When and how to teach kids self-nutrition is an individual question. However, most educators agree that this should be taught from early childhood. (under the age of 1 year)to give a significant impetus to development.
Before you start teaching your child to eat on their own, you need to carefully prepare yourself. Take in advance:
- Stool for the baby, special with fastening for a tray;
- A spoon for children;
- Wet wipes.
The learning process includes only 2 stages: at the first, the baby learns to eat with his hands, and at the second - with a spoon.
It is best to start accustoming to self-nutrition with something soft, such as pasta. At the first stage, make sure that the baby’s handles are always clean, and this is what wet wipes are for.
Put cooked pasta on a cleaned tray, take the child by the hand, and let the fingers grasp the pasta. Then bring his pen to his mouth, be sure to cheer the baby.
When the child understands how to do it, he will try to eat. At this stage, the first can be considered completed.
The second stage is almost identical to the first, but still there are some nuances of training. First you need to prepare for the fact that it will take more than one day. Some kids learn in a few days, others in a couple of weeks, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Homemade purees are best for accustoming themselves to self-nutrition. I will be happy to give you some of the most useful and nutritious combinations for baby puree:
- apple + pear,
- banana + milk;
- avocado + milk;
- plum + peach;
- avocado + banana.
Do not forget that before you pass the apple, pear, plum through a blender, they need to be slightly extinguished in a small amount of water, tightly covering the pan with a lid.
What is the best way for mother to do the next?
- Prepare suitable food for the baby in advance;
- Show the child how to eat: fill in a spoon with mashed potatoes and give it a try, repeat as many times as necessary;
- Give the baby a spoon in his hands and observe the attempts to eat independently;
- No need to help the child, only if he does not understand what he should do. Cheer him up with words, enjoy every successful attempt - it stimulates!
- And most importantly - be patient.
But do not forget that you can try your own method, because you know your child better. And about what methods to teach the baby to eat on their own, do not forget to share with me!
