Feb 03, 2017 Pregnancy & Childbirth

Teaching Your Toddler Self Feeding

Life becomes a little easier once your toddler begins self feeding.

After about 10 months you can start feeding your baby more variety of food and while you previously had to put the food in a food processor to make it easy to eat you can start feeding your child food that it chopped finely rather than blended.

You need to make sure that the pieces of food are chopped fine enough to ensure that your baby won’t choke.
By this stage your child will have enough teeth to start chewing the food and the next step for you is to teach your toddler to start self feeding.

You will still need to be present when your child is eating as most young children have a tendency to put all the food they can get their hands on into their mouth and this can result in choking.
The best solution is to use a highchair and have it close to the dinner table so you can keep an eye on the food consumption while you are having your own dinner.

By giving your child small portions there will be less likelihood of too much food getting put into its mouth.

You will also be assured that all the food has been swallowed before the next portion is offered.

Soft foods are the best to start with as they will reduce the chance of problems that could occur with solid food getting lodged in the throat or airways.

Food and drink should always be at room temperature or warmed slightly as anything that is overly hot or cold can cause damage to the stomach and intestines.

Warm food is more easily digested too.

Try to avoid feeding your child any food that you know is not wholesome and nutritious as food and drinks that are of low value such as fizzy drinks, can cause stomach upsets, wind and other intestinal problems.

Toddlers will quickly adapt to feeding themselves and before too long they will prefer to have the control over the amount and speed by which they eat.

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