Feeding Time

Feeding time is not only an opportunity to meet an infant’s nutritional needs, it is also an ideal time for positive interaction between the caregiver and baby. Babies enjoy close contact. Hold infants close to your body where they can see your eyes and face. Talk to the baby during feeding. Talk about anything: describe what is in the bottle, what is going on in the room, how you think the baby feels.

Hold infants so that their heads are higher than their hips. This helps babies swallow and prevents choking. Hold the bottle or when infants are old enough let them hold it. NEVER prop a bottle.

The following ideas will promote intellectual and emotional development:

• Recognize the infant’s nonverbal cues used to communicate with you such as smiling, laughing, searching, looking for your eyes, or reaching to touch you.
• Repeat the baby’s sounds. These sounds are the beginning of the baby’s language. The baby will make more sounds when you talk back.
• Stroke infants gently and give affectionate pats when you feed them. Touch is one of the most important ways of communicating and interacting with infants.

Infants may be indicating they have had enough to eat when you see:

• Turning or pushing away
• Back-arching
• Falling asleep
• Mouth and cheek muscles relaxing, or
• Extended or relaxed arms along side of body, or extended and relaxed fingers

Support mothers who want to continue to breast-feed when their babies enter your child care program. Cooperate with the mother as much as possible so the child’s eating and sleeping schedules coincide with her work schedule.

Washington STARS Training Online: A Basic Approach to Feeding and Care
Washington Basic STARS training - Child Care Basics