4 Must know about self feeding

Self feeding is an important development for children. Teaching children to self feeding may not be an easy thing. But feeding your child continuously until he grows up is not good either. This will only hinder its development.

Self feeding in children comes in phases, making it a long drawn out, but extremely rewarding, journey for you and your child. Although your child needs to reach toddlerhood to have the physical ability to self feed, it helps to start early. Here are the 4 must know things before you start letting your baby self feeding.

Content:

| Self feeding advantages

| How to encourage self feeding

| Best self feeding age

| My favorite self feeding spoon

Self feeding advantages

Some parents choose to continue feeding their children because they don't want their children to be messy or dirty while eating alone. In fact, this is a learning process that children must go through. Baby led weaning (BLW) is a method that allows babies to self feeding. Mama only needs to prepare food that has been processed according to the baby's ability to eat, then the baby can use his hands to take and feed the food. Letting children eat alone also teaches him many things. Self feeding have many advantages.

Read more: Why letting your baby self-feeding is worth the mess

To prevent obesity

One of them is keeping children connected to their basic instincts (hunger) and listening to their own body cues (satiety). When a child is fed by another person, the child has the potential to eat more than they need, causing them to lose touch with their basic bodily instincts. In addition, it can also trigger stomach upset and can lead to eating problems later in life, such as obesity.

Helping children recognize the taste and texture of food

In applying the BLW method, food is served in a solid and larger form. This will allow your little one to recognize the texture because it is easy to grip. In addition, this method also introduces your little one to the various tastes, colors and aromas of the food he consumes.

Read more: Start feeding your kids solid food with this

Support children's motor development

Implementing the BLW method can support your little one's motor development, you know, Bun. This method can be a means for your little one to train eye and hand coordination, as well as chewing and grasping skills.

Read more: How to help my baby develop their pincer grasp?

Make children enjoy the food they eat

Teaching your little one this method allows him to enjoy the food he is eating without the need to be forced to open his mouth. In addition, your little one can also be introduced to many types of food.

How to encourage self feeding

Don't help put food in their mouth

You could say BLW is a method for making your little one independent when eating. You should really try to step back and believe that your baby can put food well in his mouth. Don't help put food in his mouth and you don't have to worry if you think he doesn't eat much. At this stage, food is a way for your little one to experiment and learn. As extra nutrition, your child will get what he needs from his milk, whether formula milk or breast milk.

Try offering a variety of foods

After your baby learns to use a spoon (holding objects between fingers and thumbs a.k.a. pincer grasp), you can introduce berries and raisins, or peas. Don't overwhelm your baby with too much food, having in front of him two or three items at a time is sufficient.

Read more: Baby's first solid food

Be patient

It is better if you don't rush when you want to let your children self feeding, because your child will choke on food if his age is not suitable, another reason is because he is not good at chewing food that is too solid. Wait until your baby is six months old and make sure he can sit up straight before starting self feeding. Be patient is the key.

Nothing comes easy with the baby. Every habit and every successful milestone is a result of someone’s effort. It could be you, your nanny, your spouse, the siblings or even strangers.

Read more: 3 Rules you must follow when giving first food to your children

Best self feeding age

Learning to self feeding can generally begin at the age of 9 months, when children are able to grasp their own food. At this age, parents is allowed to give them finger foods or foods that are easy to grasp. Children will become interested in holding their own spoon, fork, or water bottle in both hands when they are 13–15 months old.

In my daughter case, I let her start hold when she was 7 months. The food does not always fill the spoon and she not always succeeds in putting it in her mouth. Not a little food will also fall on the floor or table.

Around 18-24 months of age, they will begin to be adept at putting their own food into his mouth less messy. However, your little one must always be supervised when learning to eat on their own. Because they are still learning, sometimes children may choke, cough, or vomit. Later when your little one enters the age of 24–36 months, they will be more adept at eating and enjoying their own food without the need for help from adults.

My favorite self feeding spoon

You might be wondering if you can just get away with using a regular old steel spoon to feed your baby. After all, if it’s good enough for you to eat with, shouldn’t it be fine for a baby?

Some old-school parents will shrug and say that you can feed a toddler just fine without buying yet another special tool. But most feeding authorities recommend using a shallow, plastic children’s spoon for feeding, since it’s easier for them to eat from and won’t hurt their delicate mouths.

Read more: Baby essentials that is important for your children's development

Combined spoon and teether

Some spoons are made a little larger with a more chewy texture, for those teething kids who to bite down on as they eat. The teething element may encourage some kids to use the spoon.

Grabease stage 1 silicone spoon

The soft spoon is perfect for tiny mouths during the early stages of self-feeding, and the textured handle soothes little one's gums during teething. Kickstart BLW with Grabease stage 1 self-feeding silicone spoon.

Shaped ergonomic spoons

Little hands can be clumsy and a spoon is hard to hold. This style of spoon is usually chunkier and shaped to help toddlers get to grips with their fine motor skills.

Grabease stage 2 spoon and fork

Grabease patented fork and spoon sets were the first utensils designed with babies’ independence in mind, and they come highly recommended by Occupational Therapists. The ergonomic handle fits comfortably in babies' natural hand grasp, making the hand-to-mouth motion easier. This set will also help strengthen their fingers while encouraging proper pencil grasp development (this will come in handy later!).

BONUS! Yummy and healthy ice cream for your baby with Grabease

Thank You! A 2019 year-end letter dedicated for all BabyLux partners

Hi partners!

As 2019 comes to a close, we want to express how grateful we are for the support you’ve shown us and the excitement you’ve shared for BabyLux. At such an early stage in our journey, BabyLux has already become a very good ‘place’ where parents, start-up company - who are willing to distribute our carried brands, brand owner - who are trying to enter Asia’s market, be our partner. For that, we thank you :)

Since the beginning, BabyLux core value is to bring joy, happiness, delight to every parents and baby. We promise to bring both innovative and the best quality of baby products to the Asia’s retail market. And because of you, you, and you, we did it!!

We’ve been distribute many well-known baby brands to Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam. The feedback we’ve received from every country has been incredibly positive, so we know that we’re on to something special here. And by 2020 we do want more, next goal is whole Asia! We will keep going, keep making friends with people who have the same vision with us. And we all need to keep together.

For brand owners, thank you to put your trust on BabyLux. It is very funny yet really warm when we took a flashback, back to the time when we finally have our very first carried brand, Nookums. 2020 will be our 8th year being partner. Cheers! And you must know the infamous Loulou LOLLIPOP, we are proudly to say that BabyLux is Loulou LOLLIPOP first distributor. For all of our carried brands, you have our sincere appreciation. We can’t do it if we don’t have your fully support.

Our team is hard at work to help making the parenting experience even better and easier. We’re improving our process, giving feedbacks and inputs for the brand owner, and trying our best to give solution for our country’s distributor when facing bumpy road. We’re committed to let parenting experience be amazing from the moment that anyone being parents. And since the beginning, we've seen a ton of interest from people, because of the products and brands that we carried. We know it will take us a bit of time to get there, but we’re not far off, and early player feedback helps a ton. We’ll also reveal an exciting economy design in the future, so stay tuned for that!

2019 has been a huge year, and we’re truly humbled by your support. You are helping pioneer a new experience of parenting life, and we couldn’t be more honored to have you with us. Really!

Here’s to an amazing 2019, and an even better 2020!

Happy holiday and cheers,

BabyLux Team ❤️

Top picks baby products trending 2021 (Updated)

It is almost the end of 2020, who’s exited to welcome 2021? This year, I went to many Mom and Baby Products Fair, saw a lot of cool stuff and manufacturers seem to come up with new inventions meant to make our life - as a mom - a lot easier and comfortable.

Being a parent is hard and no woman is more tired, overwhelmed and irritable than the new mom. With the new inventions in the world, the new mom can at least catch some shut-eye and hope that her nifty new high-tech device can alert her when her little angel is in distress.

We’ve selected these three trending baby products categories for 2021.

1. Mother care: Wellness for mom and things that make life simpler.

2. Technology: Integrated into products like car seats and monitors.

3. On-the-go: We like to travel, no one can stop it, even a baby. We’re bringing our babies with us more and more. These products help make it an easy and simpler on-the-go experience.

Disclaimer: I know the products that I used as examples not a new products, but I pretty sure they will booming ;)

Read more: Baby registry ideas and top picks trending into 2021

Prince Lionheart Tubimal

Cutest tub ever! For bath now and storage for later. An infant/toddler bath that stays out of the landfills by becoming a storage bin (with stackable lid) when no longer needed as a tub. Store toys, games, clothes and more in one dog, two dog, three dog, four!

Beaba Babycook Neo

The beloved Beaba Babycook is now more eco-friendly! The Babycook Neo is the newest in a long line of Beaba baby food makers, and the newest version replaces the plastic with stainless-steel and glass containers.

Rest Sound Machine, Night Light & Time-to-Rise

Sleek and simple on the outside, high-tech on the inside, Rest is a nightlight and sound machine you can program with your phone and control remotely or by touch. Rest is designed for you to create a custom sleeping environment for your baby. Adjust the hues, brightness and sounds to best suit your needs, or create your own themes. The soft glowing light is also perfect for nighttime nursing.

Read more: 9 Modern moms must have items

Keepsie Pacifier Cover

Fits most pacifiers and helps keep pacifiers clean when not in use, and it fits with our Nookums paci-plushies, perfect to bring on-to-go together with Keepsie.

Read more: The perfect on-the-go teether

CollapseAndGo Bottles

Baby bottles that collapse is now a thing, and we’re left wondering, how did it take this long? This bottle is easy to throw in the diaper bag, tip-proof, grows with your baby and is made with 100% food-grade silicone that is both dishwasher-safe and mold-resistant!

Congratulations to MOLUK Oibo and Nigi, Nagi & Nogi win Spiel Gut Award

A game is one of the tools that can be used as a way to transform knowledge to children. Therefore, when a child is playing, this means that it is not only playing game that can entertain or carry out meaningful joyful activities, but more than that, a game that is played by anyone will have an educational meaning, even if the person who is doing it is not aware of it.

We are excited to announce that one of our carried brand, MOLUK has won Spiel Gut. Oibo, as well as the Nigi, Nagi & Nogi teething rings, have been awarded the 'spiel gut' seal of approval. The non-profit organization was founded over 60 years ago to promote toys with exceptional play value. To date, 13 different MOLUK toys have received the coveted distinction.

Content:

| What does Spiel Gut mean?

| What makes Oibo so special?

| What makes Nigi, Nagi & Nogi so special?

What does Spiel Gut mean?

Spiel Gut means good toys. Since 1954, educationalists, psychologists, doctors, technicians, experts in design, chemistry, electronics ... and parents - scientific and practical people - have been examining and assessing toys - from babies' rattles to material for experimenting.

They work on an honorary basis and are independent of the toy industry and retailers. Their spiel gut recommendation signifies that this toy has been tested with children and examined by experts with a positive result.

Their criteria: play value, material, workmanship, construction, durability, safety, design, size, quantity, quality of the instructions for playing or making, suitability for the appropriate age group.

Read more: Congratulations to Matchstick Monkey Toy for winning Best Baby Toy 2019

Play + toys as educational aids?

Playing always entails learning, not by means of teaching, but on the basis of personal experience - the most effective form of learning in childhood.

Physical and mental agility, social behaviour, imagination, logical thinking, planned action, powers of concentration, stamina, joy at being active and a great deal more besides, can be developed by playing, and the benefits can be seen for the rest of the child's life - at work and during leisure activities, as well as in a wide variety of other situations.

Learning to play?

But playing too has to be learned. The readiness to play, which every healthy child has by its very nature, can only develop into the ability to play with careful assistance, stimulation and encouragement. Good toys can also help in this, but only if the abilities and interests of the child are taken into consideration when choosing a toy.

Read more: Build learning kids by let them play with building blocks

What makes Oibo so special?

Oibo is an elastic, stackable, rollable, squeezable, easy-to-grip sensory toy for babies and kids of all ages. Oibo’s geometry merges a sphere with a cube - combining the action and fun of a ball with the educational benefits of building blocks.

Like all MOLUK toys, Oibo grows with the child. It shines as an elegant grasping and teething toy for the baby. Toddlers will enjoy how Oibo bounces and rolls. Its soft material is perfect for first throwing and catching games. By stacking and aligning the pieces, kids learn about geometry while training hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Oibo collapses when you accidentally step on it and pops right back into shape.

Watch it, you will falling in love with Oibo!!

What makes Nigi, Nagi & Nogi so special?

Nigi, Nagi & Nogi are soothing your baby’s sore gums without being an eyesore. Made of 100% food-grade silicone rubber, MOLUK’s new teething rings are easy for small hands to hold and offer essential tactile and visual stimulation. They remain interesting as multi-sensory fidget toys when the child grows older and work together with the other parts of the MOLUK family for years of open-ended, child-directed play.

Watch more about Nigi, Nagi, Nogi.

MOLUK now available in many countries, if you would like purchase it or interested in being our reseller, especially in Taiwan, leave us a message, we will back to you very soon!

Read more: Moluk official website

Self-feeding utensils, Grabease or Bumkins silicone chewtensils?

Entering the age of 6 months, is the right time for your little one to be introduced to some solid foods. That's when baby spoon and fork are began to be used. Unlike the usual utensils that we use, the baby's spoon and fork must be adjusted to the little one's mouth, safe and comfortable when used.

Baby spoon and fork has its own uniqueness according to the development of your child and is made of various materials that will provide a different eating experience. In this article, we will compare Grabease baby first self-feeding utensils and Bumkins silicone chewtensils.

Both Grabease and Bumkins are perfect to help guide little ones to self-feeding. But, yes, they have some differences that might let parents feel confuse. Let us tell you pros and cons between each product.

Content:

| Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros and cons

| Grabease pros and cons

| Summary

Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros and cons

Bumkins silicone chewtensils pros:

• Bumkins Chewtensils help you to introduce babies to self-feeding by giving them utensils that can be chewed on before transitioning to silverware.

• Bumkins chewtensils made from BPA-free, BPS-free, PVC-free, phthalate-free, cadmium-free and lead-free silicone.

• Back of the spoon head has sensory bumps to stimulate gums

• It can be sterilized by putting it into a boil water.

• Price lower than Grabease

Read more: The best baby spoon fork in 2019

Bumkins silicone chewtensils cons:

• The silicon fork doesn’t work. Not even on the softest foods. Made from silicone bring both pros and cons to it. Since baby can chew it, feel free to imagine how soft is Bumkins silicone chewtensils are.

• The sizes are a little bit too small, smaller than usual baby spoon and fork, it makes baby harder to use.

• Friend of mine have an issue with Bumkins fork, since it is called chewtensils, means baby can chew it, but my friend’s daughter bit it off and almost swallow the bitten part.

Read more: 3 Rules you must follow when giving first food to your children

Bumkis Silicone Chewtensils packaging

Grabease first self-feeding utensils packaging

Grabease pros and cons

Grabease pros:

• Grabease is made from plastic, free from harmful materials like BPA, lead, and phthalates.

• Protect your tot with the baby and toddler fork and spoon set that poses no choking hazards! The cloud acts as a choke protection barrier, preventing the utensils from gagging or harming your little one.

• Grabease short utensil handle makes they are super easy to hold and maneuver, let baby can easily guiding this utensils into their mouth without dropping the food. Grabease short round handles are perfect for baby’s little hand.

• Grabease is not too long, not too deep, not too pointy. Just perfect.

• Dishwasher machine safe.

• A lot of color selection.

• Grabease are the first ergonomic safe self feeding utensils recommended by Occupational Therapists.

Grabease cons:

• Do NOT sterilized it using boiling water!

• Quite pricey comparing with other baby utensils.

Read more: Grabease all-over bib review

Grabease First self-feeding utensils: Green

Bumkins Silicone Chewtensils: Jade

Summary

I like Grabease more than I like Bumkins, why? Because i can see how frustrate my kid when she is using Bumkins fork, she was trying so hard to pitch the toast. Also, the Bumkins more like a teether than a spoon, it is good for transition. When they use Bumkins spoon, my daughter will suck it (the spoon together with the food) while eating. I think Bumkins should sell the spoon separately, I barely use Bumkins’ fork.

After all, it is still depends on your kid’s preference. If your kids just like mine, she or he may prefer Grabease.

“Mealtime should be fun not frustrating.”

How to become a baby product wholesale distributor?

BabyLux has been a baby product distributor for over 9 years, we carry around 14 brands until now.

Not only carrying baby essentials, but also education toys, introduce those brands to Asia’s country. Some of them like Nookums, Grabease, Matchstick Monkey, and you can see more in here.

Our founder found out that demand for baby product has increased, so does the need for distributors. Being a baby product wholesale distributor is quite promising - but you need to do it right - because you can achieve a fairly large profit. The reason is quite simple, babies are always been the most precious family member, parents or even grandparents would like to give the best for babies.

Our Instagram feeds.

Distributors are the link between the end customers and the manufacturers of a product. As an authorized distributor you'll usually receive direct training from the manufacturer on how to use its product, and have contractual authorization to sell its products – sometimes with exclusive rights to sell the product in a particular region. This gives your customers the peace of mind knowing that they are working with a company with direct access to the manufacturer.

For those who are interested in being distributor, this is how we start..

So, how to become a baby product wholesale distributor?

Decide what you want to sell

You can distribute almost anything, but you need to be knowledgeable about the product you're selling. For us, why we decide to be a baby product wholesale distributor? Long story short, our founder see the potential in baby products, as you know BabyLux main goal is to bring both innovative and the best quality of baby products to the Asia’s retail market. At that time, our founder notice that many good products are only distribute in US or UK, even though there are some in the Asia, but it is hard to find. So you need to seek the main purpose.

Read more: Wanna be Nookums world's most famous pacifier retailer?

Build relationships

Networking is the foundation of the distribution industry. Relationships and connections will define you. Gain a deep understanding of your target market and clients to develop stronger partnerships. Keep communication open and available. No matter with the manufacturer or customer, always build a good relationships.

Create a website for your business

In addition to simple contact information, this website should describe prices and product offerings. This is especially important if you sell directly to consumers. You may need to start learning about SEO, yes, you can learn it by yourself, it takes time, but very worth to learn.

Inventory

You’ll need to have enough cash on hand to purchase sufficient inventory to launch your business. How much money that will require depends on what products you’ll be selling. Typical starting inventory needs for wholesale distributors can range from a few hundred dollars to over a million dollars’ worth of required inventory, which may need to be financed. Get a warehouse, place your first order and run with it.

Market your product to potential customers

Send out your catalog to potential customers in your area. You can also make cold calls or place ads in trade publication relevant to your products. With some luck and salesmanship, your first orders will be coming in soon! For us, we use email and social media - follow us at @babylux_asia, they are really good for branding.

Small reminder for you who would like to start your own business as wholesale distributor, keep your early expectations modest!! Focus on quality and on keeping costs low.

Our suggestions

As you know, we already in the business since 2012, these 7 years, we have learnt so many things, no matter how to select baby product brands that we want to carry, or other soft skills. We have grown so much. So, if you still don’t know where to start, just start from those best seller brand or product. Our all-time best seller are Grabease self-feeding utensils, Nookums pacifier buddies, and Loulou LOLLIPOP teether set. If those brands haven’t yet in your country, take it!! Contact us. Together, we will grow even bigger.

Read more: Self feeding utensils, Grabease or Bumkins silicone chewtensils?

Read more: Nookums paci-plushies or WubbaNub?

We carried so many brands and we keep growing. We only selected those products which will make parenting life easier, so if you are interested in partnering with us, don’t shy - leave us a message and we will back to you soon. No matter where you are, in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, all the countries in Asia and no matter who you are, we are more than happy to connect with you!

“If you want to grow, find a good opportunity.”

— Jack Ma

Things you must know about baby teething and teether

Teething can be one of the least fun parts of early development. Symptoms vary, but some baby can lose sleep because of teething, cry in pain, or develop rashes from drooling while teething. You may start to think about giving your baby teether. Then you will asking yourself, when I should give your baby teether? Does baby really need teether? What kind of teether I should choose?

Things you must know about baby teething and teether

Does baby really need teether?

Teeth growth can cause pain and will cause a lot of difficulties for babies who feel sick, as well as their parents who took care of them. Your baby may cry a lot, saliva production will be more than usual, sometimes they also look nervous and fussy. Some babies even can’t sleep at night. However, there are some babies who don't seem to be affected by this condition.

Read more: 10 Milestones in first year of baby’s life

Baby teething toys are beneficial, not only for helping relieve a baby’s pain, but also for helping a baby’s cognitive development. A teether allows a baby to develop motor-skills. A baby must see the toy, grab it, and guide it into the mouth in order for it to be chewed on. So as a good parents, you need to go through different teether reviews before purchasing it.

When you should give baby teether?

If you notice your little one trying to chew on everything in sight, it may be time for some teether. Teething can start as early as 3 months old and as late as 14 months old. When your baby starts teething and which teeth develop first depends on family history and genetics.

Two lower front teeth are usually the first teeth that appear. And followed by two upper front teeth. Most children will have 20 teeth before they are 3 years old.

What kind of teether I should choose for my baby?

Good quality teething toys will be durable, BPA-free, easy for your baby to hold on their own, and safe to chew on. Teether also shouldn’t have any hard edges. Some teether are designed for pain relief and play!

Stage 1 teether for infants aged about 4 months, teether function to stimulate dental growth.

Stage 2 teether for babies around 6 months old, the shape of the teether is denser, its function is to stimulate the next tooth growth.

Stage 3 teether usually used for babies who already have 2 teeth or more, the teether is denser, but soft when bitten, the texture is more rough, there is even a wavy, teether function at this stage to stimulate further tooth growth.

Stage 4 teether is a teether with a texture that is more coarse and varied. This teether is used by babies whose biting ability is getting stronger, because they already have several teeth. In addition to stimulating tooth growth, teether can also trains their motor movements to chew.

Read more: How to choose a perfect teether for my baby?

LOULOU Lollipop teether - Novelty teether are essentially regular teether, but come in all kinds of fun shapes and sizes. They can literally be made to look like anything which can be fun for you and your baby!

Dena toys, teether and playmate, all in one. Thanks to its soft material and its design, with Dena toys your baby will begin to stimulate her creativity from the first day. Dena toys are very safe and very useful for psychomotor development.

Read more: What can you play with Dena toys? You'll never think about it!

While choosing a teether, look for a teether that the baby will be able to hold and safely put in their mouth. Matchstick Monkey teeter is a perfect teether since they have three collection which come with three different size, not too big or too small, safe for your baby.

Hashtag Kidz teether, super hygienic because you can flip it out to make sure teether surface will always clean, really suitable for baby who enjoy traveling. Additional teether case are available to purchase, double protection.

Always supervise a baby while they are using a teether. While choosing a teether, look for a teether that the baby will be able to hold and safely put in their mouth. Do not use items that are not meant to be teether as a toy, especially toys that have small parts that could fall off and be a choking hazard. And don’t forget to regularly clean your baby’s teether!

“I am the who teething, so why are we both crying?”

— Unknown