Ready, steady… walk

How will you feed your newborn?

By Dr. Jeff Habert, family physician

Is your hungry baby eating enough? Here are some hunger and fullness cues to watch out for during your toddler's development.

You’re half-awake at 4 am with a wide-awake baby in your arms and wondering if you’ll ever get a full night’s sleep again. Don’t worry, you will. Your baby will eventually learn to sleep through the night. You know this because  you eventually learned to sleep through the night when you were a baby. The tips below will help you and your baby adjust, as will what the Canadian Paediatric Society says about newborn sleep development any time of day ¾ or night!

Teething begins at different times for different babies, although most have already started by six months of age. The first tooth usually appears in the middle of the lower jaw, known as the bottom front teeth. 

Now that your 10-12-month-old is really getting the hang of feeding themself, keep offering them a wide variety of foods and textures to establish good, healthy eating habits.  

Your baby is growing fast! The first year, a baby multiplies his weight by 3 and his length increases by 50%! Follow month-by-month.

Research has shown that shared family meals—no matter the size of your family—provide benefits for your baby beyond the joy of simply eating dinner together.

Your baby is now used to eating solids and may be grabbing at the spoon or picking up food by herself. This means she is ready for more self-feeding, a whole new messy adventure! Continue to offer new foods and textures, especially a wide variety of iron-rich foods, and fruits and vegetables and remember to be patient; you may need to offer foods as many as 10 times before she accepts them.

Did you know? Studies show that the more often families share mealtimes, the more likely children are to have healthy diets and stay at healthy weights as toddlers.

The food you give your kids will help them grow in so many ways beyond the physical. It will expose them to new smells and textures. It will introduce them to exciting new flavours they’ve never had before. It will help them understand what they like and don’t like. And it will lay the groundwork for a healthy relationship with food. A healthy variety of snack ideas for kids that achieve all four is a good idea.

Starting your little one on solid foods is quite a milestone!

Did you know? Spending time playing with your baby at this age can lead to them being more active when they are a toddler.

It’s easy to fall into the habit of offering your baby the same foods every day, especially if you know they’ll happily eat them. Here are some simple ideas for expanding your little one’s diet without compromising on those all-important nutrients.

Starting solid foods is a new and exciting step in your baby’s eating development, but it often comes with many questions.

This article includes contributions from Dr. Dina Kulik, pediatrician, and Charlotte Geroudet, GD.

During babies’ first year of life their nutritional needs are higher than those of adults

She’s everywhere! She’s everywhere! At least she wants to be, and she wants to get there on her own.

You may have noticed your baby is moving more and more every day—it may sometimes feel like he’s in constant motion! That’s great, as all this activity is helping to make his muscles strong for crawling and learning to walk.