Maintaining a healthy relationship with food is very important for your baby. I learned that the hard way. You’d better not do the same. That’s why we write about our experience, right? We introduced our baby to solid food during her first 6 months. Like many other parents, we wanted our baby to feed as much as possible. We had actually been prepared for a stage when the baby would resist eating food, and we would have to force-feed and finish the bowl. That was our mindset. And it’s a huge NO!
During a pediatrician visit when my baby was 8 months old, I observed that she wasn’t consuming as much food as before. I thought I should share this with the pediatrician. And the first question he asked, can you guess what? “Do you force-feed your baby?” I was like, yeah! The pediatrician laughed and said it’s like a crime, you know, force-feeding your baby and hoping to keep her interested in food. So he started to tell me how it works. Once you start force-feeding your baby, she gets stressed out about the meal and produces hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones are not that bad, but they have serious consequences on digestion and absorbing nutrients from the food.
Once these hormones start releasing, the baby goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode. When they are in this mode, their stomach stops absorbing the vitamins and nutrients from the food. So the stomach can’t even utilize the food it has already received. And the more you force your baby to feed, your baby most probably is nagging her head not to give her more food, the worse impression gets impression on her mind about food. As a result, in the future, she will be more defensive trying out new food.
The next thing I’m going to talk about is screen time during mealtime. Once you start your TV or tab and run baby rhyme, eating becomes a sideline activity for your baby. They eat, but they can’t really get the real taste and texture as it’s a background activity. The other thing is, as your baby is active on the screen, they won’t be able to tell when they get full or still have hunger. And as a result, in the future, your baby is more likely to be picky about certain foods. You will certainly have a hard time making your baby eat when there is no screen in front of her. But, if you make it a habit for her, over time it will get easier for both of you. You can sing rhymes, there is no problem. But please, stay away from screen time as much as possible.
Another thing is letting your baby mess with her food. I understand this. You are a busy mom, you are already having a hard time, but you know what, doing all this will save a humongous amount of time in the long run and develop some essential mental skills. Before putting a brand new food into their mouth, try to let her play with it, poke it, and most importantly mess with it. Once she is comfortable with it, let her put it in her mouth by herself. Otherwise, the most common scenario you will experience is she will be in total surprise with the temperature, texture, and taste, and as a result she will spit it out or gag. And letting your baby pinch and grasp is a fantastic way to develop motor skills. So if you want to have a smart baby, let her make a mess with the food.
The next big “No” is spoon-feeding for an extended period of time. If you use a spoon for a long time, your baby will have little chance to exercise her jaw and mouth muscles, which will eventually develop pickiness with different foods in the future. They will find themselves more comfortable with soft food and will feel uneasy while trying out new foods. Honestly, I still use a spoon to feed my baby. She is just 12 months now. I know this is not right, but I can’t stop myself. It’s all on me. But what I do instead, I give her different types of snacks and cookies, and let her eat those on her own. She grasps it in her hand, roams around the entire apartment making small bites every now and then, also chews some portion of it. Sometimes, she drops the food on the carpet, and later picks it up and puts it in her mouth maybe. This may be unhygienic sometimes, by the way, if your house is not very clean.
That’s all for today. Let’s hope for your baby’s happy meals!