Picky Eater - Oxford,AL

If they don't want baby food, I just feel like there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. You can buy her healthy fresh food and prepare and let her have it. My oldest started eating table food not much older than 6 months and the little one ate baby food for almost 18 months. I don't think either one is the worse for wear over either way they ate. The only problem I see from it is, the little is such a picky eater now. The oldest is more open to trying new dishes than the little one also.

We started out with mashed potatoes, mashed banana's, mashed peas,mashed up mac and cheese, these seemed to go down good in between bites of "baby" food. Good Luck, At 3 years old I believe we have the pickest eater ever...lol

M. I have the same problem. She will basically eat the fruit and the cereal but other than that she doesn't want it. I had a counsin who was allergic to something in the baby food so my Aunt had to try other things for him. She told me that she would give him Campbells Soups. They have everything that they need and are alot cheaper than the baby food. I get the chicken and stars and they are the perfect size for them to not choke. The others ones I just use a fork to mush them up a bit so that the chunks are not too big for her. Also I try to feed her first before she sees the table food....because than it's all over... ;-) Than after that I have some bread or something for her to eat while we eat and it makes life so much easier!!! Hope this helps!

She is more than ready for table food. Each child is different when they out grow baby food. My Son would not go to the toddler food he wanted what everyone else was eating so I let him. Of course I made sure it was things he could chew. He ate green beans, potatoes mashed, most everything. Keep in mind that years ago they didnt have a lot of baby food to choose from and people had to prepare adult food for children to eat. My Mom said that by 6mos or so all her kids were eating from the table. Also they couldnt afford a lot of the baby food so you had to improvise. Also they use to tabke biscuits and mild and make it a mush for the child.

Hope this helps... let me know if I can be of futher assistance.

P.

my son will be 1 this month. i went through the same thing with him. i buy gerber graduate lil entree meals. they are like $2 at walmart. you put them in the microwave for 30 sec. maybe try those. atleast she will still be getting gerber food. now i just share my dinner with him and save the meals for when we don't eat a family dinner or something quick for him.

Hi M.,

If your 10 month old enjoys table food then I would just give her that. There is nothing wrong with it! At this age she can eat pretty much anything, just with less spices (my little one hasnt tried spices yet, she is 9 months). just try over cooking some veggies so they are soft and cutting them up. You could boil some fruit also and cut it up. You can pretty much offer her anything you could buy in the baby food jars, just as table food instead :)

My daughter would NEVER eat baby food. So I found veggies and things that she could eat. I would boil them in chicken broth until they got mushy and then mash everything up.

If your daughter wants table food and is getting the nutrition she needs from it just feed her that. My pediatrician was wanting mine off the bottle and on table food between 10 and 12 mons anyway and believe me my 2 yr old is not lacking nutrition. My other 2 were like that too. Baby food is basically for babies because they can't chew at 4-6 mons but as long as your daughter can somewhat I say go for it!!! Hope this helps.....

My daughter was the same way when she was 10 months. Not only would she not eat baby food but she didn't really care for a bottle, all she wanted to eat was the real food. After talking with her doctor she recommended that i feed her real food and try to supplement with baby food. I would just give her table foods that are soft or I would mash them so she could eat them without choking. She is now 2 1/2 and very healthy. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.

My little girl did the same thing and we just let her eat what we are eating. It saves a lot of money and is less hassle. We just make sure her food is in really small sizes, so no choking. Since I want her to eat healthy foods, I just keep a lot of canned and frozen veggies around so that she always has healthy table foods. Diced peaches, green beans, bananas...plus that means DH and I have healthier foods on hand also.

I would just give her table food. She doesn't need to eat babyfood and most table food is healthier (depending on how it is made). We never gave my son baby food and he is perfectly healthy.

G.

If she doesn't want the baby food take her off of it. Baby food in those jars is full of preservatives, most of the nutrition has been striped during the cooking process and it is not the best thing. She might be smarter than the average bear about what is good for her body. give her fresh veggies that are cooked enough so she can easily chew them. Broccoli and calliflower heads are good cooked, peas, carrots. You can bake some apples, pears, peaches with the skin pealed and it makes a terrific dessert type food that is also really good for her. Pasta is a good one although I would stay away from spaghetti noodles as they are very easy to swallow without chewing. Let her experiment with different things, and as she gets older and more teeth she can start eating chicken, fish, and even red meat. I have heard terrible stories about processed foods for all people not just children, but they tend to be more suseptible because of their young bodies. Plus baby food is kinda gross, and she might not like the texture of the food, and most of it doesn't taste very good. I say let her eat the table food.

Try mixing the baby food and the table food together, if she's eating green beans mash some of the green beans up and mix them with the baby food green beans. Make a sort of baby food, table food pudding for her and let her see you mixing the two together.

I have a three month old daughter, so we are still breastfeeding exclusively but I recently discussed this with my parents and my husband's step-mother. Both never bought baby food (aside from rice cereal and zwiebacks). They simply mashed up whatever veggies they were eating for their kids. I plan, personally, to do this as well. I would contact your pediatrician for some tips and also the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has good suggestions for table food for babies when they come of age (you can check it out at the library). Even if you aren't breastfeeding it still gives you some good suggestions for solids. If she wants to eat table foods, that's not all bad, and it saves money, baby food is expensive!

My son went through the same thing, and I know of other babies who wouldn't let a spoon touch their mouth around that age! I know baby food is easier, but if your daughter is ready for table food, then go for it. My son was off all baby food by about 11 months. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what to feed him, but it's a lot easier now that he can do it all by himself.

Good luck!

J.

What I do with my ten month old is, i buy those gerber graduate meals/jars, the stage 3 food jars and a box of mixed cereal. Say its breakfast time. i'll mix some stage 3 fruits with the mixed cereal, I'll also give him gerber graduate diced fruits. The key is to try to disguise their food as adult food, so they still get their baby food but they feel as if they are eatting big people food as well. if you wish to talk more you can email me at: ____@____.com

Always,
T.

I want to know what you did with your 10m old? My daughter is going through the same thing right now. If you try to give her baby food from the jar she will hit the spoon every time and it goes everywhere. She wont open her mouth and keeps her jaw locked shut. If I give her finger foods she loves it. I have been just making her food with ours at lunch and dinner, Just without the seasonings and salt. What did you end up doing?

Have you ever tasted the baby food. I would prefer table food also. Both of my children were on table food by about 9months. I say go for it. If she will eat the fruits you might get a couple of those for a snack durning the day or for when you are on the go but I would feed her table food. Just make sure that you cut the meat in to very very small pieces but the veggies she should be able to gum. I think my oldes had creamed corn about every meal until I got the hang of what she could eat.
Good luck
M.

Why keep her on baby food? I have 3 kids, and none of them have had any baby food ever. My youngest is now 7months old, and I don't care to spend the money to buy baby food. They've all gone straight to table food.

Try mixing the baby food and table food together. I know this sounds disqusting, but babies love it. Your baby is only a few months early on wanting table food. Introduce both foods at each session.