‘Don’t drop your food!’
An expression often uttered by parents to their teens.
Especially if said teen is curled up on the sofa, balancing a plate of food in their hands as they watch TV!
Interestingly, when your child is much younger, you wouldn’t actually mind it if they dropped their food. All because they were busy mastering the art of baby self-feeding!
If you are looking at how to encourage self-feeding in toddlers, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we at EuroKids have some pertinent advice on how to train your toddler to self-feed. The self-feeding tips for toddlers we have outlined herein, will ensure your little one goes a long way in mastering the art of baby self-feeding.
Can’t wait to get started, where it comes to learning how to train your toddler to self-feed? Delve right in, and explore those self-feeding tips for toddlers that will ensure you never have to worry about whether they have gotten their daily dose of nutrition or not. But first, a look at the Importance of those self-feeding skills for toddlers!
Table of Contents
- The Importance of Self-Feeding Skills in Babies
- Self-Feeding Tips for Toddlers: 8 Strategies for promoting Toddler Independence in Mealtime
The Importance of Self-feeding Skills in Babies
There’s a lot more than meets the eye, where it comes to babies learning to eat on their own.
Presenting the most important reasons that the process of baby self-feeding is ever so important.
- Mastering Grasping Skills
- Develops Hand-Eye Coordination Skills
- Fosters a sense of Independence
The process of ‘finger feeding’, is unparalleled when it comes to helping kids master the art of ‘grasping’.
The mere act of taking a spoonful of something like ‘sheera’ and placing it into their mouths on their own, makes for a great exercise in hand-eye coordination!
Last but not the least, those self-feeding skills are all about fostering a sense of independence in your child. When they can eat by themselves, they learn to regulate how much they eat, knowing when it’s time to ‘stop eating’!
Self-Feeding Tips for Toddlers: 8 Strategies for Promoting Toddler Independence in Mealtime
While those self-feeding skills of toddlers represent a significant milestone in the development of children, they do need a bit of ‘prodding’ from parents, to ensure they are honed effectively.
Looking at how to encourage self-feeding in toddlers? Presenting what we believe to be the 8 most important baby self-feeding strategies, to promote their sense of independence at mealtimes.
- Practice makes Perfect!
- Ensure you’re armed with the Essentials
- Help them Master the Art of using a Spoon
- Use the Perfect Spoon
- Make them Finger Foods with Dips!
- Eat together as a Family
- Making Food Time Fun!
- Let them eat with their Hands
The more practice they get vis a vis learning to eat on their own, the more adept they will become at eating by themselves.
Tip: You want to present food to them whenever you feel it is time for them to eat, and let them ’take the reins’ where it comes to placing those foods in their mouth.
Babies love all the things that help them self-feed effectively!
Tip: You want to ensure you get all the things that will help your baby set off on the path of self-eating. These include a high chair, bibs, a floor mat and some good plastic cutlery.
Your little one will be intrigued by the use of something as simple as a spoon!
Tip: You want to assist them in the process of using a spoon, to scoop out some sticky food like yogurt or even, sticky rice! Over time, they will come to master the art of using that spoon by themselves.
Relax. Finding the perfect spoon is not quite as difficult as finding the Holy Grail!
Tip: You want to ideally give them a smaller spoon to use, in the initial stages. That will help ensure they are not taking too much food in that spoon, at one go!
Perhaps the best way to get your child initiated into the process of eating by themselves, would be serving them the food they absolutely love.
Tip: Finger foods make the perfect choice for baby self-feeding, especially if they are accompanied with a lip smacking dip!
Examples of finger foods: You might want to serve them ‘veggies’ that can be chewed easily, like avocado and sweet potato, along with a scrumptious dip.
A child that watches other people eat, will learn the fine nuances of eating on their own.
Tip: You want to place your baby in that high chair beside the dinner table, every time the family eats. This way your child will become an active participant in the ‘eating’ process. Watching you and other members of the family eat, they will be encouraged to eat by themselves!
Children learn best, when there’s the element of ‘fun’ involved!
Tip: You might want to offer them foods that have been cut out of interestingly-shaped molds . Another thing you could do, would be to introduce them to a plethora of ‘colour’ on their plates. From ‘orange’ slivers to those dark ‘greens’, let them have it all!
In Indian culture, it’s not an uncommon sight to see many adults eating with their hands.
Tip: Sometimes, all those fancy ‘etiquette rules’ can take a backseat. Allow them to eat with their hands, if they prefer. Oh, and let them make a mess, as long as they are putting some food into their mouths!
At EuroKids we believe that all children should learn the art of self-feeding. This will not only help them cultivate a sense of independence, but form a healthy relationship with food, as well. Help your child eat by themselves, and see the confident, healthy individuals they turn out to be in no time!
