Feeding Aids
The first crockery and cutlery should be childproof
How can I guide my baby's exploratory urge when it comes to eating?
Simply put, you will have to sit out the phase when children play with food. This experience is important and necessary for your baby. Your baby doesn't want to annoy you when he digs through the food with his fingers and then happily dumps it on the floor. This is about experimenting and finding out what happens to the food when you move it from the high chair.
In the early years, children live exclusively in their sensations. To limit the damage and child-proof the dining area, you should resort to large bibs and placemats to catch the biggest mess. Practice patience, this important phase will pass sooner than you think.
Why should I use special cutlery like a feeding spoon for my baby?
Adult cutlery is too big to fit in a baby's mouth and is also much too hard and sharp-edged. If you are switching from formula to the first porridge, you will need a special spoon for this. At the age of five to six months, a baby is not yet able to eat the porridge from the spoon on its own. It instinctively opens its mouth, but it does not close it again. That's why you have to wipe the porridge off the palate when you pull the spoon back so that it falls onto the baby's tongue. This requires special cutlery that has no sharp edges and is suitable for the size of the child's mouth.
Cutlery for adults is usually made of stainless steel and is therefore in no way suitable for feeding a baby. Feeding spoons are child-safe because they are mainly made of plastic and have rounded edges. Feeding requires flattened spoons that can be easily wiped on the palate and upper lip without damaging the gums.
Which dishes should I use?
When your baby is older, she will want to eat on her own. At first, these efforts look more like a mud fight, but your little one becomes more adept with each passing day. Soon your little darling will be able to handle his first child's cutlery. The appropriate tableware should also be childproof.
Break-proof plates and cups are not only necessary for the first independent eating attempts. With increasing age, the baby becomes a toddler who knows how to express his feelings. If he doesn't like the food, he can show his displeasure very clearly by moving the plate and cup, including the contents, to the floor. This phase also ends, but by then the dishes and cutlery will often end up on the floor.
How can bad eaters be persuaded?
If your baby is one of those children who can't warm up to their mealtimes, you can use a trick. Use dishes with motifs and offer an incentive for the next meal. Carrot or semolina porridge hides the picture on the plate. Therefore, you have to eat before the princess, unicorn or other motif can appear on the plate. You just have to make sure that your baby doesn't push the food off the plate energetically with his or her cutlery in order to be able to see the picture that is hidden underneath.
Do I need a baby food warmer?
Baby food warmers have been an integral part of a baby's accessories for many decades. Whether it's a porridge jar or a tea bottle - everything is warmed up ready to serve in just a few minutes. Of course, baby food can also be warmed up in a pot and then fed. But with a baby food warmer you save on washing up.
In addition, porridge and tea can be kept warm continuously for a longer period of time. This is especially practical if your child asks for tea or a bottle of milk at night. You can prepare the drink and keep it at the right temperature in the baby food warmer until your baby wakes up and needs its bottle. There's no need to get up at night and warm it up, so feeding is much more relaxed.