Starting Solids with My 9 Month Old

I would try some very soft finger/table foods for him. Stage 3 foods are a really odd texture to me, and I'm not surprised they gag on them. They have that smoothness of the purees, and then weird chunks thrown in, which can catch them off guard, when they are just expecting the smooth. He's at a good age to start learning to pick up foods, and you can start with some really easy foods, like tiny chunks of banana, soft cooked apple, avocado, shredded cheeses, toast, etc.

Good luck!

Hi F.,

Almost everyone I have spoken to says their children rejected stage 3, went from stage 2 to finger foods, including mine.

So don't stress, he might never like them.

What I got that I love is a little ring with a net that you can stick fruit or veggies in.My daughter always loved sucking on it (got it at kroger or targer, I forget) but they can't choke since it's a little net, they just suck on the food so they get used to the texture and flavor without needing my help eating ;)

Amy

As long as he still gets formula or breastmilk, the food is really just "practice." While they are getting some nutrients from it, their primary source of nutrition is still the bottles. If he doesn't want the chunkier foods yet, just offer and move on. Come back every couple days or weeks and try again. It seemed like my son went from eating stage one to solids. If he's gagging, he may just not be ready for the texture yet.

I have a 4 yr old daughter and a 9 1/2 month old son. my daughter was ready for almost anything we gave her at any age. the one thing she didn't like was the stage 3 foods. we ended up skipping those since she didn't like them, and went straight to soft finger foods. my son, however, has seemed content to be spoon fed. he's just recently started to show an interest in solids. so each is a little different. i noticed he liked tasting what i had on my plate better than just giving it to him to eat. so we started out that way, and now he's showing a slight interest in getting the solids for himself. just keep reintroducing things. and if he doesn't show an interest in one thing, try something else! good luck :)

Keep offering it to him, but don't force it. He'll eventually want to move on to other things.

You could try mixing the Stage 2 and Stage 3 foods together. We did that with my dd. She had the opposite problem though. She hated the watery Stage 2, but I had a ton of them left. I Wonder if the same concept would work for your little guy. Maybe the Stage 2 would thin them out enough that he would eat them. Have you tried any finger foods? Ceerios and the Gerber Puffs are great. They don't have to chew them. They'll dissolve on their own. Those mesh things are great, but they don't really show the kids how to chew the solids. It's probably a texture thing. He's used to just swallowing and not having to chew. Mixing the foods should help that. Good Luck!!!!