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Your Baby Developmental Milestones

Learn all the baby cues. Know when your little one is ready to explore more variety of food or feed on bigger bits of food, based on their milestones.

Supported Sitter
Sitter
Crawler
Toddler
Preschooler
Supported Sitter

Baby ready for weaning? Look for these cues to know if your baby is ready!

Physical Skills

Starts to keep her head stable

Starts to keep her head stable

Sits up with support

Sits up with support

Still loses balance & rolls over

Still loses balance & rolls over

Grasps for things voluntarily

Grasps for things voluntarily

Pushes herself up with straight arms & can turn her head to look around while on tummy

Pushes herself up with straight arms & can turn her head to look around while on tummy

Eating Skills

  • Uses tongue to move food back to swallow
  • Uses swallow reflex to swallow once food is in back of throat.
  • Recognizes a spoon when it's time to eat.
Supported Sitter

By the age of 6 months, your baby has usually at least doubled his or her birth weight and is becoming more active. Exclusive breastfeeding would no longer be enough for your baby to meet all the energy and nutrients needed. Hence, it is important to make sure that your baby is getting the energy and nutrients that he requires at this time to support his overall growth

Iron Rich Foods

Iron Rich Foods

Ex: Iron-fortified rice cereal, animal source foods (chicken, meat, fish)

Iron

Your baby has the highest growth rate between 6 months to 2 years, and iron needs are higher than any other period of life!

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Iron Rich Foods

Pulses – Peas, beans, lentils

Good sources of protein and iron

Iron Rich Foods

Fruits & Vegetables – Carrot, pumpkin, papaya, dark-green vegetables

Rich in Vitamin C to help with iron absorption

Begin by introducing one single ingredient food at a time, for example iron-fortified infant rice cereal.

Allergic Response
Allergic Response

Doing so allow parents to identify any allergic responses or food intolerances.

Offer a variety of food from different food groups in pureed texture.

Texture of Food
Feeding
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Sitter

Watch for these cues to know if your baby is ready to explore more variety of food!

Physical Skills

Sits in a high chair without help

Sits in a high chair without help

Squeezes objects, and doesn't just grasp them

Squeezes objects, and doesn't just grasp them

Has more control over her hands

Has more control over her hands

Uses fingers to drag things towards her

Uses fingers to drag things towards her

Eating Skills

  • Uses upper lip to help clear food off spoon
  • Begins chewing movements using up & down jaw "munching"
  • Drinks from a cup, but may not hold it on her own
Sitter

At this stage, your baby has probably had his first taste of solid food by now. Introduction of Infant cereals and pureed baby foods are helping to develop his eating skills. As your baby show more acceptance to new food being introduced to him, combination of ingredients can be introduced now to allow new flavours and textures to be discovered!

Add different foods! Different taste!

Accept more flavours

You can help your baby to learn to accept more flavours and provide a well-balanced diet by offering a variety of nourishing food

Arrow
carrot
tomato
banana
rice
Texture of Food

You baby may also begin her teething journey sometime at this point. Biscuit / Teethers rusk can also be given at this time to massage baby’s tender gums. This can also provide chewing practice and encourage your baby to feed themselves

Product
Feeding
Whole Nuts/Seeds

1

Whole Nuts / Seeds

Imposes a risk of choking

Honey

2

Honey

Avoid giving your baby honey before the age of 12 months, as honey contain a type of bacteria which can produce toxins in baby’s intestines and cause serious illness (infant botulism)

Salt Sugar

3

Salt / Sugar

As your baby’s kidneys are not fully developed, avoid adding any salt to food. Sugar on the other hand, may encourage a sweet tooth and lead to tooth decay.

Reminder
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Crawler

Watch for these cues to know if your baby is ready to eating bigger bits of food!

Physical Skills

Crawls with tummy off the ground

Crawls with tummy off the ground

May pull herself up to a stand

May pull herself up to a stand

Gets her hands on everything in sight

Gets her hands on everything in sight

Eating Skills

  • Can begin to experience more texture, but not equipped to handle it separately within the mouth
  • Moves food side to side with tongue to the jawline for mashing & chewing
Sitter
Can hold spoons and cups with lids, but not necessarily for self-feeding

Can hold spoons and cups with lids, but not necessarily for self-feeding

Begin to self-feed with fingers

Begin to self-feed with fingers

At this stage, texture added to your baby’s food previously was well-tolerated and food has never been a more important part of your little one’s diet. As your baby’s oral skills and hand-eye coordination developed, they’re moving closer to being able to feed themselves, either with their hands or a spoon.

Texture of Food
Texture of Food
Mash food with a fork to create texture!

Mash food with a fork to create texture!

Offer various kind of texture for your baby to explore!

Offer various kind of texture for your baby to explore!

  • Lumpy
  • Minced
  • Grated
  • Diced

It can be a whole messy process when your baby is learning how to eat! Your baby sees you eating and wants to join the fun, but they can’t quite yet. At this time, your baby is learning how to mash their food, hold a spoon and tell different foods apart. Messy but exciting!

Art of Eating
Feeding
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Toddler

Watch for these cues to know if your baby is an independent eater now!

Physical Skills

Developmental Milestones

Stands alone and begins to walk alone

Developmental Milestones

Walks with feet wide apart and toes pointed out

Eating Skills

Developmental Milestones

Can self-feed with fingers

Developmental Milestones

Begins exploring using utensils

Begins to dip spoon rather than scoop

Begins to dip spoon rather than scoop

Developmental Milestones

May start to drink through a straw

Able to bite through a variety of textures

Able to bite through a variety of textures

At this stage, your mini me is becoming more independent, insisting on doing everything on their own, feeding themselves. Your toddler is now ready to eat almost anything, as long as it is chopped up. Your toddler’s digestive system is ready to accept a good variety of solids to meet his increasing nutrient and calorie needs.

Texture of Food
Texture of Food
Cereal/Grains

Cereal / Grains

Fruits

Fruits

Vegetables

Vegetables

Meat/Fish

Meat / Fish

Diary Products

Diary Products

In general, your toddler at this stage should be having 3 – 4 meals a day. Depending on your child’s appetite, 1 – 2 snacks may be offered.

Breakfast

Breakfast

¾ small bowl of oat cereal or 1 -2 pcs of biscuits and 1 small cup of whole milk

Lunch

Lunch

½ or ¾ small bowl of rice, ½ palm size of protein, with 2 – 3 tbsp of veggies, ½ pcs of watermelon wedge

Dinner

Dinner

½ or ¾ small bowl of noodles, ½ palm size of protein, with 2 – 3 tbsp of veggies, ½ or ¼ pcs of orange

Cow

Snacks may be required between meals. Example of snacks:1 serving of Gerber® Organic Lil' Crunchies that provides 2g of protein!

Product

We got you mommy! Worry not as it is quite normal for your toddler to be refusing food occasionally. Most toddlers become less open to trying new foods / reject foods they liked before. This is completely normal!

Refuse

Your toddler rejects unfamiliar foods for the first time they are offered. Mommy should continue to offer small portion of these food without comments for toddler to become familiar and accept them.

Lunch

Don’t force your toddler to eat! When refused to eat, simply remove food and plate without comment. Try not to worry as for most toddlers, this will be a passing phase.

Lunch
Praise

Praise your toddler when they try everything and allow them to stop when they have had enough.

Keep

Keep your toddler with a regular mealtime routine! Avoid frequent snacking between meals or feeding time which is too close to mealtime as these can reduce their appetite for main meals.

Eat Together

Eat together with your toddler at the family table during mealtimes! This gives them opportunity to enjoy meals with family and encourages them to eat as they see others doing the same. After all toddles are great imitators at this stage!

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Preschooler

Watch for these feeding cues before you enforce “finish your plate” rule on your preschooler!

Hunger Cues

Get interested when it's time to eat

Get interested when it's time to eat

Search out specific foods in kitchen that they like

Search out specific foods in kitchen that they like

Has more control over her hands

Seem easily tired & irritable if they get too hungry

Uses fingers to drag things towards her

Willing to go to the meal table without a lot of fuss

Fullness Cues

Not interested with what's on the plate

Not interested with what's on the plate

Verbalise in words that they are done

Verbalise in words that they are done

Unwilling to go to meal table if they’re not hungry

Unwilling to go to meal table if they’re not hungry

Leave the table on their own

Leave the table on their own

Now that your tiny little one is a “big kid” (or at least this is what they think they are) and have the power to say “no” to certain foods. They even become pickier about some foods as they figure out what they like. Did you know that it is actually a normal step in your Preschooler’s emotional and social development to want to control their food? And your role here is to offer healthy choices at every meal and snack time, even if they refuse to, because patience is key!

Foods Choices to Offer
Food Choices To Offer
Fruits

Fruits & Veggies for vitamins & minerals

Studies found that Vitamin E, Vitamin D and Potassium are commonly lacking in Preschooler’s diet – hence, the importance of fruits & vegetables!

Fish

More fish for healthy Omega-3 fats

Don’t forget about the fish when it comes to high quality protein & healthy fats! Choose low in mercury fish (e.g. salmon, tilapia, canned tuna). For plant-based option, seeds are your best friend! Chia seeds, flax seed, hemp seeds are great sources of omega-3 fats!

Dairy

Variety of dairy for calcium

As Asians, we may not be a big fan of fresh milk, cheese or yogurt, but offering them at a young age helps to build their healthy eating habits.

Fiber

Whole Grains for fiber

Look for “whole grain” on food label, and don’t forget whole grain versions of rice, bread, pasta! Bye constipation!

Healthy Fats for brain development

Yeap, the commonly known DHA, AA are healthy polyunsaturated fats. Prepare foods with vegetable oils or offer food like avocado or fish for healthy fats! Offer food like avocado or fish for healthy fats!

In general, your preschooler (2 – 4 years old) should be having 3 main meals a day, plus 1 or 2 nutritious snacks between meals to meet his daily recommended calorie intake.

Serving Table

*Note: Fat and sugar caloric values have been included into the total calorie intake per day

What is ONE serving size?

Bread

Bread = 2 Slices

Biscuit

Plain Biscuit Slice = 6 Slices

Rice/Noodles

Rice, Cooked / Rice Noodles = 1 Small Bowl (≈200g)

Fruits

Apple, Kiwi, Pear, Orange = 1 Medium Size (Whole)

Watermelon

Papaya, Watermelon = 1 Wedge

Fish

Fish/Meat/Poultry = 1 Palm Size (≈70g)

Beans

Beans/Legumes/Lentils, cooked = 1 Small Bowl (≈200g)

Cheese

Cheese = 1 Slice

Yogurt

Yogurt = 1 Cup
Milk = 1 Glass (250ml)

Cheese

Milk, powdered (heaped) = 4 Dessert Spoon (≈40g)

What do you do when your Preschooler only wants pasta for dinner every night? Picky eating may be a common issue as it’s a part of their growing process but how you cultivate their healthy eating habits NOW play a big role in influencing how he eat as an adult later in their life.

Let them explore their food

Let them explore their food!

As much as you want to keep the space clean and tidy, young children often need to look, touch, smell and taste the food before eating it. Even if it gets messy, let them explore their food (even if it means playing) and they will eventually learn to eat it too.

Develop positive feeding style

How you feed your child is equally important as what you feed them. Set regular times to offer main meals and snacks. Having a routine give them structure, which help your child to stay in tune with their own eating hunger and fullness cues.

Develop positive feeding style
A child will follow your example

A child will follow your example

Remember when you accidentally fell, and they pretend to fall as well? Yeap. Be a good role model to them and eat foods even if you don’t like them. When you set an example of healthy eating habits, they will most likely do the same too.

Watch their hunger and fullness cues

They are not in a mood to eat? Okay, don’t force them. Try asking what is the food served on the plate. Stir up some vocabulary game to keep up their interest. Remember, it’s your job to provide nutritious food at regular meal and snack times, but your child should decide whether and how much to eat.

Watch their hunger and fullness cues
Out of sight, out of mind

Out of sight, out of mind

Managing sweets and treats by keeping them “out of sight” and “out of mind” may works when they are younger. As they gets older and may begin to ask for sweets, find ways to include them as part of a healthy balanced diet. Just be careful to set limits when you do have sweets around and don’t leave them in a place that tempts your child to fixate on them.

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Copyright 2020 © Gerber®. All Rights Reserved. Full copyrights belong to Imagic Esolutions

Copyright 2020 © Gerber®. All Rights Reserved.

Full copyrights belong to Imagic Esolutions.