Choose Your Stage
You may be wondering which Tiny Tums product is right for your little one? That really depends on age and their development, as no two children are exactly the same! Below is a guideline to help you decide where to begin your journey with Tiny Tums!
0-6 Months
Baby only requires breast milk or formula.
In these early months, your baby only requires breast milk or formula. This provides all the energy and nutrients they need, unless your Pediatrician advises otherwise.
At around 6 months a baby’s body needs more nutrients, such as iron, for this stage of development. It is important that babies are introduced to meals rich in nutrients as well as continued feeding with breast milk or formula.
Signs your baby is ready to start weaning:
1.
When baby can sit upright comfortably with a steady head.
2.
Coordination has developed – baby can track food with his/her eyes and put food in his/her mouth, by themselves.
3.
They can swallow food without the tongue-thrust reflex pushing food out.
If your little one is starting to show signs that they are ready to begin weaning, grab one of our handy weaning packs, which come in ice block-sized portions, perfect for when you are just starting out!
6+ Months
Our 1st Tastes are smoothly pureed and liquified, root vegetables and fruits, as well as combinations of the two.
The best first foods to give your baby must be easy to digest and unlikely to provoke an allergic reaction. Avoid giving mixtures to baby for the first week, so as to discover any foods baby does not tolerate well. It is not necessary to start on cereal, you can go straight onto fruit or vegetables.
Our 1st Taste Meals have a variety of yummy and new flavours for your baby to try out!
Tips for Weaning Your Baby:
Patience is
key
As first mouthfuls are a new and strange experience, funny faces, as well as the spitting out of food, can be expected.
Taste some food with baby
Often seeing someone else eat encourages them too
Let them lead
the way
When they turn their head away and close their mouth, they’ve had enough.
Skills learned through weaning
Feeding from a spoon, swallowing more viscous textures, possibly moving from pureed to mashed fruits.
Purees will be easiest for your baby at first but soon they will tolerate more textured food that they can chew (even with no teeth).
Skills learned during this stage – Eating and chewing. Attempting to self-feed.
Our 2nd Tastes have both textured variety and great taste combinations for your baby’s curious new palate!
7-9 Months
Our 2nd Tastes are textured and coarser, but not lumpy, meals.
Once your baby has tried a variety of flavours and is eating well from a spoon, you can move on to the more textured varieties in Stage 2.
Signs that your baby may be ready for Stage 2 include:
- Baby is developing rapidly and may even be sitting in a high chair.
- Stronger tastes and textures are well tolerated.
- Baby will mostly be using gums to chew but perhaps a few teeth have emerged.
It is not a good idea to continue giving just purees as this may encourage baby to become lazy about chewing and she may have difficulty learning the tongue movement to swallow solids
As your baby should now be eating 3 meals a day they will become thirstier, offer water at each meal, experts recommend preferably in a sippy cup.
Let your baby’s appetite guide the amount you are feeding them.
All our Tiny Tums meals are carefully selected from highly regarded sources and taste-tested by little experts to ensure they have the suitable amount of yum factor!
9-12 Months
3rd Tastes are lumpy texturized meals, variety being key.
As your baby starts to move around more their appetite will increase and including carbohydrates with every meal becomes more important.
Offering a variety of foods is the key here, so try not to repeat the same meals in a row. An introduction of herbs and spices will encourage baby’s developing palate (but remember no salt or sugar!)
Now may also be a good time to try simple finger foods, but let baby lead the way!
#MOMHACK:
Babies can start getting fussy and wanting to feed themselves, it helped to give my son a spoon and bowl with a small amount of food so he was involved in feeding himself whilst I crept my spoon into his mouth.
Skills learned – Possibly self-feeding, comfortable with chopped and mashed foods.
We feel it’s vital that feeding is a fun time for all. So relax, have no expectations and go with the flow. They are all individuals and all have their own pace, just take confidence in knowing that by offering your baby a healthy variety, that you are giving your baby every opportunity to develop a healthy attitude towards food!
Our Tot’s meals consist of a wide range of fun to eat foods, that can be given as meals or even divided up into on the go snacks! We also have our Finger Foods for those who like to snack and are a healthier alternative to conventional snack assortments for toddlers.
12 Months +
Tots meals are interesting, balanced meals, encouraging your toddler to feed themselves and try new flavours.
Delicious, healthy meals that have plenty of hidden veggies and no preservatives! Our Tot’s meals are perfect for your little one’s developing appetite and provide more substantial nutritional value as your baby will now be in the process of weaning if they haven’t already!
We have dairy, egg, and gluten-free options and if you have any allergy or dietary concerns you are welcome to contact us.
All our Tiny Tums meals are carefully selected from highly regarded sources and taste-tested by little experts to ensure they have the suitable amount of yum factor!
Finger Foods
Our finger food range is designed with little fingers in mind. These are healthy snacking alternatives and with no refined products used to make them. They are also great for those moms and dads who are doing Baby-Led Weaning!
BLW (baby-led weaning) is becoming a very popular way of introducing solids to your baby, this encourages baby to feed himself. Experts suggest babies need to be 6 months old, able to get food into his her mouth alone and have lost the tongue-thrust reflex. Finger foods are perfect once the basic foods have been introduced.
