Introducing Foods of Different Textures

I agree with Patty....eat in in front of them....might even work best NOT at a meal time- cause then they know they are "expected " to eat ;) but just throughout the day start eating some of what you want him to try....as moms we ALL know as soon as we try to eat or drink anything the kids are asking for some!

Try cutting cheese into squares /\ 0 etc and if large size is needed may you can make a animal shape with a cookie cutter.
Apples and rasins and carrots make good addatives to peanut butter dots on a plate to make a face.

Or when ols enough add meat or fruit into pancakes to make a face.

At a young baby age like six months try making your own baby food and when use rto it add some solid foods to it like for apple sauce add some stemmed apples, or to baby ceral add stemed or soft mashed fruit.

Some children like to watch or help make like the fruit and peanut butter plate with your help and some are scared if they see it so at first add it as a surprise.

Like Mommy and Daddy have a cup of pudding and so does baby and each has say tapioca and have fun adding cherries to it.
Hope this helps.

Have fun and let the child help you.
D.

Our little one (also 14 months) doesn't eat a lot of anything (he's a little guy), but he eats just about anything. We've always pulled his highchair up to the table at meal time so he eats with us. We always offer him the same foods we are eating as well (in the separated plates like others have suggested). There are of course his favorite foods, but he does try just about anything (chili, curry, california sushi rolls, mexican, etc). And I believe they say that you have to offer a food a bunch of times till they develop the taste for it. So if your son rejects something, just try it again later.

Try using those Gerber fruit and veggie finger foods to start. I used bits of waffle, pancake, gerber veggies and fruits, and corkscrew pastas cut in to thirds to start my girls out. Yes they make a mess but its part of the learning process. Then once they get use to those if you want to ad bits of ground turkey, grnd chicken,grnd beef all unspiced of course and hotdogs cutting them in to 1/4s would be perfect size for little mouths.Good luck and best wishes

We got our daughter (at 2) to try fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops and oysters by making a huge deal about how yummy it all was and then, denigh her it when she asked for it.We'd say, "No you can't have this peanut..., kids don't eat this stuff because it's expensive and too yummy for children." That made her want it even more, then, we let her try it dipping it into the butter and success...so yummy. Today (age 4+), she says that Crab, Lobster and fish are her favorite foods and when we go out to eat, we can count on her having a good meal if we order something that has one of those in it. We also did the same thing with lots of other foods...and luckily, most of the stuff she's tried she likes. Some she doesn't and we respect her for not wanting more as long as she tries it once. If she tries it once, that makes us happy, and we sometimes have to coax her into trying something and we bring up the crab/lobster food and say..."You tried that and it's your favorite food now...think about what you could be missing if you don't try it?" Sometimes, we even toss out the comment, "Hey, if we never tried anything new, we'd all still be drinking breastmilk."

The fun thing about babies and toddlers is that they don't have ideas about food - just sensations. Look for color when trying new things:

Oven-baked sweet potatoes look so inviting to a little one
Oven-baked potatoes
Steamed carrots
Steamed broccoli
Peas are fun to pick up one at a time
All beans are fun to pick up one at a time and they are colorful
Fruit cut up in strips so they can hold them and chew - pears, apples, watermelon, melon

If you stick with the freshest foods, not only will your baby be healthy, he'll be happy to have the variety.

Steph,
Introducing foods seems to be my life right now. I have a 13 month old daughter and I have made a vow that I will not be a "short-order cook." I want her to eat the same things we eat for dinner. I do not want to make her special meals. So as a result I am trying to introduce her to a variety of foods.

What is interesting though is that at times my daughter is visually discriminating. She won't even pick it up, taste it or eat it. She just decides she doesn't want it. So I try again with that same food the next day and the next day. If she still won't try it I try again the next week. This takes tremendous patience but after a few months of this...wow! She is eating these foods! (Another trick I have noticed is that if I put a bite of it on the spoon she will take it off of the spoon and eat it but not the tray. Once she realizes it comes off the tray she is will eat it from there.)

I do make sure that I have other foods are her tray that she enjoys eating. Not everything is new. I also know that she won't starve if she doesn't want to eat what I am offering her. She has a snack or another meal in a few hours. She is learning that what is set in front of her is the meal. No complaining or refusing will get me to find something else for her. This may be a harsh approach but it seems to be working.

This is a fun age because they can eat almost anything. My daughter loves toast with a peanut butter spread thinly on top as well as grilled cheese. She adores bananas, grated apples, avocado, peas, and cheese. I also buy unprocessed deli meat and give that to her. Yum.

Hope this helps!
B.
B.

I bought little plates that have compartments, Gerber has some great ones right now. I give them a variety of choices, like cut up apples/pears (without the skin of course), depending on the age of the toddler. I give my boys pretty much what we eat, peas, rice, cut up meat (pork and chicken are always great). I put their high chairs around the kitchen table so they're eating with everybody else. They seem to eat better when they see their older brothers and sisters eating the same things.

I also cut up some bananas and put them in yogurt, them put them in small bowls and the babies eat it right up. You can find some that have suction cups on the bottoms, these are great for starters. Now that my twins are 16 mos, I also cut up strawberries or oranges and put it in yogurt. They love it. They get better with age.

When my kids were little, I had tasting parties. We would try new foods and have some treats I knew were likes to entice them. I still like to do this with my grandchildren. I have also noticed that new foods have greater appeal if they are on M.'s plate and not on the child's. It seeam to be "forbidden fruit" which increases its appeal. I do know that you just keep offering new foods without too much pressure. The only rule I had as my kids got older (>4) is that they had to taste something before they could decalre they didn't like it. Good luck! Liz