One of the most important things to consider when babies and children are eating is posture. Without good posture eating will be very hard for your little one.
Have you ever tried to eat a meal sitting on a bar stool with no footrest? It is really quite hard to get comfortable enough and stable enough to really enjoy your meal. It’s the same for babies and children. The body’s first priority is breathing and after that it is postural stability. By that I mean, we are programmed as humans to seek stability so that we don’t fall over and bump our head. So if your child’s body is constantly trying to become stable, he or she will have a really hard time concentrating on eating.
To achieve this remember the 90/90/90 rule. Try and position your child in their highchair or chair with their feet, knees and hips all at 90 degree angles. The picture below demonstrates a lovely highchair position. To achieve this it is best to either get a highchair with an adjustable footrest or make a footrest on your chair. You can do this by stacking boxes up for a footrest or even making a footrest on a high chair using duct tape. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs to do the job.
Many cases of fussy eating can be easily solved by making sure a child is posturally stable at the table. When starting solids try and get posture right from the start. This will help your child focus on the real task at hand – learning to eat.
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