Hi,
I am at a loss as to what to feed my 10 month old. I recently stopped giving her jarred baby food, because she didn't seem interested. She only has two bottom teeth so I am reluctant to feed her anything that she has to chew. I currently give her cut up Cheerios, yogurt, shredded cheese. I also bought one of those food nets where you can put fresh fruit/veggies in them and the baby can suck on them which is great. I guess I am just also worried that she isn't getting enough calories. Any suggestions on how to spice things up would be appreciated!
I've cooked carrots and sweet potatoes up and cut them into little pieces. My 8 month old loves those. I've also cut green beans into smaller pieces and he loves those, too. www.wholesomebabyfood.com has sample menus and things that might help.
Hello Jennifer! It doesn't matter if she doesn't have teeth to chew. At this age, they use their gums (and this comes straight out of What to Expect) to crush the food. If you're concerned, just steam vegetables until they are very soft but still easy to pick up.
Good luck!
Why do you cut up the cheerios? That sounds silly to me. Go easy on the cheese- can cause constipation. And I found the net thing more useful for teething than for eatting. The whole point, at this age, if for them to practice eating- they're still getting a great majority of their nutrition from breastmilk/formula, so the net thing kind of defeats the purpose- but I love it for teething. My almost two year old just got her last two teeth and she chewed on ice cubes in it.
Anyway, other suggestions- these are all things my daughter ate at that age:
-cubes of tofu (ew, I know, but it's perfect! soft, yet easy to pick up. use the medium firm kind),
-rice (regular cooked rice)
-overcooked pasta (easy to pick up shapes),
-overcooked steamed vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, zucchini, etc- cut up to the size of a cheerio roughly. I usually used frozen, steamed them longer than I would for me, then re-froze them in single serving sizes, so all I had to do was thaw them),
-canned fruit (only occasionally, usually the no added sugar or lite kind, and I stopped this when she was able to eat fresh fruit)
-bananas (lots and lots)
-other various things; avocado, whole wheat waffles (cut up- the frozen variety), pieces of tortilla cut up, small pieces of bread, and I let her try anything I was eatting that she could gum/chew.
I basically started introducin her to the things that we eat, from there, as I felt she could handle them- don't be scared! Just introduce new things by themselves, not with a bunch of other new things (to watch for reactions), and remember that the best way to prevent choking (other than paying attention!) is to help your baby develop her swallowing muscles. The more coordinated they are, the better!
I also still gave her baby cereal at breakfast, I can't remember when I stopped. She too lost interest at this age in the jarred stuff, but she would still eat the cereal (baby oatmeal) for breakfast.
HI Jennifer, With my toddle in my daycare, I cook regular food then I chop in up in my magic bullet, I make mashed potatoes, and then I put shredded chicken or beef and peas, carrots, some times green beans, brocolli all kids of meats and vegetables, and it works, at 10 months regular oatmeal, raveolie spaghetti, mac and cheese, if they don't have the teeth chop it it up, there is no kind of good I can't get down my toddles with using the magic bullet. J.
