How to Take Care of a Baby: Baby Feeding Tips for First Time Parents

Updated on April 29th, 2020

ULTIMATE, SIMPLE AND USEFUL FEEDING TIPS FOR BABY

Till now in the blog, I have talked about three important questions (When, What and How to start with or introduce solid foods for the little one?). But the discussion to these questions is worthless unless we feed a baby with the Baby food recipes or the solids. Through this blog sharing with you, all the various personally experienced feeding tips which I am following for the past 6 to 7 months and are beneficial. The feeding process is time consuming and needs patience. The following tips help in time management and focusing on other areas for baby growth and betterment.

These tips are as follows:

1.    Correct feeding posture of the baby:

a.    The period when started to feed solids to the baby, lie the baby in a mother’s lap with head slightly kept higher. This is because the baby is too small and firm to sit for a long duration to complete his/ her food.

b.    Gradually make the baby sit in an upright position on a high chair or with the support of the pillows. This is for the fast digestion of the food.

c.    Further, make the baby sit with his /her back touching the mother’s stomach and holding him/her firmly to maintain the straight posture. This helps in engaging the baby for a longer period to complete the food.

2.    Feeding small bites will make it easy for the baby to chew and swallow the food.

3.    Give only homemade food as your baby’s digestive system is still underdeveloped.

4.    Changing the flavours of the food recipes according to the taste of the baby helps a lot in feeding full meals.

For example: Adding lemon, cardamom, small piece of vegetable to the food recipes according to the baby taste.

5.    The texture of the food recipe should be changed according to the liking of the baby. I observe this when my kid was 10 months old willing to eat solids which are not liquid enough.

6.    Do not continuously feed a meal to the baby. In between taking some small gaps of about 3 to 4 minutes to allow the baby to understand the taste and texture of the solids.

7.    During feeding, pat on the back of the baby to take burps and feel comfortable with the meal.

8.    Do not force the baby to eat during the teething phase or when the baby is not feeling well. Feed him/her more with breastfeed or formula milk. After some days slowly introduce the baby with solid foods.

9.    Forcing the baby to eat when he/she is not willing or eating less is an incorrect approach. This might results in vomiting, choking, eating less, which involves a longer time with no appropriate result. Below mentioned tips have helped me in the above situation many times:

a.    Start feeding after sometime around half an hour.

b.    Making the baby sit along with the mother having her meal and feeding side by side.

c.    Playing or involving the baby in some physical activities to increase his/her appetite.

d.    Go on a walk with the baby in the garden.

10. Serving snacks in a big size feeding plate and making the baby eat on his/ her own increases interest in solid foods, develops the taste and a good habit. Practicing this habit is a helping hand for working mothers.

11.  Serving the solid foods of different colours in a single feeding plate attracts the baby to feed. This also helps in identifying different taste of different food recipes as the baby is keen towards colour at a growing age.

This is illustrated through an example: serving Moong dal khichdi (yellow) with carrot puree (red) or apple puree (golden).

12. Engage the baby in activities like games, musical toys, books with colourful and big pictures while feeding.

13. Making the routine of daily activities like sleeping, playing and feeding helps to inculcate the habit of eating on time in the baby.

14. It is noticed usually that the baby is not willing to eat due to the fullness of the stomach. This results in not eating a full meal. This affects the health of the baby and difficulty in the adoption of solid foods. I am following these tips for the past 6 to 7 months and have helped me in reducing the feeding time.

a.    Keeping an interval of two to three hours between two meals increases appetite.

b.    Snacks should be served two times in a day and not frequently after every meal or milk.

c.    Usually the baby is not comfortable eating solid foods as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Therefore, serving the breakfast followed by the milk helps in feeding full meal.

15. Routing the day of the baby in such a manner that he/ she completes the dinner by 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. This helps in digestion and relaxes the baby to sleep.

16. Commonly, the baby is less willing to the solid foods in 8 to 10 days cycle. In another span of days the baby is more eager to feed. As mother initially I found it difficult to handle the situation from the health of the baby point of view. The reasoning of the same is yet to be discovered. To avoid such a situation stop forcing the baby to feed and go hand in hand with the baby’s choice. Further, you can try with some more variety of baby food recipes and giving as a snack.

The list is never ending and is increasing everyday while feeding the baby. So all the very best to all the mothers and do try these above tips. Keep learning and keep enjoying with the little one.