How long did it take from when your child started to eat ONE table food item pretty good to when they were eating (mostly) exclusively table foods? And what did that transition look like (i.e. what did you do to help/encourage eating more and more table foods)?
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Do you mean your son can/will only eat one specific table food?
That's a hard question for me to answer because we pretty much let DS eat what we were eating once he was able to chew/swallow without choking all the time (probably 10/11mos). We didn't really have to encourage him very much because he was SO into eating, and wanted everything we were eating. If your son is interested in what you
re having, do you let him try it? I would often give DS small bites of what we were having then put some on his tray if he liked it so he could work on feeding it to himself. -
In the beginning R would only eat a couple things, puffs, bananas, and avocado. But we just started offering more and more.
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@bushelandapeck: Yes, prior to now, he would pick up foods and chew on them, but then just spit them out. He's JUST started to actually eat something (Ritz crackers of all things), but so far everything else, he doesn't actually eat.
When we can, we let him try what we're eating, but we haven't changed our meals to exclusively dairy-free yet, so sometimes I'm not sure if something contains milk or not, so I can't let him try it. And other times, we eat after he goes to bed (especially when he doesn't take his afternoon nap at daycare and has to go to bed practically as soon as we get home).
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@Smurfette: Would you offer things and then if she didn't eat it, give her purees instead?
Sometimes with Xander (okay, most of the times), I'll give him table foods before purees, but he'll just ignore them or throw them on the floor or fuss until I give in and give him the purees. I'm just not sure how to get him to actually eat table foods because he doesn't seem interested!
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@Adira: Oh, the dairy free part is tough. I'm allergic to dairy but DS isn't so he didn't have a lot of dairy prior to one, mainly because I never buy it. Maybe you could try giving him things with a similar consistency to the crackers to see how he does? DS never liked pasta but I know a lot of babies who did well with plain pasta (like pastini) and it helped that they could pick it up on their own. I might also try bites of soft fruit like pears or banana if he likes those things.
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@Adira: Sometimes yes, but I would wait at least 10 mins. But if I skipped it offering purees, it was ok cause she got a bottle before bed. Now since Xander isn't on a bottle before bed, I would offer puree. Just try and space it so he doesn't associate throwing solids on the floor = purees.
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@bushelandapeck: Xander LOVES banana in puree form and I've been giving him bananas, but it seems like if he DOES actually eat any, it's accidental, haha! He likes picking it up, putting it in his mouth, chewing, but then just spits it out. I'll have to try pears and pasta (I've mixed pastini in his food before and he doesn't seem to mind it, but never given it to him plain).
@Smurfette: haha, good point about spacing it! I've also just started getting his purees ready out of line of sight, because I noticed that if he saw me with them, he'd immediately want them and give up on the table food!
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We started table food at 12 months - but it was tiny, soft food. Tofu, cheese, soft potato, banana,, mushy pasta.
My son LOVES pouches, but wasn't into us spoon feeding, he wanted to pick food up so we started pretty early.
He's finally getting more teeth too - at 13 months he only had 2 bottoms. So chewing is getting better.
And early on I put a variety on his tray; peas, cheese, mushy veggie burger, he LOVES chicken sausage so we have been doing that for a while.... The variety let him choose, but he usually eats everything.
Mini pasta shells were another good start, soft and he can put them on his fingers, ha.
LO is 18 months now and eats mostly the same food we eat.
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I'm baffled by this, too - I have no idea how the transition is going to look in our house!
E will get involved with soft fruit, steamed veggies, soft potato, bread + cheese spread, Heinz baby biscuits - she even ate fish fingers (fish sticks) this weekend - but I'm not sure how much of it is actually going down (it gets chewed up and spat out mostly!). I currently do one puree meal and one finger foods meal, when I let her play with her food and then give her a fromage frais or some pureed fruit for pudding (dessert).
The big issue we have, though, is we eat after she goes to bed. Even at the weekends, our mealtimes never seem to coincide with hers and it's so much more convenient to grab a pouch of puree!
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Hahaha, LO just stole foods from our plates so he introduced himself to them
He is now completely on table foods and even eats meats (as in he ate steak this last two weekends). Other than that we just tried to slowly introduce new foods like offer them a couple of times before moving on to new foods. -
@Cherrybee: We have the same issue. We usually eat after Xander goes to bed, so he doesn't really have the opportunity to eat what we're eating. And even when we do eat at the same time, there's often multiple items on our plate that contain dairy or is questionable, so I can't let him try it! It's hard!
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Started table foods around 7-8 months and by 10 months he rarely ate purées. What have you tried? How is his grip?
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@Adira: I think it might be time for you to start doing dairy free for main meals. Once you do it for a few weeks, it becomes pretty easy (I know it seems really daunting at first--you can go back and read my freaking out post the week I found out my LO has MSPI...but now I've been dairy AND soy free for over 6 months).
This is what my 9.5 month old has been eating recently in the way of table foods:
-Elbow noodles with sauce. I usually get a low sodium store bought sauce, but then I add in my own vegetables (like sauteed zucchini and summer squash, pureed butternut squash, or broccoli, or spinach). I was SO scared to give her these at first, but she eats the whole noodle just fine. She doesn't like noodles plain--she needs the sauce. We also still have some veggie purees, so sometimes I make her pasta with a veggie puree mixed with a tablespoon of tomato sauce.
-she eats egg in all forms. If it's scrambled, I just make it into chunks big enough for her to pick up easily. This weekend I made a delicious dairy free frittata (It's SO easy) with 10 eggs, pancetta, spinach, mushroom, diced tomatos, and onion, and she LOVED it. Again, I just gave her big chunks and she went to town.
-She'll eat frozen bluberries as snacks.
-I'm planning on trying oatmeal fingers or some kind of oatmeal bar for breakfast soon
-I've made zucchini fries, which she loves http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/05/28/crispy-healthy-baked-zucchini-fries/
-And zucchini breakfast muffins (torn into chunks for her).
Honestly, I think you just have to make the switch. My LO is not a great eater and she doesn't eat a lot---but it takes practice for them to learn, so you just have to keep putting it on their tray until they get the hang of it. Some days, she eats more, sometimes she eats less--sometimes she doesn't eat at all. But she basically refuses all purees now, so we can't go back to that.
These have been our starter table foods.
She also loves the sausage off a Papa John's Pizza, which is my go-to delivery meal because it's totally dairy free if you order the pizza with regular sauce, original crust (not thin crust), no cheese, and with sausage. She'll nom on the crust and eat all the sausage off a peice of pizza.
Which reminds me--she also loves breakfast sausage links, cut into smaller pieces.
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@winniebee: Hmm... between me and daycare, I feel like he's tried a lot of different things, but the only thing he actually EATS is the Ritz Crackers (and that started just last week). He's had (the opportunity to eat) avocado, banana, blueberries, apples, strawberries, peaches, carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, puffs, cheerios, fruit loops, oyster crackers, ritz crackers, eggs, chicken, cake... I'm sure there are other items I'm forgetting at the moment.
@Anagram: Ugh, I know I know. Part of the problem (and reason we haven't started) is because often Xander won't take his afternoon nap at daycare, and then by the time we get home, I just want to feed him quickly so I can put him right to bed. I don't really have time to spend 30 minutes actually making a dinner for all of us because we get home and he's so cranky until I can finally feed him. I definitely need to try pasta though.
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@Adira: Yeah, I'm in the same position. I tend to make stuff ahead of time and then just warm it for LO. Pasta noodles can last a week in the fridge and you can just pull out 10-20 noodles at a time, pour on the sauce, and you are done.
I also tend to just make 2-3 meals a week and we eat them twice. So last night, I made a crock pot roast that we'll all be eating for dinner tonight and tomorrow (LO will eat small bits of meat, chunks of potato, and the cooked carrot sticks). Wednesday, I'm making a butternut squash curry that we'll eat Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, I'll probably just do Pasta or we'll order Papa Johns and I'll order one pizza with no cheese for me and LO.
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@Adira: R starts to melt down at night when she sees me in the kitchen. Despite a snack in the car to keep her happy and awake. So I don't have time to cook since I can't cook and hold her. So she eats what we eat the night before. Or she eats a lot of turkey meatballs that I can heat in the microwave (from the freezer) really fast. I just use the microwave to reheat. Tonight after she goes to sleep, I am working out, and then making dinner for myself and her's for tomorrow night.
Also do a lot of prep on Sunday's. I cut up fruit, roast sweet potatoes, etc Sunday nights so they are easier to grab during the week. -
@Anagram: Yeah, I'm not very good about making things in advance, but maybe what I should try to do is make sure I have left-overs from each meal and then I can feed them to Xander the next day.
I think part of our problem is also Xander has a texture sensitivity. It wasn't until JUST recently that he was okay eating chunkier purees. Before that, he'd always spit out the chunks and then refuse to continue eating whatever it was. And he's had issues with certain foods if they are sticky or slimy, he won't touch them.
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@Adira: And when cooking, just make what you normally do but take the dairy parts out. I used to make roast with cream of mushroom soup, but now I use low sodium beef broth. The recipe I have calls for onion soup mix (which has dairy), but I found a dairy-free onion dip mix from Trader Joe's and I use that instead.
Anything you cook with milk you can sub almond milk. I make pancakes a lot and haven't made them with dairy or butter in 6 months.
Once you make the switch, it'll get easier and easier.
Oh and THIS recipe is the most amazing thing I've made in ages--I doubled the recipe and we ate it for 3 days and it was fantastic! http://vegangela.com/2014/01/09/coconut-curry-lentil-soup/
Chocolate Covered Katie has a ton of vegan (so dairy free) desserts and sides that are great.
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@Adira: And when cooking, just make what you normally do but take the dairy parts out. I used to make roast with cream of mushroom soup, but now I use low sodium beef broth. The recipe I have calls for onion soup mix (which has dairy), but I found a dairy-free onion dip mix from Trader Joe's and I use that instead.
Anything you cook with milk you can sub almond milk. I make pancakes a lot and haven't made them with dairy or butter in 6 months.
Once you make the switch, it'll get easier and easier.
Oh and THIS recipe is the most amazing thing I've made in ages--I doubled the recipe and we ate it for 3 days and it was fantastic! http://vegangela.com/2014/01/09/coconut-curry-lentil-soup/
Chocolate Covered Katie has a ton of vegan (so dairy free) desserts and sides that are great.
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@Adira: My LO is the same way with chunky purees--she's never eaten one--just refuses. She also doesn't like sticky or slimy foods, so I try to give her "drier" foods (Like scrambled egg or the pasta noodles or zucchini fries) that are still easy to chew.
There's something about chunks on a spoon that are hard for babies to understand.
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