4 Ways to Make Mealtimes Easier with a New Baby

Mealtimes with a new baby can be a very stressful time for new parents. It can often feel like an impossible task and not to mention an incredibly messy one.

Having successful mealtimes – both for yourself and your baby – is going to take a lot of planning ahead (and no small amount of patience!)

Here are 4 ways to make your baby’s mealtimes a lot easier on you.

1.   Plan Ahead

Spontaneous meal ideas will not work well for you and your baby and can only risk an increase in stress. Planning meals ahead and organizing them at the beginning of the day – or even the beginning of the week – can help you to manage mealtimes a whole lot better.

This also helps you to ensure that you’ve planned ahead and considered all of the ingredients that are required for your baby’s diet and nutritional needs.

Furthermore, mealtimes are about you, too. You don’t want your own healthy eating schedule to be neglected while you focus on your child. Meal planning for the week for your own meals will be beneficial, too, such as preparing in advance and freezing anything you need.

2.   Don’t Give In

It may feel easier and a lot less stressful to bring an alternative for your child if they are refusing to eat something, but in the long run, this won’t make anything easier. It may not be pleasant at first, but standing your ground and refusing to offer an alternative to food means that you are teaching better habits. You don’t want your child to continuously demand alternative food, knowing that you will surrender.

Instead, stay firm and only ever offer what you choose to offer and what you prepare for your baby to eat.

3.   Set Up Their Highchair in the Best Way

Think about the easiest location and position for you. It doesn’t have to be at the dining table if you’ve a more comfortable table you would prefer. Whatever makes it an easier and relaxing mealtime for you and your baby. You should also think about the area around the highchair; it could get messy, so you may want to position over easy-to-clean floors (such as wood or tiles instead of carpet) or put coverings down beforehand.

You can also invest in innovative accessories, like a long sleeve weaning bib supplied from Bibado, which can be attached easily to your highchair and mean that food and mess doesn’t even get a chance to reach the floor!

4.   Have a Clear Structure

A good and healthy routine is going to be extremely helpful for both you and your baby. Setting up the right environment for mealtimes can help to create a more relaxing environment, and also help for your baby to get used to when mealtimes occur.

You may want to think about:

• Always using the same table, room, or spot for mealtimes
• Turning off the TV in the background, or eliminating smart devices
• Having mealtimes at the same time every day, or at least a similar time.