Baby B is 9 months old. She is a cute bundle, bright and curious, she likes to get in and out of corners creeping around the house with awesome speed. At the blink of the eye, she has moved out of her grandparents' arms leaving them in tears and ready to cry and also pull their hair out!! Yes, in frustration. Why? Almost in tears baby B's grandparents wonder why feeding their granddaughter has become such a struggle.

Feeding children is a universal challenge for parents and caregivers. When does the struggle begin? From the time solids are introduced around 6 months. Most importantly, how one feeds the child becomes the root cause of the feeding problem — either tears of joy or tearing the hair out.

After 4-6 months of breast feeding where in the mother has virtually no control over the quantity that the baby is drinking, introducing solid foods can be a challenge. Introducing semi-solids and solids should be done gradually. It's a new taste and texture for the child. The usual routine at the beginning is that the child pushes the food out of the mouth with the tongue. This is normal. As the infant gets used to the new taste and texture, gradually the tongue thrust decreases.

The challenge that grandparents have is that they are used to feeding small babies and toddlers of an earlier era where food and feeding practices were very different. In those days the children had limited mobility, less stimulation to distract them, lesser choices in food, and a culture where eating was important. In todays world, children are much more active, they have a lot of distractions, and the internet gives parents easy access to a variety of ideas and information (and misinformation) on what and how to feed their child.