Day 338 - How to Teach Your Baby to Use a Fork

Today's first time parenting tip - Use patience, imitation and a baby-safe fork to teach you infant how to use flatware

Giving your baby a spoon seems a lot more natural and safe than giving them a fork. After all, the spoon doesn't have sharp tines they can poke their skin or eyes with.

But you can teach them how to use a fork safely if you get them something like the Easy Grip Fork and Spoon Set. The tines on the fork have been blunted and a little more flexible materials were used to make it safe for you baby's exploration.

Just like feeding with a spoon, imitate the right motions with your fork so they know what to do. Let them learn at their own pace, the normal time for children to master the fine art of eating with a spoon and fork doesn't happen until well into their second year.

Parenting, Learn, Fork, Teach, Eat

Day 302 - Recipe for Veggie-Eggs

Today's first time parenting tip - Mix vegetables in with eggs for a high-protein, high -vitamin breakfast for your infant

Having trouble getting your infant to eat their vegetables? Try mixing them right in with some eggs and watch them gobble it right up.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 heaping tablespoon green beans
1 heaping tablespoon peas

Directions
1. Puree the vegetables with the egg
2. Scramble or fry the egg over medium high heat
3. Cut up into bite size pieces and let set for a few minutes to cool

Parenting, Eat, Egg, Food, Recipe, Vegetables

Day 286 - Trick for Getting Your Baby to Eat

Today's first time parenting tip - Feed your baby off your plate, or eat off theirs

Here's a quick tip if you're struggling to get your baby to eat food rather than play with it.

I've found our son sometimes doesn't want what's on his plate, but he'll scarf it down if he thinks it came from our plate. Or, he'll be more interested in what's for dinner right in front of him if he sees us eating it as well.

Try putting some of his food on your plate and eat a little bit of it. If he leans over or wants to grab at it, try feeding it to him. My wife had a salad and he ate nearly half of it.

Other times he thinks that fruit or cheerios are things to mash around and throw on the ground. If I start eating pieces off his highchair tray, he'll pick up a couple pieces and start eating. It only takes a few tastes of the things he likes to get him started, after that he's all about feeding himself.

Parenting, Food, Feeding, Difficulty, Eat,

Day 265 - Baby's Diet

Today's first time parenting tip - Look at what your baby is getting to eat by the week, not by the day.

Getting your baby the proper nutrition is extremely important, but a huge challenge as their tastes go through phases. Pears might be something they gobble up one day, then the next they won't touch them.

Some days they might not want to eat any solid foods. Some days, they might scarf it down. As they get older, start looking at the big picture. Did they get enough and a variety of vegetables this week? The same for fruits? And what about meats and breads?

While its important to give them tastes of everything everyday, its ok if they pick at some things. As long as they get a taste of a healthy diet every day, you've got them on the right track to developing good eating habits.

Right now their too young to be consistent, and are more than likely going to be finicky. Don't stress, if they didn't go through phases like picky eating, you'd probably be the first one, ever.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 264 - Eat as a Family

Today's first time parenting tip - Eat with your baby to encourage them to eat, not play

I've already written about the behavioral benefits of eating as a family in my "Get in the Habit" series. But we've realized another nice side effect of eating together.

Lately my son has learned that swiping his food and throwing it on the floor is fun. Even if he's hungry, he'll mash it around. But if my wife and I encourage him to feed us (which he LOVES), he'll get in the mood and start eating himself.

And when he eats lunch with the other kids at daycare, he has no problem chowing down on things we struggle to get him to eat at home, like veggies. The social aspect of eating is a great motivator for him to follow the other kids' lead.

So if you run into trouble with your child feeding himself, try making it a family activity. He might be encouraged to eat himself if he sees others around him doing the same.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 257 - Mixing and Matching Foods

Today's first time parenting tip - It's OK to mix vegetables with other foods like cheese or bread

If your baby is like ours, then he might not like vegetables by themselves. Old favorites like green beans, peas, etc. Now get spat right back out, and he just pushes them aside until they're mostly on the floor or all over his clothes.

We were sort of at a loss, until we started mixing his vegetables with eggs, noodles, cheese, bread, chicken, beef, etc. we noticed he had no problem gobbling them right up. We felt sort of bad, until we looked at our own plates and realized that neither of us usually eat veggies on their own.

So if you're having trouble getting veggies down, try matching them with another taste to see if they enjoy it. Don't feel like you've given up and failed as a parent like we did for a minute. Very rarely do kids eat the strong vegetables like broccoli, some adults never develop a taste for them.

If you can find a way to get your kids to eat this very important food group and enjoy the taste, you're miles ahead of lots of other parents. And of course, if you're wondering if your baby can have foods like cheese or meats, ask your pediatrician.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat

Day 256 - Eating at the Big Kids Table

Today's first time parenting tip - Baby refusing spoonfed jarred food? He might be ready for table food.

There was a period of about a week or so where our son absolutely would not eat spoonfed, jarred baby food. Old reliables he liked: green beans, squash, pears, peaches, etc. now became battles of us cajoling him to get his mouth open, only to spit food back in our face.

We'd been feeding him cheerios and small bits of very soft fruit. He seemed to have the whole chewing and swallowing thing down pat. We discovered a trick to get him to eat the jarred stuff - put cheerios on the high chair plate and sneak in spoonfuls.

This got old pretty quick, and then our pediatrician told us that he was probably ready to go for table foods.

It worked like a charm. Sure enough, he just wanted to be able to feed himself. Every once and awhile now, he won't eat what's on his plate and we'll spoonfeed him something, but by and large, he's self sufficient now.

There are some things he can't have though, as I mentioned earlier.

Parenting, Food, Table, Feed, Eat