I have a very healthy 10-month-old who loves to eat, but I am not having much success moving him to table foods or anything with more texture than pureed baby food. He only has one tooth, so biting into cookies and crackers is not an option for him yet. When I try to give him just the chunky stage 3 baby foods, he gags and acts like he's choking. I did finally succeed in getting him to eat the veggie puffs, but sometimes he gets one too far back on his tongue and then gags forcefully. However, when he gets one well-positioned on the side of his mouth, he does at least mash down on it before swallowing. I am worried that he should already be well into self-feeding and more solid textured foods at this age, but am not sure how to go about it. I end up resorting right back to the baby food to fill his tummy. Does anyone have suggestions on how I can help him get accustomed to more textured foods that require some chewing?
I have been continuing to offer my son more textured foods, and he finally eats at least the stage 3 Gerber lasagne and spaghetti with no problem :o) However, there are many others he just won't eat, but I'm convinced it's because he just doesn't like the flavor. One of his day-care teachers asked me if I had ever really looked closely at some of the combinations of food in those jars and would I even like them myself. I figured she had a point. He does now eat cut-up bananas, small pieces of cheese slices and deli meats, and yogurt. He's great feeding with his hands and seems to enjoy it, but also does not interfere much with me feeding him the messier foods. My biggest concern is getting some real meat into him every day, because it's clear he's not ready for bits of chicken. He just tries to gum it to death and never seems to make any progress. I find bits of chicken in his mouth hours later. I haven't tried any ground beef yet, but plan to, as I think that may be easier for him to get down. He does now have both of his bottom front teeth, and one of the top, with the other close behind. Most of all, your responses reassured me that he is not behind! I was afraid that he should be completely on table foods right now and was afraid something was wrong! Thanks for the support everyone!
I wouldn't rush him to get started on finger-foods. He'll do it when he's ready. My son also gagged when I tried to give him stage 3 foods, but within a couple of weeks, he loved them. The first finger foods he did eat were the fruit puffs, cheerios, and bananas.
Also, keep in mind that they will gag when trying new things - they're just learning how the whole process works.
Good luck!
Don't stress, especially since your son only has one tooth, he really cannot eat anything other than pureed food. My son didn't get his first tooth until 11 months; however, I did want to introduce table food so I just made things that were soft or could be mashed. For example: squash, zuchinni, yogurt, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans, bananas including banana bread and zuchinni bread, strawberries, eggs, etc. Once your son starts to get more teeth you can start to add more textured food. My son is now a healthy, happy, 28lb, 21 month old who certainly loves food.
Stop trying to feed him them! He's only ten months old and if he only has one tooth, he is not ready for the textured food yet. Not because he doesn't like them, but because he's just not ready. It will be obvious when he's ready, ie teeth. My 15 month old has all of her teeth and she can't chew meat yet. You have to just be patient. And you really shouldn't force them to do it. You should stick to pureed food.
beleive it or not i just started to feed my youngest green beans yes the ones we eat for dinner or supper. most of the food he now eats at 4 yrs old he was pretty much eating when he was little over a year old and just about a yr ago he stopped eating with his hands. so dont let books or other people tell you what your child should be doing he is not going to fail school because he doesnt want to eat some types of food right now he only has one tooth when he cuts a few more he will become more intrested in other types of food. you do not have to give them baby food you can just hand him things that you are eating at the time ie. green beans carrots mash potatoes sewwt peas. my children where eating table food when they were about 6 mths old i never bought baby food they ate what ever i ate just a mussher form of it. good luck
B.,
My son was born 2 months prematurely and as a result, also had problems with gagging when we try to transition him to table foods. He couldn't handle any texture other than smooth baby food. He even went to food therapy for it. His therapists suggested several things and they all worked together in the end. One thing we started doing was letting him gnaw on cookies with his gums. Lots of baby cookies are made to dissolve quickly. This gave him a chance to have a different texture in his mouth. The therapists said that many children have a problem with stage 3 baby foods because they don't know how to handle it since it is smooth and chunky. One other thing we were told to do was to take a baby toothbrush and brush his gums and tongue 3 times a day, slowly progressing to the point where you can brush further back on the tongue without him gagging. They said his gag reflex was just really sensitive and not at all usual. Then we slowly progressed to foods such as pudding which is thicker. After two months of this, he started eating table foods with no problem. He, too, didn't have many teeth so we started with soft foods he could mash with his gums. Good luck!
My 10 1/2 mo. old son is the opposite of yours he has eight teeth and is eating everything. But I was like you and was afraid to give him anything he could choke on. He let me know when he was ready for more textured food. I'm sure your son will too. Just keep doing what your doing trying new foods a little at a time. Before you know it he will be ready!!
What I did was make my normal dinner, for the family, put the food in a procesor, and let my baby eat with us!!! I would season the grown up portions after I seperated his from the meal. This is so much healthier, cost effetive, and you can freeze his pre-made portions in small containers. It takes less time then going to the store, and he isn't exposed to all the germs in the grocery! Now, he gets a taste for lots of different foods, and the nutrition that you are looking or...and No perservatives. If he has only 1 tooth, he can't chew up cubed food anyway. He can feed himself with a spoon, and you can feed him at the same time. As he gets better with texture, blend less until you are shredding into snall pieces with your fingers. He sounds like he is right on schedule to me! Good luck
Both of my kids had problems with texture as well. What I started with were Bananas (which are soft enough for him to bite into even without teeth), and very creamy mashed potatoes. I have also given them small pieces of pears, peaches, from the can (in juice not syrup) and green beans from the can. Oatmeal/Grits/Cream of Wheat is also great for the kids. My kids like the fruit and cream variety or I make my own instant oatmeal by adding some milk, butter, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and microwave until done.
Please let me know if any of those items works for him.
Give him time, he will come around if you keep offering. Every time you offer something new he may gag and spit it out. My son did. Also, my son didnt self feed till well past his 1st birthday. He is almost 2 and still has trouble with a fork and spoon. Dont let people or books make you think your child should be doing something he isnt, every child is unique and does everything at their own pace. Good Luck.
maybe try small pieces of mushy food, like pieces of cheese, banana, the puffs dissolve so i dont think he can choke on them, or there is this device i got at burlington that you can put the food in and it snaps shut, and they can suck the food through this netting and cant choke. i put oranges etc. in there. mine is still trying new foods too, for the most part she gets it on the floor...also apple sauce, mashed potatoes, watermelon, oatmeal. mine loves those, but they aren't finger food obviously. hard to chew with one tooth. good luck.
ps- on one of my recent questions i asked about finger food, you could go read it in my profile.
When my daughter had one tooth she was chewing on the zwieback toast and still loves it. I think it helped with her teething. She ate crackers and arrowroot or banana cookies supervised of course. I think those textures helped a bit. She adores her dads spaghetti, won't even touch stage 3 lasagne or spaghetti which is fine cause it's cheaper.Loves mac-n-cheese. I agree with the food processor thing. I still fed her the pureed stuff until she seemed uninterested. Now I sneak in mashed banana with her cheerios (doesn't like mashed banana) and yogurt. We eat steamed veggies so I just mash hers up and soon it will be less and less. Anyways just figured I'd throw this out there! I am still learning so keep us posted too!
