Lumpy Foods

Hi Shauna,

My 9.5mth old just got her 1st tooth but does pretty good at eating a lot of solid foods...as long as she can feed herself. However, she also hates and will not touch the 3rd foods? Since you said she will eat toast, maybe just skip right over them and offer her some of the Graduates...the meat sticks and pasta pick-ups are very convenient and soft. I also feed things like canned/frozen veggies, canned fuit, cheese, deli meat, mac-n-cheese. Good luck. S.

Your little one has probibly realized that her food tastes HORRIBLE! lol Salt and spices make food taste GOOD...
I would say its time to stop spending the $$ on baby food and start giving her table food that is cut up.
Spagetti, mac and cheese, diced up chicken, etc...
If your a spicy cooker (tacos etc) then only add a bit of spice pull babys portion out and add the rest of the spice.
This is where babys get fun! and need lots of baths.
Expect a mess so strip munchkin down to her bare belly (or a onesie you don't mind getting messy), lay down a sheet of plastic under the chair, and let her dig in. :-)

I had the same problem with my son last month (he was 11 months). He gagged on the 3rd foods. What ended up working was this...

I started with oatmeal cooked til it looks like the kind served in restaraunts and mixed it with his jarred baby fruits. I added less and less fruit each time.

Next I gave him homemade split pea soup.

Then, I started giving him lumpy foods along with pureed foods. For example, I gave him finely chopped chicken and diced cooked carrots along with pureed peas (the baby food in a jar). I would give him a bite of carrots, then meat, then peas. The peas helped the meat to go down since it tended to get stuck in his mouth as he gummed/chewed it.

It has only been a month, and now he eats what we eat. Last night he had finely chopped meatloaf, mashed potatoes (a little runnier than ours) and whole cooked peas.

I found the wetter meats were easier on him. Deli turkey and chopped ham were good, for instance, because they slide in the mouth easier, not getting stuck.

Some other suggestions...

canned carrots and green beans (cut up)
cooked peas
canned peaches (cut up)
banana pieces
beef (ground or steak like) that has been cooked in soups
rotisserie style chicken is very "wet" and easy to swallow
beans (black, red, northern)
fresh or thawed SMALL blueberries
rice, spaghetti noodles

Good Luck. He'll be ready for that birthday cake soon!

Try bologna. My daughter loved it at that age. She also loves Mac & cheese.

mine hated stage three so i went to toddler food or right to table food they love it real food freal flavor just rember no tube shape foods and your baby will eat it up

Some babies aren't good lump-eaters. I usually let me kids just eat table food that I might mash if necessary, but introduced these carefully and slowly. Other than applesauce or hot cereal, I avoided having to spoonfeed babies, but usually let them feed themselves with a little help here and there. It was a mess but they had fun and we got some cute photos! I always had a lot of washcloths in the laundry from cleaning them up! Our one grandson choked on the tiniest imaginable lumps though, so my daughter had to be sure things were really smooth, but she still mainly used tablefoods. She was breastfeeding, though, so didn't worry so much about nutrition. He's 16 & driving now and, yes, he eats lumps OK!

We have to kids, now 4 and 2. I made most of their baby food but I did try the higher levels when they got to that point. Neither of our kids could eat them. They are tricky because they're smooth like the regular baby food with a sudden chunk in it. I found just giving regular food cut up was much better and easier for our kids.

My youngest son would never eat the stage 3. I have two who are older and he kept stealing off their plates and was fine, so I would say just skip the stage 3. Mine just didn't care for that texture. Start with the softer table foods and go from there. You can keep with some stage 2 for now as well, especially with only 2 teeth. Don't stress about it. We all have things we don't like to eat and sometimes that's because of the texture. I mean, have you ever tried the stage 3? Not the most pleasant feeling in the mouth...

No worries. Just keep giving her what she WILL eat. Let her gum it to death. She'll get it.

I wouldn't worry about it. Wait a few weeks and then try again. There's no "rule" as to these things. Just let her decide when she's ready for the next stage. When you're used to eating all soft/liquidy foods, it must be weird to all of a sudden have this lumpy stuff in your mouth!

Let it go!
Just let her develop at her own rate. Why are you going nuts about it? She's only 11 mos. so you can't have expectations of an older human being for her.

my daughter was weird about textures. she didn't want to eat 3rd foods, but was LATE to get teeth, so she couldn't really chew stuff up...i bought those tiny noodles, like acini de pepe, and then added them to the third foods. she would eat it if it wasn't saucy with a few chunks, but a more consistent texture. she also liked cottage cheese. i gave her the 2nd foods for a long time, much longer than a lot of people do. they are still good for your baby, if she will eat them. if she will eat pieces of food, try scrambled eggs. they are easy to chew and have calories and protein.