Why is my 8 month old so fussy
How to Get My Baby to Eat (8 months Starting Solids)
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hi there this is Thalia the dietitian
and today I'm answering one of your
questions I'm gonna read you the
question and then I'm gonna answer it so
the question I received from this parent
was how do I get my 8 month old to put
food in his mouth and eat it all righty
so first thing to note here is the
child's age we want to be introducing
solids around 6 months that's the
current world
well World Health Organization's
recommendation that's a mouthful is
starting around 6 months the major sign
of readiness here is that your child is
able to sit up unassisted even if it's
only for a few seconds but they're able
to sit up unsupported and if that's not
happening by 6 and a half months you
might want to talk to your pediatrician
about that but I do not recommend
introducing solids earlier unless it's a
very rare case in terms of allergies
before six months and the unfortunate
thing here is that a lot of doctors are
not really up-to-date on these feeding
recommendations and a lot of them will
still say that you can give your child
rice cereal in their bottle at 4 months
old and they really strongly caution you
from doing that there are a myriad of
reasons for that and we can get into
that in another video
but I did want to just kind of give that
little bit of a background so the point
here is your child is 2 months into
their eating journey
that's still really really early and
children take the first few months of
starting solos really is just getting
acquainted with different foods
different textures how things feel and
whether you're doing purees or baby led
weaning it doesn't really matter in
terms of your goal is still to let them
explore the food and it is messy we did
baby led weaning with some purees as
well for example yoga is a puree and it
was very very messy and those first few
months are really difficult so hang in
there I know it's really really hard so
and I know that a lot of parents get
really worried if by a month in they're
not actually swallowing let me break
that down in that next time you're
eating a meal sit when you're chewing
think about what your mouth is actually
doing before you swallow after you put
the food in your mouth you have to chew
it which takes a lot of muscle
ordination and then once you've broken
down the majority of the food that's in
your mouth you form what's called a
bolus which is kind of what it sounds
like it's a ball of chewed up food that
you need to move from the front of your
mouth to the back and then your tongue
and mouth has to push it down your
esophagus that takes a lot of muscle
coordination and a lot of practice for a
baby who has never done that before
because the action of sucking is very
different so some children are able to
swallow foods much earlier my first
child took longer to learn to actually
swallow food my second baby did it by
eight months she was but my older one
took longer and that's okay if they're
putting the food into their mouth
they're practicing their feeling the
textures they're getting exposures those
are all really great things they might
swallow a little bit of it sometimes it
just happens by accident and they may
give you a very surprised look on their
face because that that's a very new
feeling having a solid food go down your
throat as opposed to a liquid like milk
so keep that in mind as well keep it in
perspective so one of the top
recommendations I have is to sit and eat
with your baby obviously your your food
might look a little bit different even
if you're eating for example a potato
let's say you are doing baby led weaning
in your child has a finger length piece
of potato for them to pick up and put in
their mouth your potato might be a whole
potato a baked potato or whatever it is
it might look a little bit different but
the point here is is that you're eating
together and you're modeling that
behavior of you're going to use a fork
or a spoon for yourself and you might
have someone on for your baby if you're
doing spoon feeding or if you're if
you're doing letting the baby to it
themselves
they're gonna pick it up they're gonna
copy you that's what they do at that age
and it's just experience all where
they're just learning what to do with it
but by seeing what you're doing you are
the best model in fact there's quite a
bit of research that shows one of the
best ways to help children try new foods
is by the mother modeling that behavior
which is you sitting with your kid and
eating the same foods together so right
from the beginning try to make that a
priority and
you can't do it all the time because you
know there are dishes that need to be
done and there are other things that
need to be done around the house so
don't beat yourself up if you can't do
it every time but try to make it a
priority for at least part of the meal
that they're eating to be sitting with
them and eating something as well
and remember at eight months old your
baby is probably only really eating one
meal per day and think of that really as
exploration at that age it's after
they've had a breast feed or after
they've had a bottle so that they're not
hungry because they're going to get very
agitated if you put them in their chair
hungry because they don't know how to
swallow the food yet and they're not
going to be able to satiate themselves
and before twelve months milk really is
their main way of getting calories and
nutrition and we're going to build up
the skills by having giving them
opportunities to play with and explore
food for one or two meals during the day
and then you bump it up as they get more
proficient and I will do another video
where I talk more about introducing
solids but I really hope that helps so
main take-home messages here know that
it's okay if they don't swallow foods
right away takes a lot of practice and
by setting them up giving them one one
or two meal opportunities per day we're
giving them that time to practice and
the second major thing is to sit and
make it a priority to eat together or
with your child and not to worry if
things don't get swallowed just yet it
will happen I promise so I really hope
you found that helpful and if you did
and you learn something today I would
love if you would subscribe to my
channel I'm gonna have lots more Q&A and
other nutrition topics that I'm going to
cover so please subscribe and I'll see
you in another video and this is Talia
bye-bye I really hope you enjoyed that
video here are a couple more and
remember I'm going to be posting a new
video every week so subscribe so you
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