Food Suggestions

Hi Stephanie,

Although my daughter is now 14 years old so I haven't had to do the baby food thing for quite some time, you might try soft veggies like cooked carrots cut into small pieces, lima beans, potatoes cut into small pieces. Just make sure everything is really soft. "Finger" foods were always a big hit with my daughter. Hope this helps!!!

K.

My kids have done well with mashed potatoes, rice, sweet potato, yogurt (kids version) and sweet plantains. I don't know if these will work for you but its worth a try. Also, see if she shows any interest in anything that you're eating. As long as its infant-friendly, it should be ok. Lots of luck!

Hi, my kids didn't get teeth until 10-11 mo. but they would eat everything. You could try beef hot dogs without the skin, chicken nuggets, pasta, mac & cheese, yogurt,use a slotted spoon & take out the meat, pasta, veg. from soup, diced canned fruit, baked potato. I cut up everything I was eating to the size of 1/4 of my pinky fingernail, about the size of a corn nibblet. You can supplement with baby food as well. Another trick I used was to give them something sweet first-fruit or a 1/4 of a cookie to get their stomach juices flowing. Then they would eat anything because they realized they were hungry. Teeth don't matter. Look at elderly people. As long as she eats, & gains weight, she'll be fine. Hope this helps.

Hi-----I don't know if I can help any but I do have a few things to try if you have not yet.......When Alyssa (my 2 1/2 yr old) started doing this she was in daycare at the time and I got ideas from them so here goes.....! We did instant oatmeal, instant grits, smashed bananas (fresh), the baby rice cereal so that it was real thick, even scrambled eggs---small enough so that she could taste but just swallow. All of these worked for her. Gerber also makes the graduates food and there are some things that you can use even though your daughter doesn't have teeth. They make the flavored mashed potatoes and "stews" with the rice and chicken---my daughters favorite was the fruit puffs, they dissolve so you don't have to chew them, they are fruit flavored and she still snacks on them!
I really hope some of this can help you----good luck!
Let me know what happens!

C.

Do you have a blender? Take table food and blend it up, I know it sounds yucky but that's what I did. Also, your baby will eat if it's good and hungary. When I was a new mom at 31, I thought I had to feed my daughter everytime she cried. Was I wrong. Try some applesauce on your finger for starters and then try the blended food. Tomato soup is great for her and you get a great art work by your daughter. Hope this helps. V.

My son gave up on the baby food at 8 months, luckily he had teeth though!

A few ideas that may work for you though...
-they make "baby" goldfish crackers
-cream cheese on wheat bread(this was a favorite)
-cook the real veggies, just mash them.
-low sugar canned fruit, cut up really small.
-yogurt
-gerber makes these really great snacks called "puffs", they come in a can and practically melt in babies mouth

Pretty much anything as long as it is soft and small enough. I found that the key with my son was doing it himself! He was taking the spoon away from me by the time he was 9 months old.

-D.

It definitely sounds like she's ready for table food.

Let's see... peas are good if she can pick them up, as are the old stand-by Cheerios. Small cubes of fruit (softer ones also tend to be wetter, and harder to pick up, but are easier to mash), cheese cubes cut in half. Well-cooked carrots cut small. Potatoes cut small. The one thing I'm coming up short on is proteins, since meats are hard to get really soft. Oh, chickpeas. We went through a phase where our daughter would eat tons of chickpeas.

I agree with others who encouraged using fresh fruit and veggies. Toast is good too. Have you tried putting her food in a dish and giving her the spoon so she can feed herself? It might be that she just wants to be independant. I'd try that before introducing any meats or complicated, multi ingredient foods. I made all my kids' baby food from fresh and then put it in a blender and that was awesome. Any small, squishy foods are good. I wouldn't give hot dogs at this age though.

my daughter loved avocados (yuck lol). i just made sure they were really ripe and cut them into little bites for her. maybe orzo pasta? or some other pasta that's small/cut up with some parmesan cheese or something? hope you find stuff that works!

My daughter loved avocado. It makes a mess, but she could gum it down without choking.

well if you have the time to make fresh food salt free, the baby might like it, its healthier and no preservatives

There is no reason why you can't start introducing finger foods. Cheerios and such. Peel grapes and cut them into tiny pieces, over cook baby carrots and do the same. Crackers and such. She really doesn't need teeth to eat. My mom didn't get any until she was 2 and she ate apples. Cook her up any veggie, and cut it tiny so she can feed herself. The same with fruit. Try hamburger crumbed up and put it spaghetti sauce with over cooked pasta. Just make sure everything is super soft and mushy. Anything she's been introduced too. Some kids don't like the texture of baby food. Try what every your eating.