As soon as the baby appears, the center of the universe for him from the first moment of life becomes a mother. True, some time passes and the baby tries to move towards independence and autonomy, begins to eat, dress himself. Every mom and dad is simply obliged to contribute to this, providing all possible assistance in teaching the peanut completely new to him skills. How to teach a child to eat with a spoon? You will find the answer to this question in the article.
What is a spoon?
As a rule, the first cutlery with which the baby meets is a spoon. It will take some time until the child understands that this is not a new toy, but a convenient device so that the porridge or soup gets into the mouth. Often young mothers worry: how to teach a child to eat with a spoon? As a rule, this time comes when the little one has learned to confidently sit completely independently. He just reaches the age of 7-8 months of age. An almost adult peanut is very interested in the spoon with which his mother feeds him. He tries to push her hands away, and grabbing the first cutlery from her, to bring it to his mouth.
We select the first table "tool"
Before you put a spoon in the handle of the baby, you need to buy it. How to make the right choice? The most important criterion for children's cutlery is their safety. The best choice would be a soft spoon made of silicone and having a plastic handle. Such spoons are made especially for peanuts. Thanks to the special handle, children eat with convenience. Another advantage of a silicone spoon is its heat sensitivity. If the baby’s food is hotter than necessary, the spoon may change color. This is very convenient for mom, because if she warms the food in the microwave, mashed potatoes, soup or porridge do not always warm evenly. Thanks to a heat-sensitive spoon, getting a baby burns is excluded.
Another plus of a silicone spoon is its softness. She can't hurt the gums, even if your children eat not very neat. When the kids turn one and a half years old, silicone can be changed to plastic.
One spoon or a set of children's dishes?
Often, mothers and fathers purchase a special set of children's dishes, which is equipped with plates (deep and shallow), cups and appliances. Such a set will be very useful, because over time, all this will come in handy for their little ones.
Memo to parents
When buying cutlery for a baby, you need to follow a few simple rules.
- Spoons for children are better to choose medium size (not large and not small).
- The edge of the cutlery should not be sharp so that the child is not injured.
- The spoon handle is ideally wooden or silicone (today there are even metal products on sale).
- When choosing a fork for a baby, it is necessary to check how sharp its teeth are, because until the baby learns to eat well on his own, he can inflict wounds on his mouth.
- Any cutlery bought for a baby should be of high quality, better - from a company that has established itself in the market of goods for children. The device should not be with an extraneous odor, nor be painted (time will pass and the paint will slide off the surface of a spoon or fork, getting into the body of a pean).
Parents are required to monitor the life of the children's cutlery (see the packaging), change them on time.
Is a silver spoon really useful?
For many decades, young mothers, listening to the advice of grandparents, choose silver cutlery for their little one. As a rule, the first spoon for a child can also be made from this material. Like, it’s better to give it “for the first tooth”, because all the bacteria that fall into the crumb’s mouth will be immediately destroyed by silver. The decision to purchase must be considered in advance, and better than once. And when choosing a spoon, you need to be careful enough.
Firstly, there is no absolute certainty that the baby will not have an allergic reaction to silver. If it appears, then skin rashes are just around the corner. A huge minus in this situation will be that doctors will look for allergies in anything, but they will not guess what material of the cutlery the baby should put in their mouths. And parents will not tell them anything about it. The allergic process in crumbs can drag on for many years.
Secondly, manufacturers transfer souvenir spoons to the shelves of jewelry stores and salons. They are in demand in response to a family tradition - to give such spoons when the first tooth appears. Unfortunately, it is better not to use such a souvenir for its intended purpose: to preserve the color of the metal, silver is coated with certain substances that may be unsafe for the health of the child. If the decision to purchase a silver spoon is made irrevocably, it is reasonable to choose one with a bone or plastic handle (silver heats up quickly enough, and eating hot food with a spoon made of metal 925 is not very comfortable, especially for a baby).
Based on the foregoing, the question arises: do you need silver spoons and why use them? And here comes to the fore the magnificent property of this metal - bactericidal. Thanks to the use of these spoons, it is possible to prevent stomatitis, thrush of the oral cavity and other infectious diseases.
“I'm already an adult!”
After the baby is born, the baby eats only mother's milk or baby formula. Then, vegetable purees, cereals, steamed cutlets and other goodies are gradually introduced into his diet. As his first teeth appear, he learns to chew. Now he really wants to perform as many actions as possible himself.
What can a child do in 1 year? He can already "wipe" the nose and handles with a handkerchief or towel; bring toys or items that parents call; imitates facial expressions of adults, various familiar movements or sounds. The kid diligently learns to sing and dance. The most interesting and favorite toy is a regular phone, on which he often “calls” someone. But one of the best achievements when it comes to what a child can do at 1 year old is that he learned to bite and chew bread, roll, biscuits or crackers, and also drink from his cup, holding it with handles. Undoubtedly, these actions give rise to a sense of pride in the heart of any mother.
"I want to eat myself!"
When the baby reaches the age of 7-8 months, he develops an interest in the spoon, he begins to be interested in it. The baby pulls his little hands, pushing away his mother, trying to grab the cutlery. How to teach a child to eat with a spoon so that this process goes on time, correctly and interestingly?
As soon as the baby shows interest in the cutlery, it is necessary, without delay, to begin acquaintance with a new subject for him. It is quite simple to do this: put a spoon in a child’s pen, put a little porridge in a plate and let him begin to learn. Mom must be very patient to endure this experiment, because porridge can be everywhere: on the feeding table, on the floor, on everything that the pean can reach, even on him. In addition, knocking a spoon on a plate does not always sound very musical.
Offend reproaching
The time will come, and the baby will learn to scoop up porridge or mashed potatoes, then soup, to bring food to her mouth. Mom should not worry and be nervous in advance, because this is a completely new activity for her baby. Previously, he did not encounter this, so at first it is difficult for him to cope. How to teach a child to eat with a spoon, so as not to suppress his desire to try unusual movements and get acquainted with new objects for him? In no case should not blame the baby, telling him "never do this", "you can’t do that." Mom should try very hard and restrain her impatience, not using out loud phrases like "honey, let's better feed you," because she wants her child to make friends with a spoon as soon as possible. It is necessary to give the crumb freedom, not to frighten him and give him the opportunity to act independently.
And if such an opportunity was missed and the baby during this period could not learn how to handle a spoon, then he will have to wait until he turns one and a half years old. True, one and a half year old peanut will be able to smear food even by wallpaper, tile and curtains, which adults are unlikely to like.
Any remark to the baby during feeding is best done in the form of a game, and on behalf of children's toys, then he will listen to them. For example: "Oh, what a Tanya is a slut." The pean will not take offense at such a remark as much as it would at Mom's or Dad's, and he will try to fix it as quickly as possible.
We encourage the baby to eat on their own
To the baby learned to eat himself, parents just need to follow a few rules:
- wait until the baby reaches the desired age;
- purchase a spoon in advance for the child;
- eat directly at the baby;
- when the baby begins to show interest in cutlery, put it in his pen and show how to hold a spoon;
- be patient and make comments only on behalf of toys and tumblers when the baby learns to eat.
Parents should understand: when a child eats with a spoon on his own, this means that he takes a huge and important step in his development. Mom and dad must definitely encourage all attempts to pean. It is clear that at first with this spoon he will pound on the table or plate. It is enough for adults to take some safety measures and not get hysterical if the food is accidentally on the bib, the child himself, the table or the floor.
Does the baby hold the spoon correctly?
All crumbs need to clearly demonstrate how to use cutlery. To explain how to properly hold a spoon for a child, mother should take the baby’s handle several times in which the spoon is clamped, scoop up food with it and send it to the mouth of the little one. So the baby will be very easy to understand what is required of him. You can show it by your own example: mother eats from her plate, a toddler from her own, trying to carefully repeat her mother's movements. It is likely that the baby will pinch a spoon in the cam. This is not scary, because motor skills are not yet sufficiently developed. Over time, everything will work out.
At first, you don’t need to force the baby to eat the whole portion. Most likely, he will quickly tire of carrying out new and unusual actions for him. Mom in this case can feed him a second spoon. And you can play the game: the baby scoops up and eats one spoon, and the mother picks up the second and gives it to him to eat. The main thing is not to rush, and then everything will turn out!