Eating - Wyckoff, NJ

My daughter didn't eat solids until she was 13 months. I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep offering different things and one day she will eat.

Are you trying to spoon feed her pureed baby food or are you letting her pick up small pieces and feed herself? My son stopped taking baby food from me at 9 months old. He has been feeding himself all kinds of foods for the past month or so. I would not push anything on her, just make it available to her every meal. Don't force her and don't comment if she doesn't eat very much. Encourage her if she does eat, but don't get upset or angry if she does not. Also make sure she is not drinking too much milk/formula and filling herself up.

Hi C.,
At a year, if she's not interested in baby foods, they aren't necessary. If she's got some teeth, give her table food. Let her eat what the rest of the family is having, but in pieces/texture that she can eat. Many babies move from pureed food to finger foods at a year. Good luck

Dear C.,

Have you tried introducing finger foods, cheerios, puffs, anything you are eating just cut into tiny tiny pieces until she gets the hang of it. My kids loved pancakes, french toast, cinnamon toast, small pasta, soft veggies, etc. I have found that babies really start exerting their independence for feeding themselves at that age. It can also help to develop her coordination skills. Teething can also play a part, when my kids were teething they did not want the spoon by their mouth. Give her a spoon and show her how to feed herself. She will be so interested in the spoon you may be able to get something into her. My kids hated baby food and as soon as they were ready they went straight to table food. Also hold of on the bottle until after you try to feed her, if she is drinking a lot of bottles she is not going to be hungry for solids. My kids are now 24 & 19 and back then when they turned 1 the doctors took them off bottles and formula. I know times have changed so I would check with your doctor and get some input. Have you begun introducing whole milk yet? Is she using a sippy cup yet? I would try to use the sippy cup more and maybe she will not fill up as much with the bottles. Good luck!!

Feed her regular food.

Start table food. Start with small pieces of banana. Have her sit in her high chair when the family eats and offer her small bites of your food. My kids HATED baby food and wouldn't eat it. A.

My boys never really cared for baby foods either and I used organic baby foods....but, she's going to be 1 yo and of course...no baby food. Give her some foods you eat and cut them up into small pieces. No small things yet, like peas. Give her some turkey, cut up chicken nuggets and I have found an easy way of making chicken nuggets which is healthier instead of the frozen ones. If you're interested, reply to this and I'll reply back to you with it. Quick and easy foods to cook when you don't have all day to make something yet they're healthy.Give her some sweet potato, and I am thinking of Thanksgiving if you're catching on already. Mashed potato, baked potato, give her fruits like bananas, apple sauce, how about turnips? Have her try new things at home, never new things when dining out and when she's very hungry. Kids will try new thins whe they are very hungry and I would try not giving her a bottle too much because taking the bottle with liquids keeps her stomach full. Then there's no hunger or desire to eat. Hope I have covered all I have done from experience.

Cut out the bottles and if she does not want baby food,
give her table food.

Its not uncommon for that to happen. My kids wouldnt eat comercial baby food either. I used a baby food mill and made my own baby food. Their food was what ever we ate.

I took the foods and put them into the mill and they ate from that. You have to make them switch from taking all milk and eating more foods. Start by reducing the amount of milk she is getting.

I started by giving my kids water in the bottle and then got a small bottle again.. for milk. and then eventually only a sippie cup was allowed for milk. it took about a month to get the transition from 8 oz. bottles of milk to the 4 to 6 oz cup of milk but as the transition went along, they started eating more foods. One other thing we did was no bottles allowed during the day. Thats a hard one.. but they will learn, that if they are hungry, they will eat. Just keep offering the cup rather then the bottle when she want is. She will resist it.. but then she will start to come around. My daughter did.. and it was hard but she was pretty quick to come around.

Here is the link to the food mill...It is amazing.
http://www.teething-teeth.com/baby-food-Grinder-Product.html
My son was eating Venison, chicken and lean steak at 1 year old using this machine. Its only $12.00 and it is well worth it. You could spend that much on baby food a week. But your grocery bill wont change if you buy this and use it.

It creates little balls that have texture. and he seemed to like it alot. And I never bought another bottle of baby food again. It saves money and its more nutritios. Start with foods that she will like.. fruits and sweet veggies and mix some of the ground meat in with it.. and she will become used to the texture and eat it..with out the fruits.

My brother and his wife just had a baby and I plan on giving one to them for their son Wyatt.
I used it with all my kids and passed it on to my sister, and she used it with her kids and then passed it to our niece and she used it and its great!

Hope this helps.

W. in Watkins Glen
Mom to 3 kids
Korey-Mikel 16, Whitney 13 and Andrea 6

I agree with Diane- it's all about finger foods! Baby food is pretty yucky. But finger foods are all about the child having control of her own eating, and also imitating the person she loves most- you! My son eats almost anything he sees me eating...and I just couldn't put that baby food in my mouth... :)

This is a fun time. Enjoy feeding all these new treats to your little girl!

Definitely try table foods! What a mess, but it's so much fun - just offer your daughter whatever you are eating, try some typical finger foods, and let her explore. She will develop her pincer grasp, learn textures and flavors, and have a blast. Both my kids were eating table foods exclusively by 8 months - flat out refused the baby food. Also, time to start weaning from the bottle to a sippy cup - this is a good time to introduce whole milk, so you can offer milk or water in the sippy during the day, and then stick with the bedtime bottle until it's time to wean (and yes, our doctor said 1 year = no more bottles, but doctors differ in this area). Good luck!

None of my kids ever liked baby food. They wanted what was on my plate so I just cut up into smaller bits and gave to them.

C.,
She may be like my son, took a while to get interested in some foods. Do you try one food just once? Do you try it several meals in a row? My son would turn his nose up at something that most kids like, then after a few meals, be looking for it.

My son didn't start solid food until 7.5 months, and at that, it was only oatmeal. He gradually moved into other foods, and we still have limited sugar to 0 intake (we can't say he hasn't started it, as he had sugared apple sauce, and a well-meaning friend gave him a bite of cake). You would not BELIEVE the razzing from family and friends alike about not giving him birthday cake.

Try, try again, and if she is not totally resistant, keep it up. Patience on your part is great, and when you try it before she does, sometimes that is an encouragement, as well as an 'oh, it's okay to eat'. When you have a positive expression on your face while you are eating (don't do this talking on the phone! :) that helps too.

My son is fond of avocado, but he rejected it at first, because my expression said it wasn't something he would like - I was having a conversation with my husband at the time about money, and well, you can imagine my expression. So next time, I made up a song about it (a one-word song, nothing elaborate), and he now tries to imitate it.

(come to think of it, we pretty much have different 'sing-song' names for most of his food.)

Good luck,
M.