Yeah, I know all my questions fall under the "feeding baby" category!

I was just wondering when most people transition their baby from eating mostly baby food to eating mostly "people" food? Will is 10 1/2 months old and still eats mostly baby food and I feel like maybe we are a little behind on this.

Will will eat almost anything in baby food format (he loves every veg and fruit there is), but I'm having a little trouble getting him to eat much table food. He'll eat puffs, cheerios, crackers, teething biscuits, etc... but, I'd like to get him to eat more real solid food, not just the snaky stuff. He's ate bits of avocado a few times. He's also ate green beans several time recently. Those are his favorite thing. He scarfs them down and will even cry for more when he eats everything on his tray, it's like he thinks they are candy or something. He also will eat bread and pasta (mostly mac & cheese) and just recently started to eat little bits of chicken. But, I can't get him to eat anything else. With several things I've tried, he'll keep picking it up and putting it in his mouth, like he likes the taste of it, but he just lets it sit in there (like he's a little chipmunk) and won't chew or swallow it. After a while I have to pry his mouth open and rake the food out. Can anyone suggest any vegetables that might be easy for him to pick up and eat tender bits of? I've tried carrots and broccoli, but they just sit in his mouth.

When can just let him eat what ever we are eating? I think a lot of what we eat wouldn't be good for a baby. We don't eat a lot of plain food. I like stuff that's got a lot of seasoning and spicy food. And peppers and onions. Also, besides the spicy stuff I'm not sure if all the additives and other ingredients in some of the stuff we eat sometimes.

Thanks!!

By the way, Will has 6 teeth that are in and his 7th and 8th tooth just broke through a couple of days ago... if amount of teeth has anything to do with the foods y'all think he might be able to eat.

I think it really depends on the child, and there isn't a right or wrong answer.

To me it sounds like Will is right about where he should be.

Keep in mind, too, that up until 1 year of age, the majority of their nutrition should be breastmilk or formula, and table foods are just for fun and practice.

That said, my two girls varied HUGELY.

Anabelle loved baby food. LOVED it. And loved me feeding it to her - was not real big into gaining independence. She was probably eating the same table foods as Will at that age - with the addition of yogurt and cheese - and she kept eating jarred food even after she was 1. I had no problems with it because at least I knew she was getting healthy stuff.

I'd say she was 100% off of baby food by about 18 months.

Amelia has been completely different. From about 7 months on, she wanted NOTHING to do with baby food. Wanted only what we were eating. She has been off jarred food since about 9 months old. She eats whatever we eat, cut smaller.

I will say, though, NOT to worry at ALL (IMO) about seasonings, spices, etc. My personal opinion is that we do a disservice to our kids if we bland down their food. I'm not talking about pouring on the salt, but just serve it to them however you normally season it. I think it helps develop their pallete and lessons the chance of them turning into picky eaters.

At 18 months, Amelia will eat spicy hot salsa at a mexican restaurant. LOL.

Jack is almost 20 months old and I still feed him baby food. That's because there are certain veggies he likes better pureed. And when I make his oatmeal in the morning I mix in a jar of baby fruit for variety (he loves ALL real fruit but I don't buy things like apricots, KWIM?). So our pantry still has baby food in it. He just won't eat the dinners or anything anymore. I just buy strictly fruits and veggies.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Just keep trying to introduce him to things. And keep baby food as back up. At his age I was steaming lima beans for Jack. He loved peas. And he'd eat avocados. I bought him those meat sticks in the baby food jars. They're kinda nasty looking. LOL. But it got him used to eating "real" food, I think. Now he won't touch the things. LOL. Um...he ate mashed potato and oh sweet potato has always been a huge hit. Throw one in the microwave and cut it up and give it to Will. I bet he'd love it!
But he doesn't seem behind at all.
And LOL about the green beans being like candy. I bet you hope he keeps that up! Jack loves his green beans too. But they have to be soggy enough for him. He's picky sometimes about consistency. These babies of ours....
HTH

Oh, and moozle, I always give jack his veggies bare. I never put seasoning or butter or salt on them. I guess I'm just afraid to overload him with stuff like that and he doesn't seem to mind. But I wonder if he won't like any seasonings when we start giving them to him that way...hmmmmm

quote:

moozle, I always give jack his veggies bare. I never put seasoning or butter or salt on them. I guess I'm just afraid to overload him with stuff like that and he doesn't seem to mind. But I wonder if he won't like any seasonings when we start giving them to him that way...hmmmmm

Kristi - I don't add salt to the girls' food either, but I do try to make sure that if I would normally have seasoning on something, theres has it too. Or if something is somewhat spicy, I'll see if they like it. Etc. With steaks/chicken - they get the same marinades on theirs as we do.

There is nothing wrong with bland, I just have too many friends with kids that are 5, 6, and older, and their kids have to be made separate dinners b/c they don't like anything on their food.

moozle, I see what you mean. I just do that with veggies (keep em bland). And my mom is always like, Why don't you give that boy a little butter or something on it? LOL.
His meat, however, is exactly as we eat it. In fact, I cut him off portions of mine so he eats it with the same marinade, etc.

Ooooops, sorry SarahMay! We're hijacking your thread!

I know how you feel! Lily isn't eating hardly any solid food and she started on baby foods late. She will now eat cheerios, puffs, and things like that. Recently she has decided that she wants to feed herself and won't let me feed her anything half of the time but the problem with probably about 99% of it ends up inthe floor instead of her stomach. Also, I don't think some of the things we eat wood be good or healthy for her so I'm concerned about that as well.

Sarah- When Olivia was about 11 months old she started refusing to let me feed her baby food so we introduced soft finger foods. She loved gerbers pasta pick ups or graduate meals, cut up cooked veggies and fruit, breads, etc.. She slowly advnaced to harder foods over a few months and now she eats basically what we have. It sounds like Will is exactly where he should be for his age.
I also did what Moozle said about seasoning. I think it has helped her develop different taste alot. Today we went out for mexican and ppl were just amazed that she was eating off our plates vs. the kids menu. Now that she is eating table foods I have to work alot harder at buying healthy foods and preparing healthy meals, but it is good for all of us so it is worth it.

Thanks everyone!

Kristi- That's Ok, hijack away... it's not like I haven't ever done that! I'll have to try peas and lima beans. I think Will would like peas. He likes them pureed. He's never tried lima beans, though. Those meat sticks remind me of vienna sausages....ewww!

Moozle- I totally agree with you about doing a disservice by just giving kids bland food. I'm not too concerned about stuff like garlic or oregano, but I'm not really sure about stuff like chili powder, red pepper, etc. I mean , if I made something like fajitas, chili, etc for DH and I would it be Ok to give to some to Will? I think it would probably upset his stomach.

Mama2Princesa- You sound like you probably have the same worries as I do!

LivisMom- I think when Will is eating everything we do it will motivate us to eat healthier, too.


I found this info. I thought it might help other people here.
uncommon & exotic foods
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyfoodexotics.htm

spices
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipspices.htm

Oh, I forgot to add-
Will had sautéed squash and zucchini this weekend and he loved it almost as much as green beans!

Sarah - Amelia eats Chili (with the regular seasoning packet) and tacos (also with taco seasoning). So far, knock on wood, it doesn't seem to upset her tummy at all.

With that, though, we do buy the mild or regular seasoning, instead of the hot stuff we'd normally get. THAT might upset their little tummies!

I think that sounds pretty normal. Our 1st 2 started table foods after their 1st bday.
Alyssa just now has 6 teeth, she is 13.5 mts, so if she went to completly table food about a 3 weeks ago. Before her 1at bday, when we were having a soft serve vege, I would let her have some.
with the boys I did the whole plain foods thing and they are picky.
also sometime between now and 15 mts, they start not wanting the veges and you'll think its cause they don't like them, so you want push it. Watch, just let them fuss for a few mintues and when they see they aren't getting the other stuff, they'll eat the veges. It took us 3 kids to figure this out! lol