Is She Progressing Right in Eating

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job. Is she ready to chew? Once she is ready to chew you can start offering soft chunks. You can test this out by getting the Stage 3 foods- which have more chunks. Or trying her out on like cubes of sweet potato. When my girl was that age I would microwave or bake a sweet potato, slice it and then cube it - she loved it. She could pick it up and it was squishy.

Wonderful work Momma!

S. (mom to Fae who is 22 months!)

I was clueless and the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron was a huge help! Lots of information, but not overwhelming. It was worth it's weight in gold to me.

Keep the sippy cup on the tray along with the bottle if you use it. She will grow accustomed to it and eventually figure out what to do with it.

For foods, continue with the stage 2 and you might even try a little stage 3. If you want to make your own soft but more chunky versions of food, boil things like apples, carrots, sweet potatoes etc. and run it through a blender.

We started our baby on Gerber puffs around 7 months to get him going on his fine motor skills and self-feeding. We started with 5 a meal. It would take FOREVER for him to pick it up with his thumb and finger, then get it into his mouth, but he stuck with it. He enjoyed the learning process and seemed so proud when he finally got the puff into his mouth. If you don't like the puffs, you can use cheerios (may be a little hard) diced peaches or pears (roll them in crushed cereal like rice krispies or cheerios so they don't slip).

I have watched children in my home for 7 years now, many of the since they were 6 weeks old, plus 3 of my own. Before I let them try and feed themselves I make sure they can do the pincher grasp. It is where the can pick up small objects with their pointer finger and thumb. I just remember someone telling me a long time ago that was a sign that they were ready. A kind of milestone. I always started with half a plain cheerio. If they can't do that, then wait a bit longer. When they get it you will know and can move on the softer adult foods. I always gave my kids sippy cups since they started any baby food. I held it up for them inbetween bites of food so they could get a sip and eventually they knew they liked it and when their hands were ready to take it, they did it themselves. I always put water in the sippy...it seemed more refreshing than more milk or formula.

I also have an 8 month old daughter and I have given her the Gerber Graduates apple wagon wheels and strawberry apple puffs. They dissolve very easily in their mouth and gets them used to finger feeding. I noticed she also is trying to chew with her front teeth on them. We also tried scrambled eggs this weekend but she couldn't quite hold onto the pieces.
With my first daughter, I think she really didn't start getting used to the sippy cup until she was almost 1 year old. My 8 month old has no interest in the sippy cup right now either, she thinks it is a chew toy.

Sweetie, kids don't come with 'rules'. Offer her bites of food. You are the Mom. You know your child. Go with what you think she is ready for.
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J.,
You can buy these little mesh feeders that are almost like a teether. You can put fruits like apples, melon, pears etc. in them so they can taste the food but you do not have to worry about choking. They may be available at stores now, but when my kids were little, I purchased them from One Step Ahead which is online and they have a catolog too. I too used the gerber sweet potato puffs and veggie puffs as first finger foods and of course cheerios and buttered toast cut in small pieces. Believe me this is a trial and error time. Your daughter may like some things and not like others. Go with your gut feeling!

She's progressing just fine mommy. Is she trying to get the spoon from your hand when you're feeding her? Then she's ready to start feeding herself. Be prepared for the mess. She'll use her hands more than the spoon. You'll probably find the spoon flying thru the air more than in her hand. They like to shovel the food in with fingers, leaving face, hands, hair, walls, highchair and everything else decorated. Have your own spoon and sit with her to squeegie her down. Have fun. Those were the days!

J., talk with your doctor and s/he will tell you want foods to introduce and what whole foods she can digest at her age.

What I would do is start out with a food that she likes already, probably fruit, scrub the skin really good, cut it into small pieces that she can hold, and put it on her tray. See what she does.

As far as the zippy cup, if she doesn't know what to do with it, she is not ready to use it. First you may dry demonstrating how to use it on yourself with another zippy cup. If that does not work, then give it up and wait until she know what to do.

M.
www.toy-train-table-plans-store.com

Hi,
I am sure you are perfect. I have the 100 easy baby purees (or something along those lines) book and it helped a lot. Lots of great ideas. As for the sippy cup try the Born Free 6+months training cup. It has a lower vaccum level so you child doesn't have to suck so hard and the spout is an easier transition from the bottle. Plus, it is Bph free!! always, a plus. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
A.

Sounds like she is right schedule. Don't want to move too fast - their digestive systems are getting used to processing all this. The sippy cup you can keep introducing and you can hold it for her to try and drink. Okay to still have bottle with food. Mother of two girls - 14 yrs and 5 yrs.

Here is another helpful website:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030100.asp

There's a great website called http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com and it gives a pretty good overview of ages and types of food to introduce and foods to stay away from. It also goes over ways to prepare and save food you make for the baby yourself. Hopw that helps.
Good Luck,
J.

my guy loved the Gerber puffs - they melt in your mouth so it doesn't take a whole lot of chewing but it gives them some practice at eating 'solids'. i would also take ripe bananas, slice them and then quarter them and roll them in crushed up cheerios to help the grab factor a bit.

I think she is perfectly capable of handling some soft chew foods... i would add some things you eat too... just make sure not to season baby's portion. my little guy LOVED mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bits of lunch meat - real meat though... avoid stuff that's over processed and contains high fat and salt - read labels..

my son would NOT eat any jarred meats, and he's thrown up from gagging (taste - not texture) the two times i tried him on stage 3 foods - i made most of his baby food homemade, though i admit i got lazy late in my pregnancy with #4 (3 and 4 were 13 months apart) and started buying baby food. seriously though... if you smell some of those stage 3 foods - they smell like vomit... i really cant blame him for rejecting them.

as for the cup - i dunno... i'm not a huge pusher of the cup - my son is just now figuring out that he wants it and he's 16 months - i gave it to him a lot for about 3 months and he found it was more fun to shake it upside down and let it drip... keep offering, but she'll do it when she's ready.

doctor says get him off the bottle cuz it's bad for his teeth (cavities), but he doesn't bring a bottle to bed, he doesn't fall asleep with it.. he gets it downstairs, on my lap while we read a bedtime story, then when he's finished he hands it back and i put him to bed...we stop at the fridge and he takes a sip of water (i do this to help rinse his mouth) so, i'm not stressing about that.

At this age, really they become so fun! they start turning into toddlers, not babies anymore... i think it's soooo adorable to hear my little man begging for a bite of my bagel in the morning, and i must say it always makes me smile to see his little bite mark in the cream cheese :) whoa... had to suck up a tear there :)

good luck... have fun and remember the 3 day rule between new foods. a variety of flavors and textures now, and your attitude towards these explorations can go so far in getting her to eat a variety later on - my kids (10 and 12) fight over brussel sprouts!

Our pediatrician told us not to feed table food until 9 months old, but by 12 months old Baby can eat just about anything. Unless there's a food allergy history, go for it! My hubby has a deadly nut allergy, so our daughter is not allowed to have peanut butter or anything containing nuts until 2 years old. Otherwise, she pretty much eats whatever we're having for dinner. Since I am Filipino and my husband and I love all kinds of foods, we have given her everything: Filipino, American, Chinese, Italian, Japanese... We think that this has helped to prevent her from being a picky eater.

As far as what to give your child, here's a link from parents.com which shows a food chart (ages and suggestions):
http://www.parents.com/baby/feeding/solid-foods/feeding-y...

Good luck!

Sounds like you are doing a great job. You'll know if she's not getting enough food. I noticed that my daughter would cry when I would walk away from the table with her empty bowl. That was a sign for me that she still wanted more. If she was full, she would push the spoon away. My daughter is 10 months and just started stage 3 foods. Some kids are just slower progressing into chunkier foods. Don't give up on the sippy cup. Continue to offer it, even if she only plays with it. I started introducing the sippy cup to my daughter at about 7 months. I used the ones with a soft mouth piece. My daughter would chew on it, and play with it, and sometimes she would get a drink from it. The important part was that she was learning how to use it. A sippy cup is totally different than a bottle and it will take some time for your little one to figure out the technique to drink from it.
Keep up the good work and follow your instinct.