To save time or your sanity, these little habits can easily sneak into your baby’s eating routine. Don’t let them. They can put your baby at risk.

Don’t:

 –Let your baby be a backseat diner. Don’t give him food while he’s in his car seat, which can be a blind spot, especially if he’s still facing rearward. (Radar: Choking hazard.) In other words, always supervise your baby when he’s eating.

Solution: Feed your baby before leaving home or stop for a snack if he gets hungry.

 Don’t:

–Feed your baby from the jar (or yogurt container) and then put the uneaten portion in the refrigerator. Harm­ful bacteria from your baby’s mouth can multiply in the jar. When my first daughter was a baby and I questioned whether it was safe to put a half-eaten-from-the-jar back in the fridge, I remember my mother saying, “But they’re her germs,” as if that made them safe. They’re not.

Solution: If your baby is likely to eat less than a full jar, spoon a portion into a bowl and put the jar in the refrigerator for later. You generally can keep opened jars in the fridge for up to three days in the case of fruits and vegetables, one day for meats, and two days for meat and vegetable combos. Date open jars with a permanent marker. If you feed your baby from the jar and she doesn’t eat it all, toss it.