I know handling messy eating kids is a tough job. Putting in that extra effort may seem daunting, but trust me, the rewards are beyond your wildest dreams!
I understand mom, that urge for ultimate control that comes with becoming a mother. It was me around 7yrs back.
Messy Eating, Happy Hearts
When I saw my daughter eating her meal by herself, surrounded by a chaotic mess, a sense of panic washed over me. In my state of worry, I reached out to a friend for guidance. To my surprise, she advised me to remain calm and allow my daughter to eat in her own unique way.
She suggested I clean up the mess afterwards, emphasizing the importance of not spoon-feeding her and letting her relish the self-feeding experience. Ever since I followed this advice, my daughter has eaten independently and eagerly tries to consume whatever is on her plate.
But hey, sometimes embracing chaos can teach us some valuable lessons, and I want to remind you to chill out on micromanaging your baby’s food and let them explore their senses. It’s beneficial for their development, especially regarding taste and food independence.
Related post: Homemade baby food recipes.
Why should you let kids mess with food?
Letting your little one freely explore and live their autonomous experience during daily activities like mealtime can help them develop attention skills motor skills, and learn to handle frustration more confidently in the future.
Trying to put food in their mouth, either with their hands or with a spoon, will cause your baby to develop soft motor skills that include coordination and focus, so don’t be afraid of the dirt.
Food connects the baby with its environment.
Babies are like little adventurers, eagerly soaking up the world around them as they grow. No wonder they want to imitate everything they see in their family! So, embrace their curiosity and let them embark on their journey of discovery. Not only will it satisfy their tiny taste buds, but it will also ignite their thirst for knowledge and exploration.
And guess what? You play a vital role in this culinary expedition! You must provide your little one with the right nourishing foods while creating an entertaining space encouraging their experiments.
Remember, it’s in our nature as humans to be driven by instincts, including the primal need to feed ourselves. So, don’t fret about a little mess along the way—let your tiny adventurer learn and embrace the joy of getting their hands a little dirty.
Reasons to let your little ones start with messy eating
Among many others, the primary reason to emphasise is enabling your baby to embrace their sense of autonomy and be fully present during mealtimes. Distractions like television or toys might seem convenient, but they hinder their ability to engage all their senses while eating, which is not beneficial for their development. By allowing them to be present and get messy, several advantages come into play:
1. Enhanced Tactile Experience:
Allowing your baby to touch and feel their food stimulates their sense of touch. This sensory input contributes to their overall sensory development and understanding of different textures.
2. Improved Appetite Regulation:
Being fully present during meals helps your baby develop a better sense of satiety and hunger. This increased awareness of their body’s signals improves appetite regulation and a healthier relationship with food.
3. Language Development:
Your baby can explore and describe different food textures, tastes, and sensations, contributing to language development.
4. Fostering Autonomy:
It empowers them to make choices, experiment with different flavours, and develop self-feeding skills.
5. Exposure to Variety:
This exposure encourages them to become more adventurous, willing to try new foods and expand their palate.
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Learn to handle different foods
Consider your baby’s age and the type of supplemental feeding he or she is getting when choosing meals, emphasizing safe and manageable ones. Choose soft, readily graspable alternatives and offer them in tiny quantities.
Remember, no matter how big or small you dish it out on their plate, your little munchkin will gobble it up like a greedy dinosaur! So, be sure to exercise caution and serve up just the right portions for their tiny tummy.
Language development
Surprising as it may seem, the freedom to get messy while eating fuels your baby’s language development. Their autonomy in exploring food will inspire them to communicate and share their achievements with you.
Who knew that messy meals could pave the way to linguistic brilliance? It’s a journey worth embracing!
Boost their motor skills.
For your little one successfully put that spoon into their mouth, sit up straight in their chair, and become aware of their surroundings, they need to master their motor skills. Even the simple act of opening their mouth while bringing food towards it demands focus and coordination. It’s a remarkable journey of developing those dexterity superpowers.
Increases their defences
Boost your baby’s defences by prioritising foods rich in vitamin C, like broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, or citrus fruits. However, it’s important to consult your healthcare provider to determine which foods are most beneficial for your baby’s complementary feeding stage.
The connection between eating and the environment plays a key role in developing positive antibodies for your little one’s health. So, embrace the dining experience as a wholesome opportunity for their well-being!
Related post: Question for kids to get to know them better
Follow a recommended diet for your Little One
Let me assure you that this precious stage of your baby’s growth will be among the most beautiful moments of your life, but it will also demand your care, patience, and time.
Always remember that your little one will go through various developmental stages, each requiring a specific diet suitable for their age, and your paediatrician will guide you through this journey.
During this magical journey called motherhood, you’ll discover hidden depths within your cleaning skills. That’s right; you’ll tap into your inner cleaning guru and conquer messes like a pro!
And guess what?
There’s a secret weapon in your arsenal – the legendary wet wipes. These little superheroes will swoop in whenever chaos strikes, bringing order and granting you a much-needed dose of flexibility.
So get ready to embrace the beautiful parenthood mess with a wink and a wipe!
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Wish this post reached me a lil earlier. I was so cautious about the mess that I never let my kid get messy and I definitely see how has it come tru after so many years.
The same goes for my firstborn. With the second one, I realised that it’s okay to let them get messy while eating.
quite a beautiful way of writing. Accepting the mess teaches patience though cleaning could be a task. It was truly enlightening to know these skills improve motor skills.
I am a cleanliness freak and also being a doctor I was worried about my baby getting germs while feeding by himself, so it was really tough for me to see him trying to eat by himself, creating a mess. Thankfully I was aware that this will help him enjoy his meals better and also develop his fine motor skills and tactile sensations etc. This is a great article and you have with great care explained why messy is good when it comes to the little ones eating by themselves.
Lovely post Anjali… I totally totally agree with your thoughts. I for one stopped feeding my kids quite early n let them explore n eat unaided. I m so relieved that I did the right thing. I always knew it’s good to make them eat on their own but I didn’t know y. Your post was very informative n enlightening.
I am not a parnet, but I really like your friend’s advice. And I didn’t know that there were so many benefits of messy eating–they sure do learn more about motor skills and taste. And being linguistic is truly an extraodirnary fact ariisng out of this eating.
Absolutely bang on post. Babies should be allowed to eat on their own. How many positives you have listed out, isn’t it? We are going back to basics. Even adults are advised to eat with their fingers to connect with food.
Most moms these days don’t have the patience, love spoonfeeding and suffer from OCD..that’s why the immune systems are weak these days.
I absolutely agree. Let the child be when they are eating. We can clean up the mess later. I didn’t know there were so many benefits to it. This is something we naturally did.
Hey Anjali being a new mom I think is best suitable for me. I really get upset when I see my son creating mess all around with food as I love things being at place and neat and tidy. But Oh my god this little bundle is busy creating mess all around and If now you look at my sofa … all stains just because of him. But I will agree that observation power is too good of these young kiddos and they adapt things so fast . After reading your mind I started thinking in a different way and I thank you for that for changing my opinion about his messy habits. I will try to allow him having food on his own and let me see how he acts. This post is for me for sure and I think you read my mind and came up with this informative post. Thanks Buddy
quite a beautiful way of writing. Accepting the mess teaches patience though cleaning could be a task. It was truly enlightening to know these skills improve motor skills.
Anjali, your post resonates with me 100 percent. Kids must go through their own process of comprehension, connection, coordination where food is concerned. The mess can always be cleaned up later. There is so much of learning and understanding of taste and textures of food when a child gets to do it by himself/herself. Well written and informative post!
I’m not a parent but just got married few months back. After reading this blog I now understand why my mom used to let me eat my way when I was little. Though I wasn’t much messy all the time but a few only that’s what she tells me.
I am not a parent but I have seen quite a few parents struggle with this. This seems to be a learning experience both for the parent and the child. I didn’t know there were so many benefits to it. A must-read for parents.
While it’s easier to feed kids and get it over with quickly and with cleanliness, it’s better to let them be on their own to learn and enjoy the process of eating. Start small and easy but encourage them to be responsible.
As a mother my initial reaction was also to avoid the mess. It took me time to get used too with the messy eating. Thanks for sharing the detailed benefits.
So glad my parents encouraged this with us. And I know already that I am going to let my kids be messy eaters too!
I don’t let my little one eat herself because then she eats very little and being grossly underweight I just can’t afford that. However I do believe that with normal kids, we should let them be. Because it would make them independent.
Useful and informative post for parents to toddlers. I agree spoon feeding them just to avoid the mess is not a good idea. They become dependent and will never learn.
This is the mistake I made. I didn’t allow my son to mess up and to some extent, I’m suffering a bit. This is a very useful post for mothers.
I’ve let my daughters mess up while eating when they were younger. As they age though, I slowly incorporated learning how to clean up as well. Aside from keeping their food in the middle of their plate and chewing with their mouth closed. It’s a process every parent and child must go through and I think we should think more of it as an experience than the thought of cleaning up.
I am not a mom yet and yes, I used to hate seeing messy kids. But I have got a niece now and I totally understand why they should be left to explore the food they eat. It could be difficult for the mom but it is necessary for all the benefits that you mentioned.
I wish this was vocalized a decade ago when my kids were toddlers. I was always restricted due to traditional ways of upbringing by the elders, that children should be kept prim and proper from the beginning and messy disorganized eating, coloring, writing, etc habits shouldn’t be encouraged. Now when I see kids and mothers doing things the right way, I feel so good and relieved.
I just loved the way you have shared all the points in detail. When I had started solids, I gave freedom to my kids to create mess, Messy eaters turns out to be self independent and indulgent in eating in future. They have a better connection with their body and food. Loved this post.
I remember trying to feed ice cream to my daughter when she was a toddler. She wanted to eat by herself and was scared that she’ll spoil her dress. And then I just gave in. She ate her ice cream and fed a quarter of it to her dress. It took me hours to get the chocolate stains off but her happy grin while eating it made up for it.
I don’t have kids so I don’t know but it will be useful when one day I do have them
I love how you explain explain everything in detail
Thank you for sharing this
We observe activities of children every now and then. Because we play with them, we love their company, we feed them and what not. So by observation, I always assumed that cleaning is must be there. They should eat properly. Don’t let the milk spread, don’t mash the things our etc. But I never new being mashy could be this much important. So helpful and informative it is!
Baby led weaning indeed has many benefits. I was surprised to hear about the language skills but it makes so much sense… Thanks for sharing this detailed and informative post.