How were you fed as a child?
Do you want to feed your child the way you were fed?
How do you feel about your own eating?
Do you want your child to eat the way you do?
Step by step, starting with breast – or formula-feeding, then solid foods, then soft and easy-to-eat grownup food from family meals, you teach your child to be a good eater.
Your child will learn to eat the food you eat.
To feed your child, do your own
jobs and let him do his jobs.
- You decide what, when, and where your child gets to eat.
- Your child decides how much and whether he eats – of what you make.
Your jobs:
- Have a schedule for meals and snacks.
- Refuse begging for food or drink handouts (except water) between times.
- Choose food you enjoy to buy, cook, and put on the table.
- Enjoy your own meal. Pay attention to your own eating.
- Keep meals pleasant. Talk and listen. Don’t fight or scold. Turn off the TV.
- Let him use his fingers, fork, or spoon. Let him get messy.
Your child’s jobs:
- Learn to eat at family meal and snack times.
- Come to the table hungry and ready to eat.
- Pick and choose from what you have put on the table. Not make a fuss.
- Decide how much and if he will eat. Enjoy his meal.
- Behave nicely at the table. Be good company.
- Not make a mess to bug you.
Don’t get your jobs mixed up
with your child’s jobs.
- If you don’t do your jobs, your child will eat poorly and not behave at meals.
- If you get bossy and try to do his jobs, he will get upset and not eat.
