The feeding relationship: Introducing new food to your baby

Building a healthy relationship with food

For the first six months of life, breast milk is the only food your baby needs. Around six months, your baby will be showing signs or cues that they are ready for new food. This is an exciting and sometimes a bit stressful time for parents. Parents often worry about which food is best for their baby and how much their baby should eat.

When giving your baby new food for the first time, remember that your baby is learning to eat. You may also be learning how to feed your baby. A good place to start is to trust and respect each other’s roles in the feeding relationship.

As a parent, you decide:

what foods to offer to your baby
when to offer meals and snacks
where your baby will eat

And you can trust your baby to decide:

whether or not to eat
how much to eat

These roles can make meal times less stressful for both parent and baby. Your baby does not feel forced to eat and the parent knows what they can/cannot control. Toronto Public Health has a helpful video called Trust Me, Trust My Tummy explaining this relationship.

Through my next few posts, I hope to provide some helpful advice towards introducing food to baby more enjoyable for everyone. You can expect to see posts about: