Solid Starts

Let baby watch you eat 🥦👀

Although it may not seem as “important” as working on motor skills like sitting and reaching, having a strong interest in food and eating is a cornerstone of developing a positive mealtime dynamic and seeing success at the table during those early meals.

Babies have no idea that food is delicious or should fill the belly and the more they watch us pick up food and put it in our mouths, the more likely this will click for them when they eventually join in on the fun.

Eating in front of your baby teaches them to imitate you and eventually, want to feed themselves. We all have mirror neurons—brain cells that light up as powerfully in response to watching someone else do an activity as they do when you, yourself do the same activity.

Watching a trusted caregiver eat over and over again essentially builds the desire and motor skill in baby to try to do it on their own. When it’s their turn to explore food they will be familiar, interested, and primed to pick up that food and do it on their own.

Babies show intense interest in what adults enjoy—i.e., cell phones, keys, remotes—so show baby that eating and mealtimes are fun by smiling, laughing, and engaging with food and friends or family around the table. Make meals a place baby wants to be.

➡️ Learn more at the link in our bio.

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