Baby Wants to Feed Self but We Only Have 3 Teeth!

I have fed my daughter applesauce with a spoon, the dissovable "stars" that are in the Gerber section of the baby food aisle. I give my daughter small servings and then she has to ask for "more" by saying or signing "more" this has kept the mess to a minimum.

J.

I worked in the infant room at a daycare and we fed the babies (when they started table food)whatever the big kids were being served for lunch. We just cut it up, as long as it is soft it doesn't matter how many teeth they have, they mash up food with those hard gums.

Cooked carrots, shredded meat, mashed or chopped potatoes, corn, green beans, beans of any kind (except garbonzos - you have to mash those first), flaked fish, string cheese, shredded cheese, shredded apples, raisins, grapes cut in half - really, the three teeth think isn't an issue if it can be mashed between two fingers.

OH - and a splat mat for under the high chair. If they don't sell those anymore, a vinyl table cloth that you can rinse off - and a high chair tray that fits in the dishwasher.

Check out the books Super Baby Foods and the Dr Sear's website (www.askdrsears.com) and Baby Book. They all have great information of what foods to introduce, when to introduce them and creative ways to present the foods.

Regarding the mess... The best solution I have found is to get a dog. I'm not joking. I think you can drive yourself absolutely batty trying to keep things clean with a young self feeder. The thing is, they need to feed themselves, feel the foods, experiment, etc to a certain degree. There's just no way around it. It's definately a developmental stage. If they insist on throwing things on the floor, you can put the food in "time out" until they understand not to throw it. That worked to a certain degree for us. Just try to not get to freaked over it all. It will pass. I swear. Just be happy you have a good eater. They are so much easier in the long run.

white rice worked great too for my kids! :-)

Tofu! It's a great source of protein, too. You can serve the type that's already baked or regular. It doesn't need any prep.

My son who is now 17 months has been very independent too since he was about 11 months. He still only has four teeth (two on the top and two on the bottom), but he eats everything that I eat. Some of his favorite foods are bananas (which I tear in half - he thinks he's such a big boy when he takes bites off of whole food items), thick oatmeal, mandarin oranges (he mashes them with his back gums - they sell individually packaged containers if you are short on time), tomatos, mashed potatos, rice, shredded beef, cottage cheese - basically anything that is on my plate he eats. As for the mess, my son is a really good eater so he doesn't drop too much food, but I have seen disposable plastic mats that go under highchairs sold at Target. Hope this helps!

Hi, C.,

My children are grown, 18 yo daughter and 17 yo son. But I remember those days. As long as you are watching her she will be fine. Make sure that she doesn't try to stuff too many things in her mouth at once. As far as messes, I used to put news paper under the high chair and then just throw it away when they were done. Yes, it seems like we are training puppies with the paper, but it works and saved me alot of work cleaning up. My kids loved to wear spaghetti!! V. N.

Getting messy is just part of learning how to eat. Make her aware of it and let her help clean up with you and eventually she'll learn to get more of it in her mouth and less everywhere else.

As for eating, she can really eat almost anything besides chips and other hard items. The mashing of her gums is strong enough for her to grind things down to a swallowable size. All pastas are great and feta cheese can be added for flavor and calcium. Boiled chicken can be cut up into the tiniest chunks and she can eat that as well. My son loved Kielbasa around this age because it was very moist and had lots of flavor. I mixed that with pasta and peas and he would eat till he was stuffed. Steam all your veggies and then they should melt in her mouth. She will be able to eat everything you eat within a couple weeks just in much smaller bites.

The teeth are overrated! My SIL was the same way - terrified to give her baby "real" food. She turned 1 today and my daughter is 20 months. Her is an example of the things the eat on a daily basis -
Breakfast -
Bananna
Dole fruit cups
Mandarin Oranges out of the can
Toast with jelly or apple butter cut up of course
Lunch, Dinner -
Any bean - black, pinto, green, ranch style, lima are a favorite
All Veggies cut up - beets, tomatoes, corn, peas, asparagus is very popular at our house as well
Cheese shredded and cubed, deli meat, ground beef, all noodles with tomatoes sauce on them. We also add a can of diced tomates for extra veggies. Meatballs made with spinach to hold them together with cheese on top. Grilled Cheese.
Canned tuna. Precooked chicken breast cut up.
The make those new zip lock baggies you can put in the microwave and it steams the veggies. You could use those for carrots, califlower.

I think that you will just have to deal with your house being trashed. LOL! Babies gums are pretty tough, so you can give her more than you think you can with her three teeth. You are right not to leave her unattended though, because you will be surprised the size of things that they can shove into their mouths and try to swallow. My oldest choked on a whole biscuit one time! Arrowroot cookies, zwieback toast, and those cookies that they can suck on but not break off are all good.

I agree with the other moms and speak from experience- teeth are over rated. My little girl is 19 months now but she teethed late- at one year I think she only had her 2 front top teeth. She is also very independent and has always wanted to feed herself- even with the spoon at 8 months. Follow the other mom's advice and give her just about anything within reason and as for the mess- I totally agree with the Mom who said get a dog- we have 2 :) She has got to learn somehow and practice makes perfect. My daughter is very proficient with her little silverware (plasticware). Sometimes she has to put the food on the spoon with her hands but that is okay- she is still learning. Have fun!

Maybe try potatoes? I guess boil them to where they are really soft and mushy. Even mashed potatoes can clump up pretty good.

At one years old your baby can eat any kind of table food as long as it isn't too big. My 1 year old eats chicken, turkey etc... At this age they are allowed to eat everything except for shell fish, peanut butter and honey. Good Luck on the mess part there really isn't any way to get around that.

With her teeth and her age, I would recommend,

Cooked apples ( I peel and put a whole bunch of apples in the crock pot and let them go for about 6-8 hours) They come out soft enough for her to eat, but firm enough to cut into pieces.

steamed carrots, zuccinni, summer squash

avacado is great too, my daughter loved it when she had only 2 teeth.

banna is a good one too.

Just remember the 3 day rule for new foods.

I hope this helps

We cut up, into 4 pieces per slice, 'ripe' bananas....our twins and our son all loved these! They're a challenge b/c they can be slippery, but the ripe ones are soft :)

Melons in small pieces are great for gumming.

Regarding the mess--get a plastic mat or trash bag and put it under the chair to catch most of the mess. Gather it up, shake it out outside, and reuse. The occassional hose down helps with sticky moments.

Babies at this age are messy--don't forget to take a couple of pictures because they make for great bribes later in life. ;-) I suggest also having a plastic bib and a good supply of wipes handy. The adult feeding her should wear an apron--minimizes stains.

Good luck--eventually she will eat neatly.

I have an 11 month old with only two teeth, and she already eats what all the other mom's have listed. If it's soft enough to mash between my fingers when i press on it, then I think it's soft enough for her gums to press. It may not be the healthiest, but I also buy vegetable soup or minestrone soup and drain the juices (sometimes rinse it too) . It has beans and soft veggies. Just buy the low sodium. Good luck!

You would be surprised how strong their little gums are. I think as long as the food is easily mashed and cut into tiny pieces you will be fine. Here are some ideas:

Cut up hot dogs without the skin
Grilled cheese cut into strips so she can hold and "gnaw"
Cubes of cheese (especially soft like string cheese & fresh mozzarella)
Canned pears or peaches cute into small cubes(or the individual servings, some are already cubed)- canned tends to be softer than fresh
Tiny half dollar pancakes cut in fourths
Avocado cut into cubes
Baked french fries cut into pieces
Banana slices
Mango cubed
Rotissery or roasted chicken cut into bite sized pieces

You can also try vienna Sausages or go to the baby food isle at your local super market and pick of a jar of beef/chicken stix. As far as the mess, you can reduce it by only letting her eat in her high chair or in the kitchen where it would be easy to mop up with a mop or napkin. Other then that, you are going to end up with a small mess, it is a part of them learning eye hand coordination as well as experimenting with and growing from their environment.

My daughter didn't have any teeth until 11 mos and she was eating all table food at 9.5 mos. Anything you can smash with your thumb and pointer finger is fine. I would feed her shredded cheese, canned fruits & vege's (soft), deli meat (from the deli) shredded almost, baked potatoes, M&C, etc.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need teeth to eat. You can give her all sorts of things, providing they're cut into small pieces and aren't super hard or choking hazards (popcorn, hard candy, raisins, that sort of thing). For protein, give her deli meat, shredded chicken, any kind of bean (my daughter loved kidney beans at that age). She can have lots of fruit - pears/apples cut into little pieces, bananas cut in slices and quartered, peaches, berries. For vegetables, I'm sure she'd be fine with peas, canned/steamed green beans cut into pieces, squash like zucchini, sweet potatoes.

I agree with all the other post she can eat just about anything just make sure to watch her carefully. My son now 10 months is the same way. He only wants to eat what he can pick up and I feed him everything we eat. He does have a few more teeth, but chews with his gums so I think teeth are overrated. As far as clean up I understand I bought one of those big plastic floor mats at babiesrus to put under his highchair and I buy Bumkin Jr. bibs they have sleeves this helps keep clothes clean. You have to order them online I have not seem them at any stores yet. I know babiesrus sells the regular bibs, but not enough coverage for first time feeders.

Congratulations! What a fun time. I have a one year old also, who has a little more teeth than your little one, but I buy the canned veggies that are cooked and very soft. He feeds himself all of these! I give him cut up carrots, green beans, kernels of corn and black beans. Also, Veg-Al makes a great mixed canned vegetables that has potatoes and peas too. For fruit, we do the bananas also and fresh raspberries and blue berries and little pieces of the canned peaches and pears. Good luck with keeping her clean. We just place a mat under the high chair and let him go to town. Of course, we have two dogs that are more than happy to help with the clean up!

I believe that they mash with their gums in the back, so it's ok!

My pediatrician told us to start giving our daughter things like this even before she was one and had no teeth! I was shocked but she wanted it and never chocked not even once. We would just do softer things like chicken breast torn into bits and saltine crackers. You'll be suprised what they are capable of!:)

Teeth are not an issue, I PROMISE! :-) Just let her eat whatever you're eating (within reason) and watch her closely. I work in the infant room of a child care center and we have lots of babies that eat table food from the time they are 8 or 9 months old, regardless of whether or not they have teeth. They can use their gums to mash the food to death and then swallow. :-)

Ah yes, my baby girls are 24 and 20 now, but they loved bananas, canned peaches, nectarines and oranges cut up small so there were no stringy/chokey bits, and soft whole wheat toast cut up in small baby-sized bits. We had a very wholesome diet and basically they got whatever we ate, but it was put thru a food mill before teeth and later, it was cut up in very tiny baby-finger sized pieces.

Oh my!!!

This all sounds too familiar to me. 33 years ago, I use to put newspaper under the high chair and feed my little ones the very same thing. Graham crackers are great too. By all means though, let her feed herself!!!! You will find out that during that time, they discover a lot of things about themselves. Like, how much to put into their little mouth at one time and how long to chew. You will be surprise as to how they think and chew at the same time!!!!!!!!

P. W

My daughter ate everything and she did not have teeth until she was 15 mos old. The doctors said the later they come in the better. She now has beautiful teeth. She gummed every thing including steak. If they choke just be there to scoop it out. But bet she won't. Good Luck G. W

In the baby food section of your grocery store, there are these things called "Wagon Wheels" and "puffs" that they can chew, but they also disolve relatively easily. They have a variety of flavors for them ranging from veggie flavors and fruit flavors. Great for the new self-feeder and those teething.

In addition to Cherios, my kids also liked dry Special K cereal. From a fruits standpoint banana is also good. You might try some dry toast as well. You might try different types of pasta (like tortalini shaped or tube shaped pasta - easier for them to pick up than spagehetti noodles.)

As far as the mess is concerned...it kind of goes with the territory when they are learning to self feed. My sister sometimes used a large trashbag under the high-chair to help mimize with the sweeping/mopping afterwards. Often she would just roll her high chair outside and hose it down. LOL. Placemats with the little food catching style tray that hangs off the table near their belly also helps a bit. I still use the "Tiny Diner Portable Placemats". I like that they suction cup to the table and the mini trey in front does seem to catch some of the food kids inevitably drop even as they get a bit older. Honestly, sometimes I'd just strip my kids down to their diaper when they would eat to help with the wash factor. Especially when they were first learning to use a spoon...wow talk about a mess!

Here is a link to the Tiny Diner Portable Placemats on OneStepAhead: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...
I think I've even seen them sold now at places like ToysRUs/BabiesRUs.

Best Wishes!

wow, you have already been given a ton of good ideas :) i second the idea that if you can smash it between your thumb and pointer finger than it is soft enough to eat (what the ped. told me). some things i fed my daughter around this age were:
avacado cut up
canned fruit (oranges, pears IF they were soft enough, peaches)
soft strawberries
cream of wheat balls (my own creation, given when my daughter had low iron, i just made thick cream of wheat and spooned out little balls, sounds nasty but she loved them)
shreadded lunch meat
cubed cheese, cut up
canned carrots (kroger was making a no salt added one in a small can, but i've been having trouble find it lately)
most soft veggies

that's all i can think of right now. i'll probably think of something original and awesome when i hit send. good luck!

My son has NO teeth and we do all self feeding! For many people--this is the only way they ever do food with their babies--no purees or spoon feeding--only self feeding.
Everyone has given you great ideas on what you can use--top self feeding foods for no teeth or few teeth are:
avocados
steamed veggies
banana
apples
pears
melon
chunks of chicken, etc...
The thing to remember when doing self feeding is watching for the difference between gagging and choking. Most all kids will gag for a really long time when they do self foods---and usually its a quick swipe with a finger in there mouth and it clears. Choking (in my experience) looks totally different and
obviously requires some quicker and more aggressive measures. But we have not had a choking incident yet with our self feeding--and he loves it!