Importance of Self-Feeding in a Toddler

Importance of Self-Feeding in a Toddler

“Me do it, Mommy!” You know it’s going to be another load of laundry as your toddler learns to feed themselves. However, the importance of self-feeding in a toddler is more than merely learning to put food in their mouth. In fact, self-feeding is much more than you may have even realized.

As your toddler grows up, they’ll begin to learn independence. They’ll want to do more and more for and by themselves. They are beginning to realize that they’re a separate being from their parents. Once they’ve come to complete realization of this fact, look out world! Your toddler will try to exert their independence in every area even though they may not be ready for some skills.

Self-feeding usually begins when infants reach six months. They can focus on items in front of them and can bring it to their mouth. At first they’ll use their entire hand because they don’t have the skill to grasp small objects with their index finger and thumb, but it won’t take long. Now is the time to offer easy-to-grasp foods such as dry cereal, diced bananas, or canned diced peaches. Avoid giving infants this age foods like hot dogs, nuts, or grapes because they could choke on them. Congratulations – you’ve watched your infant take their first step toward self-feeding prowess.

Once your infant has mastered self-feeding by eating with their fingers, they’ll soon be ready to start using a spoon. This skill generally begins around eight months, but could begin sooner or later depending on the child. Watch to see if your baby is trying to take the spoon from you; this is a sure sign they want to try to do it themselves. You can encourage this stage by giving your baby a spoon to play with while you do the feeding.

Expect the child to get messy as they begin dipping their spoon into their food and attempting to get it into their mouth. Don’t stress out about the mess too much. Consider putting plastic floor mats under the high chair while feeding to make clean-up easier.

Older toddlers like to mimic their family so you can expect that they’ll try to copy everything including how and what you eat. Don’t worry about buying only prepackaged foods for your toddler. Let them start experiencing the tastes and textures of the foods you eat. Be aware, however, that food pieces that are too large could be a choking hazard so you’ll want to cut them into small pieces or fork-mash them to make them easier to eat.

Don’t forget to plan for on-the-go snacks while you’re out and about running errands. This will make traveling with a toddler easier as they will be able to feed themselves when they’re hungry and you don’t have time to stop.

You can expect to hear, “Me do it, Mommy” more and more as your toddler gets bigger. They’re growing up, learning to be independent, and can begin to take care of self-feeding. You’ve done a wonderful job, Mom, take pride in it!

For more help, check out Dine Without Whine – the menu mailer for families with kids!

Grazing For Toddlers

Healthy “Grazing” to Keep Your Toddler Happy

Little children are “grazers,” meaning they eat small amounts all day long rather than eating only three meals per day. Go ahead and let your toddler eat this way. It is possible to encourage healthy “grazing” to keep your toddler happy and give you some peace and quiet.

Toddlers are growing in so many ways; however, their little tummies can’t contain much at a time. This is why they tend to graze and snack during the day as well as share meals with you and the family. What you allow them to graze on can make all the difference in the world as to how healthy your toddler and their eating habits will be in the future.

Perhaps your young one prefers to eat a limited amount of food during actual meals. If so, you may be concerned that they’re not getting enough nutrients to be healthy and continue to grow. What you may not realize is that grazing throughout the day can keep them fueled up. It also helps to maintain their blood sugar level which is important even at this young age.

If you’re concerned that your toddler’s grazing can lead them to become obese or overweight in the future, start thinking about what you allow them to graze upon. By keeping only healthy, nutritious foods available during the day, your toddler won’t have chips, crackers, cookies, and soft drinks to graze on.

Take time to prepare fruits and vegetables ahead of time so they are ready to eat when your toddler asks for a snack. Use the fruits and vegetables that they will eat as the basis for creating a snack tray for the day. Include items such as grapes cut in half, diced apples, banana halves, quartered tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes, and anything else they may actually eat. If there is a bowl or plate with these foods available to your toddler all day long, you’ll know that they’re eating healthy foods when they graze.

Keep your toddlers from watching television while they snack. In fact, it’s better to refrain from eating anything while watching television and that goes for everyone in the family. The problem with snacking and watching TV is that you’re not aware of how much you’re actually eating. The same would be true for your toddler.

Try not to stress out too much about your toddler’s grazing habits; it’s normal for children that age. Encourage them to eat during meals but don’t worry too much if they only eat a few bites. They’re not going to allow themselves to get too hungry. By having healthy snacks available your toddler will be able to meet their nutritional needs and keep both of you happy.

For more help, check out Dine Without Whine – the menu mailer for families with kids!

How to Get Your Toddler to Eat More Vegetables

How to Get Your Toddler to Eat More Vegetables

“Yuck! I hate vege-bles!” you hear your toddler say. Before you know it, the tug of war over how to get your toddler to eat more vegetables has begun. You’re determined you’re going to win this time, but things don’t look promising.

You may be pulling your hair out as you try to get your child to eat more than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or macaroni and cheese. Try these five tips on how to improve your child’s opinion of vegetables.

* Let them see you eating whatever it is you want them to eat. It doesn’t matter if the particular vegetable you’re trying to get them to eat isn’t one of your own favorites, take a big bite, chew it up, swallow it, and look like you’re enjoying it. You may even want to tell them how “yummy” it is and that they’re really missing out by refusing to eat it, you get to eat it all by yourself. Of course, if they’re like most toddlers, their “Mine” reflex will kick in when you start eating off of their plate. Before you know it they’ll be eating things they wouldn’t normally touch.

* Look at the foods they will eat and try to think of ways you can sneak vegetables into them. For instance, if your toddler would rather lose their favorite toy for the rest of their life than eat carrots, break out your favorite carrot cake recipe. Give it another name, though, or they’ll figure out that it actually has carrots in it. The sweetness of the cake, along with the cream cheese frosting, is sure to be a hit and they won’t realize they’re eating those dreaded carrots.

* Make eating vegetables fun. If you cut them up into smaller pieces that don’t seem too big to eat, they may be more willing to give them a try. One little girl refuses to eat broccoli pieces unless they are made into “little trees” that are easier to eat after they’ve been dipped into her favorite dressing. This concept might mean you have to be a little bit crafty in making the vegetables kid-sized and fun, but if you want your toddler to eat more vegetables it might resort to this.

* Let them help in the kitchen. Of course, you’re not going to give your toddler a sharp knife and ask them to cut up vegetables, but you can still get their help. Get out your hand masher and let them mash either white or sweet potatoes. They’ll have fun mashing the potatoes to smithereens and may find themselves licking the mess off their chubby fingers.

* Limit snacks like cookies and have only healthy vegetables available for your toddler. Keep carrot sticks, celery sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumber slices available and easily accessible. They may not be happy that they’re not getting cookies or crackers, but if they’re truly hungry they’ll be glad to have the vegetables. Make a low-fat dressing they can dip the veggies into and you may find that you’ve changed your cookie monster into a veggie monster.

Your toddler may not want to eat their vegetables, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get them to eat them with some clever thinking and a little bit of ingenuity. You may not like being sneaky when getting your toddler to eat more vegetables, but if you want them to be healthy it might not seem like such a bad idea.

For more help, check out Dine Without Whine – the menu mailer for families with kids!

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