"Real" Food Question

sence my daughter was 6 months old I always gave her some of my dinner, I'd just break it up in non-chokable pieces. She loved eating the stuff mommy and daddy eat, I've hardly had any problem with any of the food and her eating it too.

Book suggestion:

Super Baby Food

Excellent book on preparing and introducing foods at different ages and stage.

fruit coctail has little tiny pear and peaches cubes, and those would be ok. they mush up. also cheerios, long pretzel sticks she can suck on, the long thick sticks that she can slobber on and get wet and mushy. No hotdogs or that type stuff. Choking hazard. nothing hard, or anything that won't disolve when put to the baby slobber test. LOL.

She can have most anything that you eat except for the typical (fish, eggs, peanut butter, honey...) An early years family favorite here is Potato carrot caserol

1lb ground beef browned
1/2 onion sauted
3-4 potatos pealed and cut into small pieces.
4-5 carrots chopped up
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 of the can of water.
Salt pepper to taste

Throw it in a casserole dish and cook 350 degrees for 1-1.5 hours till tender.

You can mash this up and put a little chicken broth or water to make the right consistency as she grows. I usually make a large or double batch and freeze some for later.

You can also do a similar dish in the crockpot but with chicken

4-5 potoatoes cubed, 1 bag baby carrots, 2-3 chicken breasts, 1 can chicken broth, 1 onion cut up. Place all this in crockpot season with salt pepper and minced garlic to taste we do quit a bit of the garlic. And slow cook for 6-8 hours till tender. Then mash to right consistency. This one is great for 1 year plus good finger food!

Also we make homemade chicken noodle soup and then mash up and mix with a little baby cereal to make the right consistency. Same with beef stew just mash it up! Apple sauce out of the jar is pretty much the same as the infant type. mashed bananas gram crackers...just some ideas so much can be done!

Congrats on your little one!

Ask your pediatrician for a "forbidden foods" list and feed her everything that you eat that isn't on the list. Vegetables like greenbeans, peas, and carrots are great -- you don't need to butter them before giving them to your baby. Any tenders meats, pastas and other things that you eat are also great for baby.

I hated paying for the baby foods (but I did because I didn't have time to make my own) and once my youngest got to "finger foods" I just bought the low sodium canned vegetables (peas and green beans) and just gave them to her cold out of the can. Works great -- costs a lot less.

You should try the Super babyfood book. It gives a brief outline at every month the foods you can introduce. It shows you how to make your own babyfood-which is so easy and a big money saver. I just froze a week supply in ice cube trays. It took me at the most 1 hour every week. You'll be amazed at how much water is in babyfood and how bland the store bought foods are compared to your own. She has a huge list of finger foods. I don't have time to sit and read--this isn't one of those books- you can find what you need quickly. It's about $20 but I'm sure you could probably find it used on Amazon. I feel so stronly about it that I have been giving it as a gift at baby showers. The new mother's all seem to love it.

Don't waste your money on those Gerber toddler prepackaged foods. It's just trial and error with anything cut up small and reasonably soft.

She can have anything that you can easily mash between two fingers. ...But not honey.

Hi,

When my first daughter started with solids, we started with the gerber packages of baby food. Once she got to where she was eating stage 1 foods well, I just switched over to "real" food. "Real" food being, small pieces of bananas, orange wedges,soft pieces of carrots, anything that she could grab a hold of and put in her mouth. Just don't leave her alone with it, watch for signs of choking, and take it slow. Let your baby be your guide. I'm just now starting solids with my newest baby, who is almost 4 months old. We do 1 meal with baby food a day but since she is doing so well I'm going to start transitioning to the "real" food here in the next few weeks and see how she does. I guess my best advice is start small and slow, let your baby guide you.

Hi T. -

Parents know that getting kids to eat right is not always easy. Any providing a beneficial alternative to sweets full of refined sugars and other “junk” foods can be especially difficult.

If you are interested in giving her food form suppliments, I give my kids one with ten different dehydrated fruit and vegetable powders, including pomegranate juice, which is recognized as an excellent antioxidant.

Best of all, they’ll love the taste!

Get her started on healthy eating - cottage cheese, Nancy's yogurt, go the the natural secection of Fred Meyers and New Seasons. - W.

T.,

My daughter was 11 months old before she got her first tooth. We had to get creative with her too. She reacted to most of the gerber fruits, which made things harder. She's now 18 months and has 7 teeth.

Here's a partial list of what we did:

Gerber puffs, cheerios, club crackers, ritz crackers, goldfish, diced fruit, instant oatmeal (cooled), yogurt, string cheese, cheese, toast, rice, anything she could gum to death or was soft

There's more, I know there's more, but I'm not able to remember right now. I remember reading in Jean Aeul's Clan of The Cave Bear books that babies can eat anything that adults eat, it just has to be smaller and softer.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

Hi T.,
Here are a couple of websites that I love for advice on feeding babies. In the beginning you should try to serve your baby each separate food so that you can be on the look out for allergies. Once you've done that I have found that just pureeing adult food or chopping food very fine is better than any baby food on the market.

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/infant/startingsolids.html

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

If you have a food processor you can puree whatever you have for her - no need to purchase jars or cook extra baby recipes.
If she is not used to solids yet start by pureeing only one veggie (out of what you have) at a time with some water and a little bit good vegetable oil (like extra virgin olive oil). Common favorites are carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, peas and green beans.

Most people wait to introduce more complex proteins like eggs,dairy,red meat, beans or cabbage type veggies. Ask you pedi what he suggests.

At now 11 months my daughter eats everything but beans, I just trow a bit of everything we eat in the blender we are ready to go. If what I cook is rather salty or spicy, I just trow a handful of the ingredients i use for our meal into an extra pot for her minus the salt.
I make bigger portions and freeze them in ice cube trays for quick meals later.

Introduce new foods one at a time to see if there are any negative reactions. You can also make your own cereal typle meals for example by pureeing well cooked oatmeal with applesauce.

As for fingerfoods, anything that can be cooked soft enough to be easily mashed between your fingers. Cut it in small slices or strips.
I would wait with more advanced fingerfoods like cooked veggies, meat or pasta until she has mastered cheerios and chunkier spoonfed food without choking.
You dont have to buy special baby fingerfoods, the regular old cheerios work just fine. Just don't buy the flavored kind, they are covered in a sugary glaze, so they don't dissolve in baby's mouth as easily.

Even if money is tight do your best to offer her meals made from fresh fruits and vegetable. If that is not possible frozen is preferred to can prepared. You can load up on fresh fruit and veggies now that they are in season and freeze or can them yourself.
It's fun and very rewarding when you see her gobble up the food you prepared for her!

My granddaughter liked steamed carrots at that age. Cheerios are a good one (one of the few cereals that aren't sweetened, are good for us at any age, and don't seem to choke babies). If you start kids on it early and never add sugar, it will always be good for them.

Bananas. Steamed apple slices (since she can't chew yet). And if you buy one of those little mesh fruit and veggie holders for babies, you can try her on things like fresh fruits and veggies that could otherwise choke her. Just be careful not to start throwing too many new things at her.

As far as small pasta ... well, that's up to you. The sooner you give her messy foods, the longer you'll be cleaning them off the floor. I chose mac and cheese. If it's age appropriate in baby food form, then you can add it in grown-up form as long as it is small enough, and soft enough.

Other than that, just don't give her things that you wouldn't give her in baby food form. No peanut butter or honey sandwiches, if I remember correctly. Some things just aren't good for her digestion, yet. Of course, be careful of crackers, chips, popcorn or anything that isn't a specific babyfood that could choke her.

But there are many many things that you can introduce to her (a little at a time, in order to still watch for things that she might be allergic to).

You probably already know most of these, but if not: Cheerios, KIX, little pieces of bread or tortilla, little pieces of cheese, little pieces of fruit.... Parent's Choice (WalMart brand) makes a cheaper version of what Gerber makes, the freeze-dried fruit.. my son really likes those. They also have the puff thingys, but to me, those are like the infant version of potato chips- just my opinion. Also, you can steam or boil, whatever it takes to make it soft, vegetables and give in small pieces. Rice is also good...... Just some random ideas!

I would try giving her things like bananas and avocados, I've also found that little ones LOVE tofu wierd I know but they seem to really like it just plain right out of the fridge and it's soft enough they don't have to chew it too much. Another thing you could try is the frozen pancakes (these also work great for teething). I hope this helps, good luck!

My daughter is also 8 months old and also only has her bottom two teeth. She absolutely refuses to eat ANY sort of processed baby food, which is much healthier for her anyway. I started by steaming things and mashing them, or mashing soft foods, like peaches, but now she wants them cut into bites that she can feed herself. Here are some things that she enjoys. Avocado, steamed carrots, thawed peas, sweet potatoes, peaches, nectarines, plums, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantelope, bananas, Cheerios, macaroni and cheese, penne or rotini pasta with tomato sauce, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, scrambled eggs, french toast, waffles, applesauce w/oatmeal, and home-made carrot/zucchini bread. Good luck.

I would wait until a child has molars before giving them meat. Before then their stomach cannot break down the complex proteins in meat. When the molars come in (around a year), the brain sends a signal to the stomach to start producing a certain type of acid that can break down the proteins so digesting meat is possible. It goes with the idea that the back teeth are for grinding meat down so it can get down the throat too. Anyway, just be aware of that! No hurry to get a baby to eat meat. Their body doesn't need it yet!

if you are no longer worried about allergies (meaning you have tried a good variety of foods), she can eat nearly everything...Stay away from honey (unless baked into a treat), shellfish, cow's milk (although it is probably okay for her if it is in cheese or yogurt...otherwise, she can eat soy), peanut butter, egg WHITES and strawberries. Otherwise, let her experiment! My son (who is almost 3) has never had meat because I don't eat it...but you probably can give it, just make sure it is well cooked, small and soft... We gave our son tofu cut up into cubes (Straight from the package...super easy), you can do pasta (I would stay away from canned products...very messy!) - they make small pasta shapes...good size for kids, and again easy. Yogurt (soy or whole milk), cheese...most fruits are fine (other than things in the strawberry family - kiwi is another)...have fun!!!

Hi there!
I think she would be okay with pasta that is in small pieces. I would stay away from the "harder" meats, and maybe try really small pieces of ground beef in some sauce, but make sure she the pieces are really small. Yogurt would be good, that has protein in it too as long as she isn't sensitive to dairy. bananas, applesauce and You could also try really watery/runny oatmeal with no chunks, she might like that too. Otherwise, you should contact her pediatrican and ask for advice too.

spaghetti-o's and ramen and chicken noodle stars are loaded with sodium which is not good for your little one. Their bodies are not able to digest it properly. Just cover the basics when feeding your little one. Think about the food pyramid. Fruits, veggies, try frozen ones too, my little guy loves frozen corn and peas. Whole grains, brown rice, pasta, make your own sauce with 2 tbs butter, 2 tbs flour 2 cups milk (a roux) then add a little cheese, it's a healthier cheap easy mac, try the frozen tortellinis and raviolis with a little tomato sauce, you can throw this in a blender or puree chopper or just mash it with a fork. www.wholesomebabyfood.com has menu ideas (it is a site to make your own but it has food suggestions for each age) the toddler puffs are easy, I don't think very nutritional but they keep them busy and teach them the skills to eat. You can buy those mesh bags that you put food inside and fill it with a chunk of banana or cooked carrot or melon. Avocados are easy when they are on sale. canned pumpkin, I don't know if you are suppossed to do yougurt yet my doc says not until 1 year but I just saw that gerber makes a yogurt puff thing, haven't looked for it in the store yet it was just in a magazine I read. shred chicken and mix with rice, I don't know those are all the ideas I have for now, I'm sure you'll get plenty more, good luck!

My daughter loved green peas, chopped up carrots, and cherrios at that age. I wouldn't feed your daughter meat at this age. Don't be afraid to give her breakfast food at dinner or lunch. Introduce one food at a time. Don't add salt or spices, butter, etc. If more goes on the floor or on the face, that's okay. My daughter had two spoons. One for my granddaughter to feed herself and one for her to feed my granddaughter.

Hi, I am mom to 5 and from experience- your baby can eat just about anything that the rest of the family eats. My children refused to eat baby food and if you taste it you will see why. I bout a small food processor at walmart for about 10.00 and whatever we were eating I put in the processor and made for them. Sometimes you need to add a little liquid,
I am one of the old school moms as I had my first 23 yrs ago.

My youngest now 2 ate mashed pot- scram eggs, cream of wheat, oatmeal, mashed fruits, mashed vegs- basically anything she liked the taste of.
Now days the are telling new moms not even to feed them solids til the are a yr old. Not to give them eggs/ peanutbutter and many other things due to allergies. The only prob I ever had was my now 14 yr old had a rash after eating strawberries- it went away on its own and never happened again.

I always just started off my girls with soft foods from my plate. I let them play with it and some would end up in their mouth and some would end up on the floor. Neither one ever choked on anything I gave them, but a couple times it would start to go down the wrong way and I'd have to do a quick finger swipe to clear their throat.

Pretty much anything is fine, even little bits of meat as long as you are close by supervising. My younger daughter also just had her bottom two teeth until she was 9 or 10 months old and she did fine on bits of my food. Just make sure it isn't something that is considered a potential allergen like peanut butter or honey or anything else that it's better to wait until after a year for.

People in most developing countries feed their babies what the parents eat and those babies turn out just fine :) I wouldn't start giving a baby who had trouble with Gerber foods anything else canned - like spaghetti-o's - at such an early age though regular pasta should be just fine. I would stick mainly to whole foods. The La Leche League website has a book called "Whole Foods for the Whole Family" with great recipes that have slight (and simple) alterations to make them baby and toddler-friendly (to avoid the allergens mainly).

Best wishes!
~B.

I gave both of my children various finger foods, or rather foods I made into finger foods. The Gerber ones are nice sure, but quite expensive sometimes. I bought frozen or refrigerated ravioli and gave it without sauce-this was for my own preference. I cut up fruits/veggies/breads and gave those as well. I gave crackers, dry cereals, and the like. Watch for a choking hazard of course but as long as you keep your eye on your lil' one you know them best and can tell what she can handle. My youngest was only on table food by 8 months, his choice, and like your little girl only had 2 bottom teeth. I found that anything we could eat more than likely he was able to eat too if just given the chance. Best of luck and when in doubt you can always consult your pediatrician.

My twins decided at the ripe old age of 4 months that they wanted food. So I started them on veggies, broccoli that I mashed with a fork until they were 8 months now I just give them the cooked and cooled tree, chicken, beef, berries, my son loves blueberries, and my daughter loves peaches. The only things you really should stay away from is Honey, since it can carry botulism no matter how pastureized it is, nuts (too hard to eat and possible choking hazard, and raisins again possible choking hazard.

I have not started my children on an dairy products, due to me being extremely allergic and my husband has a huge intollerance to it. Otherwise, I have not bought any commercial childrens food and simply give them bites of what I eat. I have to be careful that it is not too broken down or they have texture issues with it, so no pot roast and no oatmeanl. They actually prefer Cream of Wheat to oatmeal.

Good luck Mama!

S.

Get on the library's page and look up kids cook books. You'll get tons of ideas and info on what appropriate for your little girl to eat.
Good luck,
K.

I never gave my son any of the gerber foods. They are over prices and taste gorss. He always got what we ate. Just be sure to cut it up in little bites and dont add any extra salt or seassonings to it.
It's healthier and better for him and your budges if you feed her what you eat.
Good luck!

how about vienna sausage links, they are great for little hands and you can get them made with all chicken,beef,turkey my little one loved them.

There is a book called, "The Super Baby Food Book." It is a wonderful reference book and gives tons of ideas on what and when to feed certain foods. Pick and choose what works best for your family out of it.

I know you sent this question a few days ago, but my son also wouldn't eat jared baby foods, so I had to be creative! He only has two botton teeth as well. The things that I give my son are as follows: He loves frozen blue berries cut on half...yes frozen. He won't eat them thawed now. He loves banana's cut length wise into about 4, 2 inch pieces so he can pick them up, instead of slices. He likes spaghetti-o's, multi grain cheeri-o's, ritz crackers, hot dogs cut in slices then the slices cut into 1/4 pieces so they don't choke, toast with butter and jam, any canned veggie or fruit or pasta. my son loves spaghetti, alfredo, pesto or tubed pasta with butter that is home made. I have made him scrambed eggs and hard boiled eggs. Some babies are allergic to the egg yolk so only give your baby the egg white as the yolk is an allergin, if your baby is sensitive. (you can scramble just the egg white) Avacado is great for babies. tomatoes. My son just wants to eat anything that I'm eatting....so share with her....just make sure it's cut up small enough for her. Try new things and experiment!! Good luck!! I hope these suggestions help alittle.

Hi T.,

Money was tight for me too. I wouldn't start with meat right away. What I did was bake a potato, or yams (sweet potatos is one of the best foods) and mashed it. Did the same with all the other vegetables, I just mashed everything. A food processor works well if it is harder to mash like broccoli. I usually served the vegetable we were having for dinner. I didn't buy any baby food.

8 months seems so young to me for things like spaghetti o's, though my little one is 7 so it is hard to remember. I would say spaghetti o doesn't quite cut it as "real food" anyways. nutritious foods like avocado, banana, (or any soft ripe fruits ie peaches, mango, pear ect) seems like a better choice. seems like at 8 months babies are still only on rice cereal and breast milk (or formula.)

I scrambled my kids eggs at this age. I would take what ever we ate and blend it with our food processor to make baby food out of our dinner. Don't use honey in anything until after she is a year old. The key is to chop up anything to very small cubes that will not get lodged in her through if she were to swallow it whole. Cut foods up to size of half of a penny to start out and then you will see how she does with that size and you can increase the size according to how well she learns to manage and mash it in her mouth. Cook some potatoes and mash them for her to eat, cook carrots and mash them for her to eat. Feed her avocado, Feed her some green peas mashed up. There are so many things that can be chopped and mashed up. That is a great place to start.

T.,
Our oldest was a finicky eater. (Still is) He liked those Gerber meat sticks.(yuck!)

Our youngest would eat everything. (Still does)

We would give them hot dogs with the skin peeled off and cut up small. I would steam vegetables; especially carrots, so they were very soft and you could smash them with a spoon for fork.

You can also buy a food grinder and make your own baby food. It takes a lot of work but that might ease your mind.

At family dinners like Thanksgiving they ate everything we had at the table. We just made sure that the bites were small. They love mashed potatoes and gravy.

I wish you well.

Hi T.,

I was 24 with my first child also. I remember he love mashed up banana. Just mash up with a fork, real easy! Also Cheerios. You can easily bake up some yams and puree them for the little one. You've already got lots of great advice. My main advice would be to avoid canned and packaged foods. Most all of them are not good for babies or adults. You can just pull out a blender and blend up what mom and dad are having!

Hi T..

I'd suggest making your own baby food by steaming veggies and mashing them or putting them in the blender or food processor. It's easy to do, fresh veggies retain much more of the nutrients that your child needs, and it's much less expensive than buying baby food. One of my son's favorites was mashed up bananas. I tried to give him organic foods as much as possible. My pediatrician told me to stay away from highly processed foods like Spagetti-o's because they typically have a bunch of things in them (preservatives, additives, coloring) that could potentially cause reactions in sensitive babies who are just developing their immune systems. Also, processed foods are often devoid of any real nutrition which is what your child needs. I don't know about the tiny bits of meat. You might need to check with your doctor about that. My assumtion is that you'd want to wait on that until she gets some molars to actually chew up her food. Meat is much more difficult for our bodies to digest and that's why it's important that it's well chewed to help break it down for easier digestion.

Just my 2-cents worth. Hope it helps.
S. M.

Tammay,

One product I absolutely love for first time eaters is MUM-MUMs...they are a rice cracker you can find at most stores in the baby section. They can be carried and eaten when needed, or made into rice cereal in a pinch (they are GREAT) for a more filling meal.

They have original and vegetable versions.

I usually got them at a WalMart or Fred Meyers...I have seen them in other stores.

Ritz crackers, saltines (unsalted or unsalted tops), and other crackers your child can hold and chew on are great!

Bananas are easy for children to mush up in their mouths if you are looking for fruit.

I would stay away from hot dogs and other hard to chew foods until the child has more teeth (about 1 yr old or so) and strength in the jaws to chew.

Good Luck,
T.

when my son started that, he loved scrambled eggs, you can put soft things in it like mushrooms, cheese. they don't digest olives yet, so I wouldn't use them. another good thing is dry infant instent cereal mixed into flavered yogurt, my son loved that too.

Hi!
I was not big on buying the baby foods in the store mostly because it did not make sense to pay extra for something I could make on my own. At about 4 months old I was taking the veggies I was preparing for our dinner, tossing them in the food processor, and giving that to the kids for meal times. I'd put extras into an ice cube tray and toss them in the freezer for later use.

Without a lot of teeth you just really need to think about things that are soft. I think the choking risks are too high to do meats or anything really solid until she has the right equipment to chew it. We gave our kids banana slices, blanched carrots (steamed but not too mushy), cheese slices, pasta stars (you know the really bitty pasta, blanched tomatoes - I would just make sure that the skin was removed during steaming, mashed potato, apple sauce, really ripe pears...you get it, think about what you'd be able to eat if you did not have any teeth to chew and it should be ok for baby girl. I tried hard to focus on foods that were unprocessed which kept costs at their lowest and left me feeling like I was doing what was best for my children.

good luck!

*K

cheerios (of couse), black beans (easily squished even without teeth, good protein), goldfish, string cheese (you'll have to take it apart), small pasta or pieces of meat work fine, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes
Just a few I can think of now.

When my son was that age I didn't really give him any baby food--mostly just modified whatever we happened to be eating. I did put some things in a blender (meats, etc.) but a lot of things I just cut up into tiny pieces. Then I watched closely to see how he did with them. Even though they don't have many teeth at that age, they can still do quite a bit of mashing with their hard gums. Some things would come out in his diaper almost unchanged from how they went in! That's normal, though. You just want to be sure that there aren't any pieces big enough for them to choke on. Some of our favorites were: avocado chunks, banana chunks, other soft fruits cut into small pieces (I would still leave the peels on to provide roughage--just make sure they're cut small), macaroni or other small pasta pieces (spaghetti was a lot of fun to play with--and you can leave it a little longer), potatoes (mashed or baked), little pieces of well-cooked, soft chicken or other meats, steamed (until quite soft) carrots or broccoli chopped into small pieces, cheerios, oatmeal, apple sauce, and a variety of crackers and "cookies" (non-sugary ones). At nine months I also started plain yogurt mixed with fruit and cheese chunks. He loved those! I didn't buy the "baby" varieties of any of those foods--just gave him whatever we would normally eat and have in the house, anyway. Sometimes, when I did blend up something that he couldn't eat easily, I would make extra and freeze in ice cube trays. That way, if I needed an alternative food for him at a later meal (maybe when we were having something particularly spicy for dinner) I could easily pull it out and have it ready for him. Otherwise, he's always eaten the same things we eat. I haven't really given him any other choice and he's a great eater now--very healthy!

I just wanted to give you and the other moms a little insight. Many foods we believe are easy for kids to 'handle' are actually very unsafe for them to eat. Here is a website with a list of potential hazards when considering finger foods...
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-safe...
I know I never gave hot dogs to my kiddos without cutting them into quarters length-wise first and then again into smaller pieces. Please read the list on the site... nuts, raisins, grapes.... candy,etc. are dangers. Just start her out slow, happy and healthy.
And one of the things my kids didn't like about the jarred foods was the 'split peas' ... that's what gagged them. If i found other foods w/o the peas, they were fine. I also had to limit their choices because they couldn't have milk... you can find them for the times you need a quick answer to a meal. But it doesn't take much to prepare ahead and puree and freeze. Leftover brown rice and some veggies... yummy and healthy. Let the jarred versions be last choice to be used in a hurry.... otherwise let little one eat the same food as you off your plate... just mushed. :)

I really liked the book "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" by Ellyn Satter. It has some really great information and easy to read charts (in case you don't have time to ready the whole book :). If you are in Portland it is available at the library, probably at other libraries too, I just know its available here. I can also tell you that my son loved sweet potatos, and we often pureed rice and chicken with a little water and gave him that too. We bought one of those little hand held blender things and used it to puree the stuff he couldn't eat whole yet. Have fun.

fruits and really well cooked veggies. graham crackers.