Feeding essentials

Feeding is an activity which is done consistently no matter what. This creates a potent space filled with opportunities.

• It’s the initial contact with food, which can build a great foundation for healthy relationship with food 
• It can build a foundation for healthy relationship with receiving nurturance in general
• It’s a space to experience intimacy, warmth and safety of a parent/caregiver for the child and the intimacy and warmth of the child for the parent/caregiver
• It can produce the necessary chemicals in the physiology of the parent and the child for a safe connectedness
• It provides opportunities for soothing and grounding the nervous system of the child
• It can establish neural circuits which are foundational for healthy brain development

It’s important that when the baby is fed, 

• The mother or caregiver is grounded and not agitated
• The environment is peaceful
• No one around is fighting or arguing
• Loving eye contact is made with the child intermittently, whenever possible
• The baby’s lead is followed
• The baby’s perspective is taken into account (eg if the baby has a cold and has a stuffy nose, the baby may take breaks while feeding, just to breathe through the mouth)
• The baby is handled with most warmth and tenderness (this is actually universal and not just for feeding)

Note: If you find yourself agitated but need to feed your baby, chanting helps (it can be a chant from any religion or just a universal Aum.)

Activity: Observe the baby’s environment as it currently is when the baby feeds. Ask yourself, what can I do to make the environment more and more nurturing for my baby?