My daughter will be 9mo old next week and she is currently eating puree baby food 3 times a day. Breakfast: yogurt, Lunch: peaches, a meat, a vegie, Dinner: vegie, fruit, pasta chicken mix. All of this food is puree with no chunks. So how do I start to transition her into eating real food? What do you start with and how do you do it? She does not have any teeth yet. She has started eating the Gerber "puffs" over the last two weeks...they melt in your mouth but do require some mashing of the gums. I want to be on track to wean her as close to 12mo as possible. Do I have to wait for teeth to start feeding her chunkier food?
Start with soft-solid foods that can be mushed by her little gums - like bananas. Cut them up into little bites so she can't choke on them.
I am a firm believer in no baby foods. They have to go to table food evenually. The foods I get for baby is meat and cereal. When I puree I add cereal and milk to make it the consistancy. Cooked veggies blended in a nut chopper or food processor work great. My daughter did not have any teeth until she was 15 mos old and I have a preemie in my day care about that same age started getting teeth. My daughter even gummed steak so they are able to do that. There gums are sharp. As time goes on just make it less and less pureed. I only fed this baby for two or three weeks and she went right into reg food. She is one who eats everything. Still give them formula until they are a yr old then it is whole milk til 2. Mashed potatos, Sweet Potatoe and so forth to get used to the different texture. I also had a baby preemie that hoarded food in his mouth and would not swallow and I had to make baby food forever. He is now 4 and we still have to get after him not to stuff so much in his mouth. Good Luck. Baby foods are an expense we just can do without in this economy. Remember fresh foods first, frozen second and canned last. G. W
Suz T's recs are all good. :)
Your baby doesn't need teeth to "chew," just to bite into small bites, which you can do for her with a knife and fork instead. They can gum things pretty well, it's just that at this stage, they are just starting to get the hang of it.
So, you can start offering things like those freeze dried apples or bananas (in the baby food section). You can also start applesauce (plain, no-sugar-added) and very small pieces of toasted bread, like the size of the tip of your finger, or smaller (don't give untoasted bread, because it will ball up into a gummy ball and that is bad). Very small bites of soft foods, like overcooked pasta, etc. Small pieces of soft/cooked fruit (banana, avocado, cooked apple diced very finely, etc.)
Some babies take to the next textures, and others will spit out the lumps at first, but just keep trying--it's all about the new experience and learning how to chew/gum up the lumps.
soft food. oatmeal, bananas, peaches lightly mashed, potatoes. food that has more substance than puree but doesn't require chewing.
but don't rush her! if you're pureeing your own baby food, just puree it slightly less when her birthday gets closer.
khairete
S.
Just puree it less. Make it slightly chunkier. That's all they do with the Gerber baby foods. So for example, they cook carrots and level 1 is purees into an almost liquid form, by long blending and maybe adding a little water. Level 2 is less time blended and maybe no added water. Level 3 is even less blended (chunks visible).
At 9 mos, even without teeth your daughter should be fine eating cooked carrots. Now I'm not suggesting you just give them to her since she clearly has just started solids with the puffs. But I am saying that she doesn't need teeth to chew "solid" foods like cooked carrots.
Our ped has said that teeth are really only needed to break down true solids like meats and firm vegetables (like uncooked carrots, apples, etc.). Their gums are just as strong as teeth for mashing and chewing food. The teeth are primarily used for shredding the food into more manageable pieces to swallow.
I have a 7, 5 and 1 yr old who is still BF too. So feel free to msg me with any questions.
I don't think so. I used to chop of our dinners in a food processor for my 9 month old when my first born weaned himself from BFing. He did great. Good luck to you!
crakers, bannas are a good start. My babies were pretty much completly on table food by 9 or 10 months. They never really liked baby food. their gums are suprisingly strong. you can progress to cheese, sandwhich meat, very cut up hotdogs and grapes, bread, green beans ect. My brother would give his 10 month old chicken and he would eat it fine!
Just start offering her small pieces of soft foods and chunkier purees (stage 3 foods help). My pedi told me frozen veggies are great for this stage, basically steam/cook them to death (like add at least another 2 minutes to the cooking time you'd normally use for yourself) yeah I know yuck to us but great for learning how to mash those jaws together. It also helps them to learn their pincher grasp and how to get food from table to mouth.
