Solid food rules

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Guten Tag!

In my own experience, introducing solids to my little man came easy. I just gave him a soup one day, followed by (mashed) macaroni and he liked it already. Our first experience with solids was really easy. I did not have any hard time introducing it to him maybe becaus he was really ready for it. However, despite the fuss-free solids session, I still strictly follow these rules.

-Give solids on the sixth month.
Why? Infants' intestinal tract is not yet mature until they reach their sixth month and giving them solids early on might be to hard on their part. It does not apply to all babies, though. Some mature early on, some mature a little later. But still, I just wanted to make sure about it so I had to patiently wait for the sixth month.

-Do not get excited on the food.
Giving solids can be really exciting, especially based on my experience where Migo would just get everything I gave him. But, hep hep!! We are avoiding over feeding here. Since the experience is new to the infant, he might not give signs that he is full already because he is enjoying the moment. And mommy might get overly excited too, forgeting that she's feeding an infant with a very tiny tummy.

-Experiment on one type of food first before introducing a new one.
I cooked lugaw for him and the lugaw was served for a week. It was intentional because I wanted him to be familiar with the food and also in case he's not hiyang and had diarrhea, I knew what the culprit was. It will be hard to track the cause of food allergy if all was given at the same time.

-The right eating position
Infants should be in a correct sitting position so to make him swallow the food correctly. Babies can be placed on a high chair or be sitted on your lap when feeding.

-The gear
I make sure that my little one is wearing a large bib when he's eating. A larger size of a bib can accomodate all the mess and prevent it from going to any part of his shirt. I also have a wet face towel on hand so I could wipe his mouth, or his face for that matter, to keep it clean and dungis-free.

-The utensils
I bought a simple infant bowl and not the fancy, colorful ones. I knew my baby would
be distracted with colorful things and I did not want him to be distracted while eating, so a plain looking bowl would be okay. The spoon I bought is kinda small so I can put it easy in his tiny mouth. In due time when he can already open his mouth wide and can accomodate a larger portion, I will buy then a bigger spoon. By the way, I chose a rubberized spoon over a plastic one so not to hurt the gums of my baby.

-No toys, no play
As much as possible, I do not want him playing while eating. As early as now, I want him to develop the habit of not playing or doing other things while eating. Even if this is one of our bonding times, I make sure he knows that eating time is only for eating time. Talkies are limited also. We have all the time to play when he's done with his food anyways.

-The water
I make sure that I let him drink water after each session so to help rinse out whatever is left inside his mouth. This also prevents singaw and cavities (for bigger babies with already lotsa teeth).




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