Getting Your Baby To Eat Baby Food

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? You serve your baby some nice finger foods that you have taken great effort to make and put it on a plate on her high chair. You turn your back for a minute, and before you know it, the food is on floor. You give your baby a stern talking to; head back resignedly and bring over another plate. Your baby smiles angelically and pours all the food onto her lap from where she proceeds to smear it all on her face, arms and her chair!

If you have had this happen to you a few times now, perhaps there is something that you are not quite doing correctly. Follow the steps we have outlined below to not only get your baby to eat the food you have prepared but to build a better relationship between her and the food she eats.

1.    Do not make eating a power struggle. It is more important that your baby eats when she is hungry and she eats what she likes. Forcing her to eat broccoli when she has pushed it away a few times is inviting trouble. Give her something that she likes to eat and reintroduce the food a few days later. Do not be surprised if she simply wolfs it down then. Babies are notoriously fickle-minded when it comes to food tastes.
2.     Try to introduce new foods as many times as you can even though she may keep rejecting it. In fact, experts suggest that you should try and give your baby a new food at least fifteen times before concluding that she does not like it. Do not try to give her the food fifteen times in one go.
3.    Once your baby feels full, do not force her to eat more just because you feel she should be eating more. Similarly, if she is hungry she may eat a large portion of a particular dish – do not stop her then.
4.    Keep an eye on when you feel your baby is ready to eat by herself. By around eight months, most babies try to get the food into their mouth by themselves. You can start by giving them soft finger foods like cheese, mushy bananas, boiled carrots and so on.
5.    It is possible that as a new mother you are having some emotional issues of your own. Or you may have had problems with food and control issues. All this may have created a great fear in you of how your baby is going to feel about food. You want her to have a healthy relationship with her body and with the food she is eating, which is quite understandable. However, make sure that your feelings and fears do not spill over and affect your baby. Seek help for yourself if you need so that you can help your baby better.

By developing healthy eating habits in your baby from now, you are ensuring her future health and well-being as well.