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Feeding
Give a bottle or a meal safely: hands washed, temperature tested, child upright, pace set by the child, and you stay with them.
1Watch
The bottle
The bottle
A sitter in a kitchen, baby in a bouncer, a bottle just out of the fridge. Her hand hovers between the microwave and a jug on the counter, and the film ends.
15 secondsOne of those two is what the parents would want. Watch her think.
2The idea
Feeding is the parents' plan, done their way
Ask at handover: what, when, how much, how it is made, where it is, any allergies, anything they cannot have. You feed what they said, how they said, at the time they said. Nothing else goes in. The yoghurt in the fridge that was not mentioned stays in the fridge.
Four things that never change. Wash your hands first. Test the temperature on the inside of your wrist: barely warm, never hot. Sit them upright: a baby semi-upright in your arm, a toddler strapped into a high chair. The child sets the pace: when they pause, turn away or stop, you stop. And you never leave a child alone while they eat. Choking is silent.
3The idea
Bottles, then solids
Bottle:
1. Hands.
2. Warm it the way the parents showed you. Standing the bottle in a jug of warm water is the safe way. A microwave heats unevenly and can scald a baby’s mouth, so not that unless they have specifically said so.
3. Swirl gently, test drops on the inside of your wrist.
4. Baby semi-upright, head supported, bottle tilted so the teat is full.
5. Pause for wind when the parents said.
6. Never prop a bottle and walk away.
Solids: high chair, strap done up, at the table, you sitting with them. Small pieces. Grapes and cherry tomatoes cut lengthways, then again. No whole nuts, hard sweets, popcorn or big chunks of anything for under-fives. If it is the size of their windpipe, it gets cut smaller. Allergies: what the parents said, and nothing new, ever.
4Look
The wrist test
The wrist test
A drop of milk from a bottle landing on the inside of a wrist.
It should feel barely warm. If you notice it is warm, it is too warm. Let it stand.
5The idea
Leo's lunch
Leo is eighteen months. The sheet says: pasta and peas at twelve, in the high chair, cut small, water in the blue cup, no dairy. The sitter washes her hands, warms the pasta, tests a piece on her wrist, cuts the pasta shorter, straps him in, and sits next to him with her own drink.
He eats, stops, pushes the bowl away. She takes it: done. Her phone stayed in her pocket the whole time. She did not do anything clever. She did every step, in order, and stayed in the chair. The yoghurt in the fridge is not probably fine. No dairy means no dairy.
6Decide
The bottle has come out of the fridge. How do you warm it?
Pick one to carry on.
7Build it
Order the steps
Order the steps
The bottle feed and the solid meal, steps shuffled. Drag each into order. It will not let you skip wash your hands or test on your wrist, and it will not finish the solids one until you have sat down with the child.
Do the solids one twice. The step people drop is the one where you sit down with them.
8Find them
Which of these belong in every feed?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
9Do it
Before you leave this page
Warm a cup of water until it is a bit warm, then test it the proper way: a few drops on the inside of your wrist. Do it with hot tap water too and notice the difference. That difference is what you are checking for.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
Wash your hands. Test it on your wrist. Sit them up. Let them set the pace. Never leave them eating alone.
Next lesson: Sleep