Shop
Connect
Sign Up For Healthybaby Updates!
Sign up to our weekly newsletter for developmental tips, new product launches, and special offers.
Free Ground Shipping on Orders of $100+
Healthybaby because baby is soaking it all in
Healthy sleep is one of the most important life skills baby can learn; it connects to calm attention, stress management, memory consolidation, and healthy growth.
You may have noticed that Baby is holding their head upright with more coordination and confidence. You may also notice more squeals, tongue movements, and interest in what you're eating. These are all signs that baby is getting ready to start trying some solid (pureed) foods.
Big things are on the horizon! Remember the Neuro-Gastro-Immune system from month one? The flows of eating, sleeping, and engaging, are about to click.
Find two textures — a dry wipe and a wet wipe, for example — and trace a continuous line down each side of baby’s face. Start at the top of the forehead, gently tracing your baby’s jawline, ending in the center of the chin. Trace back upward, criss-cross sides, and trace down the cheeks again.
During this exercise, you are crossing the midline — an invisible line that divides the left and right sides of the body — which helps promote neural integration between hemispheres of the brain. Over time, this helps your baby better plan, navigate their environment, and organize thoughts and emotions.
At this age, food is just for taste not nutrition (that’s still coming from formula or breastmilk). Once baby shows signs of readiness begin with tiny amounts of purees to get their tastebuds excited. Yellow vegetables, which are the easiest on a young digestive system or mashed avocado are a good place to start. Spend a week on one food to see how they respond to it—there’s no rush. Once you’ve gone through a few yellow/orange veggies (butternut squash, carrots) move on to green veggies (spinach, peas, zucchini) then introduce grains or egg yolk.
Consider waiting to introduce fruits, because once they get a taste of sweetness, feeding them veggies gets increasingly difficult. If possible, choose organic foods and always avoid added sugars or preservatives. Keep things exciting for baby with the smells of food cooking and interesting ingredients—though at this age honey should be avoided and chunks of food can pose a choking hazard. If you have concerns about food allergies, or other dietary restrictions, reach out to your healthcare provider.
The highchair is their first classroom because food = information. As your baby learns about different flavors they expand their understanding of the world around them. It can take up to 15 tries for them to decide whether or not they like a particular food, so don’t lose hope and go slow. Avoid focusing on how much they eat (start with half a spoonful or less). Instead, look for signs that they’ve had enough (turning away, not opening their mouth). Eating is about connecting, so never force feed.
Eating together is how families connect. From the beginning, pull up baby’s highchair right to the table—or create a space where you and baby can eat together.
Even if you’re not eating a meal at the same time, try to have a little something with them. By doing this, you’re modeling how to chew and swallow while also demonstrating your enthusiasm for food. And if baby is done before you, allow them to stay and watch you and the rest of the family enjoy their time together, a tradition that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
If you can, avoid being on your phone or having the TV on while you’re eating together. Otherwise, you may inadvertently set up habits of distraction while eating.
Like with most things, what you model at home has a profound impact on what baby learns, feels, and thinks about mealtimes. Research shows that family meals — all members gathering together for nourishment and interaction — are associated with healthier eating habits, higher self-esteem, and improved academic performance. In other words, start healthy habits and the tradition of togetherness now. Another way to keep families connected? Cleaning together, like with the Healthybaby Cleaning System. Spray, wipe, repeat! Mealtime is FUN and SAFE.
Our lives have stressors that we cannot eliminate. These stressors are called the social determinants of health. Things like where we live, our access to healthcare, clean water, employment, and education. They include financial or food insecurity, racism, discrimination and violence, and the impact of these stressors on our development and health as adults.
As adults, experiencing severe amounts of stress hijacks our good intentions and increases the likelihood that we will be swept up in our impulses or automatic responses. So, even if we manage to develop a good plan, we will find it harder to stick to it if we are under a pile-up of stress. Stress response sends our resources towards the wrong part of the brain. This can mean that we act in a way we regret, or have trouble separating experiences from the quality interactions we want to have with baby. Us being stressed impacts baby’s regulation and elevates their nervous system.
Children look to adults to see how they are reacting in stressful situations, a concept known as “social referencing”, and can be picking up on reactions we’re not even aware of. Parental stress can make you less aware, less sensitive, or less responsive than you would like to be. So, what do we do? Take care of ourselves; put our own hypothetical oxygen masks on first before attending to our children. Breathe before we respond, practice mindfulness, meditate and offer ourselves forgiveness and compassion. If the stress feels like it’s interfering with our daily functioning or our relationships (with partner or baby), it may be time to seek professional help: Ask your doctor or your baby's pediatrician for resources in your community.
Free Shipping on orders $100+