Helping 10-Month Old to Get past the Pureed Food Stage

I had this problem with my 14 month old. He seemed to do that well until about a month and a half ago. I just kept trying and eventually one morning he woke up and would not let me feed him he only wanted to feed himself. Be patient with her, just keep trying, she will come around.

Hi
Try dry Cheerios and Gerber Puffs. They disolve easy and are great for self feeding. Try all the soft foods first: banana, advocado, etc
Good luck

Hi,

My daughter is almost 11 months and just started accepting chunkier foods. When I switched from stage 2 to stage 3 foods, I was terrified that the foods went from 100% pureed to chunky. I offered them to her to see how she would do and she instantly gagged. I could handle chunky, but when there were 10 little pasta stars in one spoonful, I panicked. Somewhere along the line, I missed the introduction to chewing chunkier foods. I decided to slow it down and I steered clear of any stage 3 foods that said chunky on them. Instead I offered her the thicker pureed food and started introducing textured foods one at a time. We started with the little cereal puffs, bread, cheese, mash potatoes, macaroni wheels, and teething biscuits. Munchkin makes this fresh food feeder that is fantastic. I've been giving her carrots, bananas, and etc in it. It allows her to hold it, while getting use to different tastes and textures. About a week ago I reintroduced the same stage 3 foods that she had been gagging on and wouldn't you know, she ate them like a pro. Hang in there. As a first time mom, I totally understand :)

Hi-
I am a feeding therapist and can offer you some suggestions. Most children do not do well with the mixed texture, such as stage 3 baby foods (so we often skip this texture until they are much older). After the the puree stage it is good to start adding (small) cubed soft foods such as cooked veggies, fruits, cheese, pasta and small pieces of meat. It will take a little while for her to adjust so just reward her for every effort, even if she spits them out. Even putting the foods on her tray and letting her play with them is progress. Some kids start by just touching the food for a while before it goes in their mouth.
Hope that helps...

Try frozen peas.....that helps with teething as well and getting your 10 month old to try something good for them.
Let me know if it works.
CB

Hi, I have an almost 8month old and she's really into eating but even too young for cheerios I think. I just got one of those little hand held mesh things to put food in and they teeth on it to get the food out (basically puree it as they suck) she likes it...I put fruit in it mostly. Tonight I had baked sweet potato I mashed with a fork and put on her tray and let her go at it and she ate it all. I will do that with banannas and well cooked rice too. I've also put down thawed frozen organic spinach that I chop and she loves shoveling it into her mouth. You could even cook apples or pears and mash it and put it in front of her. It's messy but it will occupy her and she'll love it. I don't think you should push her to swallow bigger things as her throat may be small. Chopping stuff like cooked potatoe, bananna, overcooked carrots really small may be a start. I even steamed corn tortilla pieces with my older son and also gave him little chunks of chevre goat cheese. good luck and try not to worry about the mess!

Hi M S It sounds like she has a texture issue, and I think the reason is, that youwent from strained babyfood to the more chunkie baby food, but skipped the the JR, Food, usually it's strained, then JR foods, then toddler meals, so just keep working with her, the more chunke food you are giving her, try and cut it up a litle smaller and let her get used to the texture. I have a 19 year old daughter that doesn't eat certain things because of the texture. J. L.

I suggest waiting a little longer. You should never force a child to eat something that they can not handle. You are doing great by slowly introducing her to new foods and new consistencies, but take your time with the chunky foods, because if one time she eats it ok there could be another time where she totally renigs and gags or chokes. Hope this helps!!!

relax. try letting her hold an apple slice or something she likes the taste of. she's still little. breathe. xo m

Hi, does she have teeth? I would say try and wait a little while longer, as long as she is eating everything but pureed, maybe she just isnt ready. I think around 1 year maybe try again, she'll get it! How about the jars of baby food vegetables, which are really soft?

M.

You may have tried already but we just gave my son some avocado slices or bananas. They are sort of in the middle. Usually he squished them up in his hands and licked his hands off. Then he just started eating the slices! Maybe ripe melon, pears, etc....and then get gradually more dense in consistency.

Well cooked brown rice, squash, sweet potatos, etc...

I didn't chop them up but let him deal with the bigger slices. Kept him interested longer.

Even if your child doesn't eat the stuff she'll taste it and play with it so you have time to eat your meal...Win/win!!!

Don't worry, by the way....she will eat all the foods soon. There's no real reason to worry about when. Thanks for caring and being a good mom.

Love,
Deb

I had the same problem with my son when he was about the same age...I thought it was so strange that he would eat little crackers and cheerios but gag and actually throw up the chunky baby food. I asked my doctor and he said just to stop giving him baby food altogether. If she has teeth, she can really be eating regular food as long as the pieces are small enough. I thought he was way too young, but I started giving him small pieces of turkey and even things like chicken, cooked carrots, green beans...and he LOVED IT!! I think the chunky baby food is just too weird for them....It's like if all of a sudden his formula had chunks in it....there is an easier distinction between actual liquid and solid food ("real" food) so they know that they have to start to chew it. I think the chunky baby food they try to swallow like a liquid or a smooth baby food and that's when they gag! Sorry if that response is long and rambling...but I hope it makes sense!!

I have to agree with the other Moms. Be patient. Some babies just take more time then others. I would continue pureeing babies food until it's nice and smooth until you think she's ready for slightly chunkier food. -www.weelicious.com

Hello there! I have to agree also with the other parents on just letting your daughter take her time. My son is now 15 months and still will not eat the gerber graduates or any kind of chunky food. He does do real good on the mach potatoes with spring vegtables or brocolli in the gerber graduates. He also loves scrambled eggs, vienna sausages and mini pancakes. So maybe some kids just skip the graduates level but as long as they are happy and not losing weight I would not be alarmed. My son is 15 months and weighs a good 23 lbs. Good luck and keep us posted!!

Your daughter sounds just like my son! It's so frustrating, isn't it? I totally feel for you and want to offer lots of encouragement. I don't have a huge amount of advice. Someone suggested to me to coat soft fruits and veggies like bananas and avocados and sweet potatoes with rice cereal so that it doesn't stick to your baby's fingers (never worked for me). You can try one of those mesh bags, just make sure you wash it extremely well between uses (also never worked for me). I'd say to keep offering little bits of food separately and eventually something will click. That's the experience I had. I just kept sticking little diced up bits of food in his mouth, and he'd just swish it around then spit it out until suddenly one day, something in his mouth and brain woke up.

My son is 1 year and 1 week old now. He was never a great eater and even went on a food strike for 3 weeks once. Up until 3 weeks ago, he would only eat smooth purees and actually preferred jarred food over mine. I think I just couldn't get it smooth enough for him. He hated any texture except for Cheerios. Only about 6 weeks ago, he started eating bits of string cheese (I think he liked the salty taste). It was so frustrating when all of my friends' babies were eating solids and homemade foods. So, I was stuck feeding him "stage 2" foods. "Stage 3" foods that had chunks of fruit/veggies/pasta/rice amongst the thick purees made him gag and even vomit (my husband said it was like watching "The Omen").

Then, 3 weeks ago, we were on vacation and he suddenly HAD to try whatever we were eating....scrambled eggs, toast, waffles, french toast, hash browns (we ate at Denny's and diners a lot for breakfast), cheese, fresh bread, Kashi TLC crackers, corn on the cob (I worried that he'd gag on a whole corn kernel in public, so I'd squish out the inside and feed him--now he'll eat frozen mixed veggies at home and absolutely loves whole corn kernels and whole peas!), beef, roast chicken, fish (he loved the SPICY fish tacos I had for lunch once), tofu, and (horrors!) hamburgers and french fries. Now, he'll barely eat his baby food that I still give him to make sure he's getting a variety of fruits and veggies (he still spits out any soft fruits or veggies). And he hates for me to feed him; he has to do it himself, so I have to get his baby food down him fast! The only weird thing is that everything has to be diced up for him. He won't bite off a piece of food but stuffs the whole piece in his mouth. Oh well, at least he's eating.

So, I'm going to hope and pray for you that it will just happen one day. She sounds like a good eater otherwise. And you sound like a wonderfully loving and patient mom!

Try just giving her foods at their natural consistencies, not the purees with chunks. Give her tiny cut up pieces of various foods. If you only give her a little bit at a time, she won't choke, she may spit it out, but that is OK. And keep trying the same foods over and over. She might just need to get used to them. She eats cheerios because she knows how they feel in her mouth. When she eats a puree, she is looking for something that does not require chewing, so if there is a chunk, she gets confused. Keep trying, she is still pretty young!

Both of my kids didn't want chunks of anything in their puree food. However, they would eat them separately. I'd put some puree food on their plate and some separate chunks and they did fine as long as they weren't mixed together. To this day, my 3 year old cannot stand to bite into a piece of ground beef in his tomato sauce. I have to give him the meat separately. My daughter outgrew it.

My daughter never liked "junior" foods. Like yours she would gag or just refuse them. I found she would eat cereals like Cream of Wheat, or oatmeal. Then I moved to scramble eggs. By then I started introducing other soft but solid foods like macaroni/cheese. I would give her a tiny bit of grated apple or mashed peaches for fruit. Eventually she took off and would eat anything. At this point I tried giving her the "junior" foods again....she gagged. I think she did not like the taste. Good luck. They kids will not let themselves starve.