How To Introduce Your Montessori Baby To Food (and create healthy habits for life!)

It is such an exciting time when our babies become interested in eating solid foods. I decided to follow the baby-led weaning and Montessori approach when my baby was 6 months old and I couldn’t be happier! You can make sure your baby starts a healthy relationship with food by helping them learn how to eat independently using the Montessori philosophy.

The Montessori approach to eating is to introduce the concept of solid foods, utensils, and eating customs in a positive child-led way. Babies are introduced to real cutlery and crockery and are provided with a low weaning table and chair to encourage independence and autonomy.

If this sounds intimidating to you I want to assure you that it is in fact easier than following the traditional method of spoonfeeding your child pureed foods in a highchair. I’m going to show you just how simple and easy it can be.

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How Do Montessori Babies Eat?

How our children feel about food will largely depend on our own base assumptions and how we introduce them to food, eating, nutrition, and customs around eating. The goal is always to respect your child and help them learn to do it on their own while enjoying the process. There are two options that you can follow:

1. The traditional Montessori way
2. The baby-led weaning (self feeding) way

The Montessori way according to Montessori From The Start by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen starts by offering your baby a little taste of some vegetable juice (the juice from a cooked vegetable, not a bought juice) from a small spoon. This can happen on your lap or on a weaning chair where you will sit opposite your child. You are supposed to only let the spoon touch their lips – not force the entire spoon in their mouth.

You start this process in a designated area for eating and do this every day at a specific time.

The baby-led weaning approach is to offer your baby finger foods that they can feed themselves right from the start and essentially skipping all spoon-feeding. This is ideally done after 6 months and also at a high chair or weaning chair. Your baby is offered something like a piece of ripe banana or avocado to safely put into their own mouth without the risk of choking.

Even though these two approaches are not identical in terms of steps followed, they require the same mindset from the parent and they achieve the same goal. Helping our children learn skills to become independent and self-confident while fostering a positive attitude towards eating, food, and nutrition.

These are the guidelines that underlie both approaches.

1/Prepare your own mindset

It is important to get into the right frame of mind as a parent because all of our decisions, big and small, are influenced by our mindset. The first step is to have a healthy attitude towards food and to realize that eating is more complex than just satisfying hunger. Eating is one of the great joys of life and should be treated with a positive attitude and a certain level of respect. We use food to signify community and spending time together. We set the table beautifully to show respect, appreciation and to celebrate life.

We want to make sure that we introduce eating with this in mind, right from the start. We are introducing them to a positive and enjoyable custom that we will continue to share with them for the rest of our lives. If we go into the experience with this mindset we will be far more relaxed and will feel less inclined to force children to eat or create stress for them around mealtimes.

These are the important points to keep in mind to make sure you are keeping it positive and enjoyable:

• Food before 1 (year old) is just for fun – Its not about eating for nutrition yet
• Continue to breastfeed or bottlefeed your baby as usual
• Your child will learn what he sees you doing – not by what you tell them to do
• Children will always eat when they are hungry and will never starve themselves
• Learning to eat is a long, ever-changing journey
• Gagging is normal (choking is when there is no sound and means food is stuck in the airway)

2/Prepare the environment

A Montessori home environment is always being adapted to support the needs of the child on their journey towards independence. When your baby gets closer to 6 months you will start preparing their environment accordingly.

Here’s what you will need:

• A weaning table & chair
• A high chair that converts to a regular chair (Stokke Tripp Trapp)
• Glass shot glasses
• Clear glass ramekins, breakable side plates and bowls
• Child-sized silverware (fork, spoon and knife set)
• A small vase for flowers, a table cloth and placemat

A Weaning Table & Chair

A Montessori weaning table and chair is a low table and chair made to accommodate a mobile baby as young as 6 months. The table and chair are made from wood to ensure that it is sturdy and heavy enough not to tip over. The baby should eventually be able to get into the chair on their own and sit with their feet touching the floor.

The chair should also have armrests and backrests to hold them securely while they learn how to sit and eat. This also assists children in pulling their chairs in and out.

Weaning chair dimensions guidelines

• 5″ (13 cm)  –   6 to 12 months old
• 7″ (18 cm)  –   1-2 years old
• 10″ (25 cm) –   2-3 years old

Weaning table (leg) height guidelines

• 12″ (30 cm) – 6 to 18 months
• 15″ (38 cm) – 1 to 3 years
• 20″ (50 cm) – 3 to 8 years

You don’t need to buy a special table – a low coffee table will do. You can even start with a breakfast-in-bed-tray as a table while your baby sits on the floor. The most important factor is offering them an opportunity for independence.

The Montessori philosophy is always to incorporate beauty and you can do this by setting the table beautifully. Even if it’s just a small vase with a flower at the beginning. When your baby becomes a little older you can add a table cloth and a placemat indicating where the plate, cutlery, and glass goes. This will also help your toddler set the table themselves.

A High Chair

The high chair is not a totally banned item in a Montessori home but it is best if you can buy one that can eventually be used independently by your child. Look for one with a removable tray so you can push the chair up to the table for the baby to eat at. The Stokke Tripp Trapp chairs

A high chair is handy for allowing your baby to join you for family meals so they can see eating and drinking in practice. Keep in mind that we can’t expect them to ‘dine’ with us yet.

We use this Hauck chair

Real silverware, crockery, and glasses

We want to include our children in our daily lives and treat them with as much respect as we would any other adult that we prepare a meal for. Providing them with real crockery and cutlery (smaller but similar to ours) shows them that they are trusted and valued. It also helps to teach them that we need to look after our things by being gentle when handling our plates and glasses. Children who throw sippy cups do so because they know nothing happens…

You can offer your baby a sip of water from a small glass cup (shot glass) when you first introduce them to solid foods. They don’t have to hold it themselves yet but make a point of often drinking out of a glass in front of them so they can see how it’s done. Start with a small amount of water once they are ready to hold the glass themselves.

You don’t need to buy anything special here either. Side plates and small clear ramekins are perfect. You will however need to look for child-sized cutlery (metal). It’s better to learn the real thing from the start.

3/Look for signs of readiness

Now that you have everything you need you are ready to introduce your baby to new tastes whenever they can sit unaided or shows an interest in your food. If they are not yet ready to sit on their own, they can sit on your lap. This doesn’t mean that they can get into a sitting position on their own yet, only that they can sit up and hold themselves in that position.

It is not advised to place babies in positions that they couldn’t get themselves into or can’t get out of but eating will be for brief moments and should never be forced. Start with feeding your baby on your lap at the beginning.

4/Start slow and follow the child

Whether you choose to go the traditional Montessori way or just follow a baby-led weaning approach you are always going to introduce one ingredient at a time and allow your baby to choose what and how much they want to eat. You won’t be coaxing your baby or playing games to get them to open their mouths. Instead, demonstrate how you take a bite or spoonful (from your own plate) and offer them the opportunity to partake.

5/Create lasting good habits

Ultimately, we want to teach our children more than just how to eat. We want to incorporate good table manners, eating habits, and generally being healthy in body and spirit.

Set a good example. Be mindful of your own table manners and how you interact with others while at the table. Make an extra effort to set the table and make it a little more special. I promise you will also enjoy it.

Children also pick up on our attitudes toward food. Are we enjoying our food? Do we think of eating as a chore? Are we scared of food? Do we eat when we are stressed or upset? Think about where you might be projecting your own issues onto your child.

And always remember to involve your child in every process of food and eating. The growing of food, the preparation, cooking, general nutrition, and eating together.