From the 9 months your baby will begin to show interest in eat with your hands He will take the food, squeeze it, crumble it and take it to his mouth with greater or lesser success. Between 12 and 24 months, children are already able to take a spoon and want to start eating alone. Do you know how to stimulate and help them without losing patience in the attempt?
Most children enjoy "playing" with food. When babies start eating alone, they discover that they like to try new flavors and textures. Even those foods that did not want to eat crushed could now be welcome!
When and how they start eating alone
Around the 9 months Children experience a natural curiosity about the texture of food. In this first stage they begin to Eat them alone with your hands. They have developed enough fine motor skills to be able to pick up bits of food and bring it to their mouths.
It will start by taking small pieces of food between the index finger and the thumb, forming a clamp. At first they will do it awkwardly, but with practice they will soon learn to use their fingers with skill and efficiency.
From the 12 months, the baby will begin to show interest in grab the spoon to eat he alone From that moment, you will begin to explore its use little by little. The ability to use cutlery to eat is progressively acquired through practice, since it requires a greater development of fine motor skills than is necessary to eat with your fingers.
The importance of educating children in autonomy
Allow your child to feed himself as much as possible. It is good for its development and also for its self-esteem! Although you will still have to help him, by encouraging him to eat (first with his fingers and then with the spoon) you are helping his little one develop healthy habits to feed independently.
Eating only with the hands, and a little later with the cutlery, gives the little certain degree of control, freedom and autonomy. These are achievements that will make you feel very satisfied with yourself. At first you may not always eat the food and just experiment with playing with it, but this is also part of the process of Learn to self-regulate. Even young children know when they are hungry and when they are full! So don't worry and allow him to learn to identify the signs of his body.
As long as the baby is interested, you can take advantage to Teach him to eat alone. Do it without pressure or hurry, respecting your own pace and always congratulating you on your successes. When we reward a child for his good behavior, we are increasing the possibility of him repeating it in the future. In this way, we will achieve that, little by little, our little Learn to eat alone.
It is very important to teach them to do things for themselves, so they can fend for themselves. It is what is called Educate in autonomy.
Practical advice for good learning
The process of learn to eat It can take months (and even years, if you add the teaching of table manners), but these simple tips will help you to help your child start eating alone:
Some foods are ideal for testing because they are easy to grasp with your fingers or spoon. For example: grated apple, banana chips or roasted potato, etc.
The eating tastes of young children are very changing and that also influences their way of eating. Be patient and keep in mind that what you liked today may not like tomorrow anymore.
Control the pace at which you eat. Most babies get distracted and take a long time to eat, but perhaps the opposite is true and your baby eats too quickly. In this case, entertain him by talking between bites to make sure he chews all the food well before swallowing. You can also encourage him to chew while pointing his cheek or mouth with his finger, so he can realize what you're asking for.
Be tolerant and patient with the disorder in the kitchen. The sooner you assume it will end up dirty the better! Relax and Let your child enjoy the food. The experience you have with her in this first stage, will be key to lay the foundations of your subsequent relationship with food. The only one that you should never let him is that you throw the food or spill the water intentionally.
Avoid the cross contamination disinfecting the kitchen utensils with the appropriate cleaning products and following the protocol for the preparation of food that we teach you in this article.
A trick for easy cleaning is to place newspaper sheets or a plastic tablecloth under your chair.
Spotted child, yes ... But happy!
At this stage you have to be patient, the child's development is much more important than the obsession with cleanliness. For example, to clean your high chair and food scraps from the floor, you can use a detergent with bleach such as 2in1 star.
Don't worry about the spots, today there are very effective products that will help you eliminate the most persistent from your bibs or clothes. One of the most difficult childhood stains are the fruit stains, especially those of orange. A very effective trick to remove them from white clothes, is to let it soak with water and a little bit of Neutrex with bleach during 20 minutes. Then rinse it and wash it in the washing machine. In case the label specifies that it does not support the use of bleach, you can always use specific products to remove stains such as Neutrex Oxy5 Color.
Surely, over time, your little one becomes an expert in the management of cutlery, but the first step is in those days of zafarrancho all over the floor and mashed fruits even on the roof. Take care of how much or little it stains and enjoy this new stage in its growth!
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