What they don't tell you about spoon feeding...

0:00 This really simple change helped take my seven month old from gagging and constantly spitting food everywhere to swallowing really easily and eating as much solid food as I could give her. Now the thing is because we usually feed our babies in a high chair at a table, most parents make this same mistake! And you won't believe how simple it is to fix and what a huge difference it makes when you do. I came to this realization when I was feeding my seven month old yogurt and my son asked if he could help. And I thought, okay, why not? Now, when I feed my daughter, normally she loves her food to the point where she never wants to stop eating. But this time she was gagging and spitting it out everywhere. So naturally I went into OT mode and I started trying to figure out what was wrong. And when I actually looked at it, it was obvious. Normally when I feed her, I sit directly opposite her at the table, but my son was sitting to her side.

0:59 And that one small difference was causing all of these problems. That's because when you feed a baby while standing or sitting beside them, they have to twist their head sideways to eat. And this seemingly minor adjustment can actually complicate the process of swallowing. When our head is pointed straight ahead, our esophagus, which is the tube through which the food travels from our mouth to our stomach also aligns in a straight path. This allows food or liquid to easily move from our mouth down to our stomach.

1:31 However, this changes when our head is turned sideways. When the head is in this rotated position, the esophagus goes from being straight to slightly twisted. This minor twist makes it much harder to swallow. Try it out for yourself. Grab a glass of water, take a sip and swallow while you're looking straight ahead. Then take another sip and swallow with your head turned to the side. Notice how much harder it is with your head turned. It's the same for babies.

1:59 So to fix this problem, I moved my son to a position where he could feed her front on instead of to the side. And this really simple change made a huge difference. She started eating like normal. The gagging completely stopped. And instead of spitting out the food, she started swallowing it. Unfortunately, this was only one of the many problems that happened when I let my son take charge. In his enthusiasm for his new role, he made it his mission to find the perfect spoon for his sister.

2:28 So, naturally, he wanted to test every single spoon in our kitchen drawer. And this spoon testing adventure highlighted a common issue that I often talk about with new parents, and that is that a lot of spoons marketed as suitable for babies don't actually meet their needs. In fact, using unsuitable spoons can make meal times unnecessarily difficult and turn what should be an enjoyable learning experience into a challenging one. Many of the spoons he picked were just too big for his little sister's tiny mouth.

3:00 These big spoons made it hard for her to feed herself as she couldn't easily fit these spoons into a small mouth, which made eating a struggle. Then when she was finally able to put them into her mouth, the large size of the spoon triggered her gag reflex and the gag reflex is a natural bodily response designed to prevent choking. So when something like an oversized spoon touches the back of the tongue or the throat, it can stimulate this reflex, leading to the sensation of choking or gagging.

3:29 And as you can imagine, this is not a pleasant experience for a baby trying to enjoy her meal. Now, when choosing a spoon, size isn't the only issue. The shape of the spoon matters as well. Many of the spoons my son tried had excessively deep bowls, causing two major problems. Firstly, the deep bowl of the spoon meant my son could scoop up a lot of yogurt at once. This might seem handy, but it led to him offering his sister more food than she could manage.

4:00 And even though she was eager to eat, she found it really hard to handle this large amount, and this often resulted in her gagging. Secondly, the deep bowl made it difficult for her to clear the food off the spoon as she's still developing her ability to close her lips around the spoon to remove the food. As you can see choosing the right spoon for your baby makes a massive difference at mealtime. The right spoon makes it easier for your baby to eat, reduces the risk of gagging and choking and helps with the development of the crucial skills required to eat independently. To help you choose the right spoon for your little one I've created a Mealtime Essentials Guide which contains my favourite utensils, plates and cups based on your child's age and developmental stage. To get your free copy click on the link in the description below this video. After my son had tested out every spoon from our kitchen drawer, he decided it was time to add in some fun and that meant turning the spoon into a yogurt delivering aeroplane, zooming it straight into his sister's open mouth while making aeroplane noises. She thought the whole act was absolutely hilarious.

5:08 But here's the thing, the flight path of this pretend plane, or in simpler terms the angle at which the spoon was coming towards her mouth, posed two potential problems. First off, the aeroplane came in at a really steep angle. This approach is actually really common for adults to do as well, even if they're not pretending to be an aeroplane. And it usually happens because adults, being taller than their infants, stand or sit at a higher level while feeding them. This might not seem like a big deal, but what it actually does is cause the baby to tilt the head back. And when a baby leans the head back, their airways open up more. This increases the risk of them accidentally inhaling food, a condition known as aspiration, which you definitely want to avoid. So to prevent this, it's important to keep the baby's head in a neutral position, not tilted back.

6:00 And to do that, you need to approach at a low angle. The second problem with coming in from a high angle is that it encourages you to scrape the spoon along your baby's top lip to clear the food off the spoon. While this might seem efficient, it eliminates the need for your baby to use their lips to clear the food from the spoon. And this crucial skill is known as lip closure or lip seal, and it teaches your baby to use their lips to effectively remove the food from a utensil.

6:30 This not only encourages them to independently manage their food intake, but also aids in strengthening and refining the muscles around their mouth. So next time you feed your little one, approach at a low angle and keep the spoon level. By making this small tweak, you'll ensure that your baby maintains a safer head position and encourage them to practice their lip seal skills. The next unexpected twist came when my son took on the role of Mr. Clean.

6:57 He was quick to notice any dribble of yogurt that escaped his sister's mouth and ended up on her chin, not wanting to let anything go to waste. He would scrape it back up and try to feed it back to her. Now, on the surface, this might seem like a good thing. No food is wasted and the baby stays clean. So what could possibly be the problem? Well, here's the thing. It's normal for babies learning to eat to spill some food.

7:24 It's all part of the learning process. They need to feel, touch and explore their food to get used to it. Moreover, these spills help babies understand how their mouth works and it helps improve their coordination skills. But if you continually interrupted this process by trying to clean them up after every bite, it's both distracting and annoying. Imagine if you were being fed and after every bite someone scraped a spoon along your chin three or four times.

7:53 It wouldn't take long before you feel an overwhelming urge to either snatch that spoon out of their hands or push it away and stop eating, just like your baby does. So to prevent creating a negative association with food, hold off on the clean up until after the meal. That way your baby can focus on eating and enjoying their food without any distractions or pressure. Another important part of meal time is making sure your baby's safe. And one of the biggest risks to babies with solid food is choking.

8:25 In fact, there are seven extremely common foods that you should never offer your baby due to the potential choking risk they pose. I made an entire video about this right here. So make sure you watch it next to learn what these foods are and why they're so dangerous for your little one.