Feeding a Fussy Eater – Tips and Advice
On this Page:
- What does bub experience when eating solid food for the first time?
- What to feed your baby when introducing solid food?
- Which is better: homemade or commercially bought baby food?
- How do you get a fussy eater to eat your homemade baby food?
- What is a fresh food feeding system? How does it prevent baby from being a fussy eater at feeding time?
Is your baby becoming a fussy eater?
Don’t panic. All mums have experienced a fussy eater at some time and may not know how a fresh food feeding system can help. Many babies become picky with the food they eat because eating solid food is a new experience for them. The majority of parents will tend to get easily frustrated when baby food mum has prepared gets ignored. However, you should take this episode in the early years of your child’s eating habits as a challenge to get them to enjoy eating balanced meals laden with vitamins and nutrients needed by the body.
The majority of babies reject food they are not familiar with, or are experiencing for the first time. At times though, this is a way a lot of children show their independence. They are telling mum they can already feed themselves.
Yet eating habits and tastes are formed at an early age. So introducing a variety of food is very important from the outset. Not only is this important to help avoid fussiness, but is important in giving them a balanced and healthy diet that provides the nutrients baby needs.
What does bub experience when eating solid food for the first time?
Sometimes the entire experience of transitioning from breastmilk and formula to solid food is a bit overwhelming to your baby. After several months of nursing with breastmilk or giving formula, your baby becomes all too familiar with milk. Introducing him or her to fruits and vegetables for the first time can be daunting.
Babies may need time to get used to various colours, textures and most importantly the tastes of new foods they encounter. While some may take to eating solid food easily, other babies may take time to adjust and fully enjoy solid feeding.
As your baby turns 9 or 10 months old they are now considered a toddler. What seems to be fussy eating is usually just your little bub’s way of asserting control and independence. So don’t force them. Take your time. Introduce them to solid food by offering something closely familiar such as purees and sauces.
What to feed your baby when introducing solid food?
Purees and sauces and grains are the most common transition food. For most babies, it doesn’t matter what the first solid foods are. But most mums follow tradition, and choose single-grain cereals as their first baby food. However, there is no medical evidence that introducing solid foods in any particular order has an advantage for your baby.
In addition, the majority of paediatricians recommend starting vegetables before fruits. While others may disagree to that, there is no evidence that your baby will develop a dislike for vegetables if fruit is given first. Yet most mums will agree that the majority of babies are born with a preference for sweet things. With many fruits on the sweeter side, babies often tend to favour fruits over vegetables.
Meantime, dry baby cereals are available premixed in individual containers. These you can simply add breast milk, formula, or water. Mums tend to mix this familiar liquid food to make the baby at ease with the first solid food he will taste.
Which is better: homemade or commercially bought baby food?
While many good reasons support buying commercial baby food due to convenience, preferences, and baby-approval ranking, many parents choose to make their own baby food. Parents who prefer homemade baby food have many reasons for their choice.
Firstly, parents who choose to whip up their own baby food know the exact ingredients in the food being served. It gives them the peace of mind that only the freshest and healthiest ingredients are being fed to baby.
Secondly, it is more economical than buying pre-packaged baby food. Mums can choose the fruits, vegetables, and other foods for homemade purees, instead of relying on the flavours chosen baby food manufacturers. Homemade baby food also helps with getting baby used to eating the same food as the rest of the family (only that it is in puree form).
How do you get a fussy eater to eat your homemade baby food?
Babies are naturally born with what doctors call a ‘tongue thrust reflex’. This is usually an indication that a baby is ready for solids. In some cases, though, a baby may still push out the spoon the first couple of times he is fed, because the sensation is unfamiliar and takes time for adjustment. Don’t try to force your baby to eat if he continues to reject the spoon. Take it slowly.
As a doting mum, you may find that your baby will readily take food from a spoon, but will gag as soon as the food is in their mouth. This is no cause for alarm as this is baby’s natural defence against choking. Other mums tend to use fresh food feeders to slowly introduce solid food. But you may opt to serve it later after you have served your child pureed food for several months.
As a piece of extra advice, it is always a good idea to introduce some texture into your baby’s food once he has been enjoying homemade pureed foods for around 3 weeks. This will usually be at around 7 months of age. Whilst some babies – particularly those that are breastfed – don’t start solid foods until towards the end of their first year. In this case, you can often dispense with pureed homemade baby food altogether, as these babies tend to be ready to deal with textured foods from the outset.
What is a fresh food feeding system? How does it prevent baby from being a fussy eater at feeding time?
With everything you need from start to finish already at hand, the Cherub Baby’s Fresh Food Feeding System allows you to make, store, warm and serve with the one system. Make fresh and natural food for your baby with ease. The Fresh Food Feeding System includes the Automatic Baby Food Maker , Portable Bottle Warmers, On The Go Reusable Food Pouches and Food Pouch Spoons and a handy Cooler Bag.
The Automatic Baby Food Maker not only steams, cooks & blends your food, it also sterilises your bottle and accessories! If you are on the go, then make use of one of our portable bottle warmers combined with the reusable food pouches.
The Cherub Baby 'Click n Go' Travel Baby Bottle Warmer allows you to heat on the go with no need for batteries or mains power. Baby food heats instantly when placed inside the gel warmer.
To make feeding on the go even easier, Cherub Baby includes a range of Food Pouch Spoons and Spouts. These spoons and spouts actually attach directly to the food pouches, meaning you can feed your baby instantly, anytime, anywhere! The best part is that the spoons are BPA free and change colour to indicate if the food is too hot.
The Cherub Baby Fresh Food Feeding System provides the perfect solution for busy mum’s to prepare home-made baby food to feed your fussy eater with ease!
