How to Make Feeding Time Enjoyable for Infants

Working to ensure your infant enjoys meal times helps her to maintain healthy eating habits. Healthy eating habits include understanding and allowing the infant to use his own instincts about how much to eat, according to WebMD. By making feeding time pleasant, your infant eats to satisfy hunger. Stressful eating times potentially create a situation where the infant eats too little or overeats due to emotional responses. Start creating an environment that relaxes your infant from the time you bring him home and continue to build on early experiences as he grows.

Things You'll Need

  • Drop cloth (optional)
  • Soft music (optional)
  • Infant feeding utensils

Instructions

    • 1

      Make the environment comfortable. Turn the thermostat to a temperature appropriate to the age of the infant and clothing. Play soft music and turn off loud televisions or close windows to shut out loud outside noises. Place a drop cloth or put infant in areas easily cleaned to allow for fun messiness, according to Mayo Clinic.

    • 2

      Stop other tasks or distractions before beginning feeding. A relaxed adult helps the infant to relax whether he's breast-fed or bottle-fed. Talk or sing to your infant to soothe him, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Focus on the infant to improve your ability to pick up clues about his desires to eat or any problems.

    • 3

      Cuddle with your infant before feeding to begin making feeding time enjoyable. Once relaxed, make close physical contact during breastfeeding, as it provides bonding and enjoyment, according to WomensHealth.gov. Provide your bottle-fed baby with the similar closeness to make the experience enjoyable. Sit next to older infants--touching often--to continue physical bonding and relaxation.

    • 4

      Observe your infant for signs that he wants to stop eating or dislikes the food. Do not encourage your infant to overeat to prevent disrupting her instinctual regulation and potentially creating unpleasant feelings of an overfilled stomach. Stop feeding if your infant swats at the spoon, spits out food, turns her head away from spoon or refuses to suck on a breast or bottle nipple. Offer foods the infant refused later, but do not push her to eat it.

    • 5

      Select appropriate nutritional food for your infant and discuss concerns with her doctor. Determine readiness for solid foods by observing your infant for his ability to sit steadily with support, hold her head upright and show interest in solid foods, according to the Mayo Clinic.

    • 6

      Provide older infants with finger foods, infant spoons and cups to increase enjoyment at meals through independence and exploration of food textures and tastes. Give a variety of foods to create fun experiences. Cool cooked foods or warm cold foods to make squeezing and handling fun.

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