The DME, quesako?

Mar 12, 2024

The new fashionable baby food method

Child-Led Diversification. This is a food method applied to babies from the moment they start to sit up and feel the urge to chew, chew and put things in their mouths (generally between 6 and 8 months).

Baby sitting in high chair ready to put hand in mouth

The interest is to let baby choose and discover different textures, tastes and foods on his own, with his fingers without cutlery or plate. We put the food in front of him and then it's the baby who manages. He chooses what he wants to eat and how often.

It is therefore also a question of offering him the time necessary for his meal and teaching him self-management of his limits: when baby is no longer hungry, he is no longer hungry.

This method is also practiced so that baby participates in the family meal, it is a question of installing it near you and adapting its meal as well as possible while bringing it as close as possible to yours. No more meals separated from each other.

But for the first few times, it's important for baby to be quiet, with no extraneous noise around, just him and you.

You have to sit him in his high chair and offer him different foods the size of his clenched fist, then it's baby's turn to play!

Mom crushing broccoli on baby's high chair table to practice EMR.

Of course, this food is in addition to milk, it absolutely does not replace this baby's need.

The benefits and rules to remember for practicing EMR

The benefits of this method:

Improve baby's motor skills
Improve hand-mouth coordination
Allow baby to discover more foods and textures
Baby develops his tastes, what he likes or dislikes, what he prefers...
Develop baby's jaws and the release of his teeth

Rules to remember:

Seek the advice of your pediatrician
Do not perform DME until the baby is ready
Babies absolutely must know how to sit in their high chair
Don't leave baby alone
For the first tests it is absolutely necessary to be calm with baby
Certain foods are prohibited (all crumbly foods, etc.)
Food should be: neither too soft nor too hard

I advise you to take a look at the site: Bébémangeseul, you will find recipes there. The “pediatrician-online” blog is also super informative but nothing replaces the advice of your pediatrician!!

The little extra? The DME promises you many funny photos!

Baby sitting in his high chair smeared with leftovers from his meal (spaghetti Bolognese)

At Rose et Balthazar, we contribute to our priority, baby's well-being, by offering you suitable, durable, trendy and essential products for babies.

Go quickly to see our childcare section, you will find nappies, bibs, baby bottles, pacifiers, bed linen, sleeping bags... And also, many early learning toys in our toys section (music box, teething rings, stacking animals, musical instruments...)!