- Starting your baby on solids is super exciting,
but it is extremely overwhelming.
You've got the baby lead weaning approach,
you've got the approach
where you just give them pureed food only initially.
And then you've got an approach
where it kind of combines the two.
Now, what I have noticed over the years is no matter
which approach a parent is using with their little one,
they seem to make the same six mistakes,
which make meal time so much harder than they need to be.
So in this video, I'm going to cover what these mistakes are
and more importantly, what you can do to avoid making them.
And the last mistake that I cover is the one
that definitely has the biggest impact on meal times,
so you definitely want to stick around to hear that.
But before we get into it,
make sure you click on that free PDF document
in the description box below,
which covers the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your little one
in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable piece of mind
as you'll know when to be expecting skills
and when to be concerned.
The first mistake parents make
is giving up on food way too quickly.
Parents often incorrectly assume
that when a baby makes a face
or pushes the food out with their tongue or gags on the food
that they don't like the food.
Now, your baby is going to do this
when they first start to eat solids,
or when they try new food for a number of reasons.
Firstly, they have a tongue thrust reflex
at six months of age, and this is activated
whenever their lips or their tongue is touched.
And what happens is their tongue automatically
pushes whatever it is out of their mouth.
The second reason is babies have a really strong gag reflex
compared to us as adults where our gag reflex
is towards the back of our mouth.
With babies it's towards the front
and middle of their tongue.
So when anything touches that,
they are going to automatically gag.
Over time their gag reflex will start to move back
and they won't gag initially when they try food.
And lastly, babies will make funny faces
when they have food for the first time
or try a new piece of food.
And that is because it tastes weird in their mouth.
The texture might be funny
and they are just exploring with the food.
The second mistake parents often make
is they try to limit the mess.
Now, parents might do this by continuing to spoonfeed
their baby for a long period of time,
wiping the baby's mouth after every mouthful,
reducing the food to food that isn't messy
or not letting the baby play with the food.
Now, this is a mistake
because meal times are meant to be messy.
The first steps to actually eating solids
is learning to touch it with your hand and smell the food
and interact with it.
You won't really put any food in your mouth
unless you have done those things.
So your baby needs to have that opportunity too.
So they need to be playing with the food
and then accidentally putting in their mouth.
If you want to kind of limit that mess
use a baby paint smock during meal times
and only wipe their mouth after the meal has finished.
The third mistake parents often make
is they start solids too early
because they think it is going to help their little ones
sleep through the night or sleep better at nighttime.
Now, this really isn't true.
What parents will often notice
is that their four month old baby or five month old baby
starts to wake more regularly during the nighttime.
And they assume that this is because they are hungry.
What in fact they are noticing
is their baby's sleep patterns have matured
to reflect that of an adult.
And what's happening is your little one is waking up
in the nighttime to try and find that sleep association
to help them fall back to sleep.
If that is the case, what you're wanting to do
is work on their overall sleep hygiene,
not increase solid because that isn't going to change
their sleep at all.
In fact, the World Health Organization
recommends waiting until your baby is six months of age
before starting solids.
The fourth mistake I often see parents making
is they feed the baby separately to the family.
So they feed the baby first
and then the whole family eat together afterwards.
Now, this isn't ideal because your baby
needs to see you eating food
and watch how you actually swallow the food
and interact with the food, because that tells them
that it shouldn't be something to be scared of.
And they also learn what you're doing with your mouth
and they watch you really intently.
So what you want to do is just ensure that your baby
is also eating their solids while the family is eating.
The fifth mistake I see parents making
is they continue to feed their baby
when the little one has clearly indicated
that they have had enough and they are satisfied.
Now, I know as parents, we're often very aware
if our little one hasn't eaten enough off their plate.
And we try to kind of sneak in a few more mouthfuls of food
whenever the baby's laughing
or when their mouth is partially open,
they just sip that spoon in
and then the baby's forced to eat more food.
Now, what you want to understand is
when your baby is indicating to you that they are satisfied,
so they might be shaking their head,
they might be arching away,
they might be uninterested in the food,
or they might be keeping their mouth closed,
you need to respect that and stop giving them food.
If you persist and make your baby eat more food,
you are going to make them anxious around food.
And when a baby is anxious, they are no longer hungry
because it suppresses their appetite.
They will also become fearful of food
and it can have an impact on your baby's ability
to regulate their own kind of hunger
and that might cause weight problems in the future.
It's important to remember that as a parent,
it's your role to give your baby food
that is safe for them to eat, but it is your baby's role
to decide how much of that food they want to eat.
And the sixth mistake I always see parents making,
and it has such a huge impact on how willing your baby is
to stay in a highchair and explore and eat food
is they put their baby in a high chair
which is not giving them any postural support.
Unfortunately, all high chairs are simply too big.
You will notice that when you put your baby in a high chair,
they automatically fall to the side,
which means it's going to be harder
for them to actually swallow food.
Their hands are up near their shoulders
so it's going to be harder to interact
and play with that food, and their feet are never supported.
So it's like they're sitting on a bar stool all the time
and their tummy muscles
are going to become really, really tired
and they're going to fatigue
when they're sitting in that chair.
So it is really important that you provide your baby
with a supportive highchair.
Now, this means you are going to make adjustments
to that highchair.
And if you want more information
on how to make those adjustments,
then make sure you check out this video where I go through
step-by-step how to give your baby all the support they need
when they're in a high chair,
no matter which high chair you have.
Make sure you get that free PDF document
in the description box below, and I will see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.