby has been a learning process for both of us, but the biggest lesson of all was to go with the flow and follow her lead!
About the author
I am a marketing and communications specialist and a novice at this whole mommy thing! I am about to enter Q4 of my maternity leave with my first baby, a little girl named Danica, and am living and learning so much more than I ever imagined!
