Met a father whose 13 month old hates eating and looks about the same size as Mackenzie (8.5 months). I invited him to bring her over to lunch with my girls. Eating is contagious, if everyone else is enjoying eating and drinking, you’ll probably want some, too!

Update on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 5:05PM by Stephanie Woo

Met a mother of 11 month old girl who also hates eating. She said she only gives her mush and lets her play with the clean spoon but never lets her feed herself. My suggestion: give her larger pieces of food that she can hold and feed herself.

By 7-8 months, you can start letting your baby make some choices. Always give them TWO choices – no more than two! I let my girls choose between two outfits everyday after bath. Mackenzie hates pink/loves green and Brooke loves onesies. It’s amazing how CONSISTENT AND CERTAIN they are in their choices.

Look at the way she yanked that green onesie out of my hand! This baby knows what she wants!

Crawling is very important to the brain and cognitive development of your baby. It facilitates the left and right side of the brain working together.  Not only does it strengthen their body, it also gives them important EXPERIENCES they need for development. Encourage your baby to crawl by getting down and imitating crawling. You can also do cross-patterning with her: lay her in front of you, touch her left hand to right feet and right hand to left feet. Repeat.  You are moving opposite limbs at the same time, which is what happens in crawling. Your baby is also more likely to crawl if you let her spend most of her day on the floor (not confined in a stroller, car seat, swing, etc) and if you do not put her in a sitting and/or standing position before she does it by herself. Read more about it here.