8-Month-old Only Eats Baby Food from a Jar

Not to sound mean but if you want to switch as hard as it is for you don't give in.. When he gets hungry he'll eat what you give him. He won't starve. by giving in he know's it's a battle he can win and you can't let that happen. Sorry i I sound harsh but it will work. There is nothing wrong with jarred food. If you can afford it don't worry he will still be healthy.

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It's common for them to be picky, especially after they get used to certain things...but with the gagging, maybe it's a texture thing. Make sure it's thin enough that he is able to manipulate it in his mouth the way he is with the jarred food. My daughter for the longest time had trouble with certain textures and gagged all the time. She still can't really eat mixed texture, like spaghettios...with the sauce and noodles, still gags and she's almost 2. Also, make sure he is really hungry before you feed him...he won't starve himself, and once he really tries it, he might decide to like it too.

Don't give up, keep presenting it and he may eventually take it...no promises though! :)

hello....glad to see your update and all is going better. My advice, having 7 children, to anyone else out there.....jar food is just fine.....I have 7 healthy, very intelligent children....happy, too. I think we can get too caught up in what is right or wrong according to others standards.
A wise pediatrician once told me that no "healthy" food is healthy if your child won't eat it.....TRUE
He encouraged me to look at my young childrens diets on a weekly basis, not a daily basis. What healthy things do they intake during the week ? Also, most children will not starve themselves and if they are truly hungary, they'll eat.....unless of course there is not an underlying issue.
Now that most of my children are older....ages 3-15, if we're having a "sweet" treat, everyone must eat a banana, apple, carrot or some other fruit or veggie BEFORE the treat....this works great as they get the food I want them to have and they get the "treat" they want to have.
Also, we occasionally, for Christmas or a birthday, will buy sugary cereal, however, it is served as a "treat" and my children know this food is a sugar treat, not a meal !!!
Good luck and good eating

Why is it such a issue for you to have you 8 month old change what he is use to eating? He is almost one and I'm sure he is going to slowly change and want to try new things, give it time and don't feel like something is wrong. As long as he is eating I think he is just fine.
-A.

What if you tried to make your own food the exact same consistancy as the jars. Make the same thing as in the jar, and add a little home-made food to jar food (a very little bit), then keep increasing the amount you're putting in the jar, and before you know it, your child will be eating only home-made baby food.

Or, you could just keep giving him the jars (he won't be on them too much longer) and start only making his other foods. Like home-made teething rings, spaghetti, whole wheat breads etc.

Hope this helps. My daughter never had the chance to have jar baby food...I was a little freaked out by it (I'm wondering if the next child will be a different story...hahah. But one major prop I can give to you for even the desire of making your own food, you know EXACTLY what is going into it. If you use organic products, you know that there is no chemically engineered foods going into your young child.
Good luck to you, and I hope the transition won't cause too much fuss!... -A.

Homemade baby food often has a different texture and babies are responding to that. So work with your puree to try different textures and tempratures. Usually homemade is thicker than jarred food so this is likely the issue.

Keep trying and he will take it- they say it takes 12 exposures until a child likes a new food. Adding water will thin down the mixture.

Gagging is a sure sign he is uncomfortable with the texture (most likely you still have some lumps that are gagging him) put it in the blender with more a small bit more water and let it run on liquify for a full minute.

I had the same problem with One of my Twins. I tried just 1 type of food and just gave him that for about a week untill he got use to eating it and then I would change the food the next week I would not offer him anything else. But then again it did'nt always work some foods he still spit at me but if you keep giving it to him he may just take.

Have you tried baby cereal with breast milk? He might eat that. I used to work at a daycare and we used to feed that to our little babies first. Try that if that doesn't work I'd talk to your doctor try not to panick though some babies are just late starters. I did that with my baby I fed him Cereal with breast milk then he went on to mashed potatoes. Hope this helps. Although my baby is now 7 years old LOL!

Hi J.. I made all of my own baby food when my children were babies but it has been a long time since then However I am babysitting for a friend now, that has a 1 year old and 2 year old. The one year old was a little slow with excepting the different textures but i didnt give up. he loves when I smash fresh bananas and add applesauce, so I give him new foods and give him bites of the bananas in between.I also chop up mac and cheese and put a little sour cream in it and he loves that. he is doing really well now with new foods. Just relax and keep up the good job D. from Az

My sister had the same problem with her little girl, and would mix the two together (homemade and jar) adjusting the ratio little by little until her girl was used my sisters recipe. i hope this works for you too!

I made my son's food and some that he really loved were green beans mixed with apples. Also I bought frozen bags of mixed fruit(nearly as good as fresh especially when not in season) warm it until soft and ofcourse puree. My son hated peas too, I think that is pretty common. Also try different textures and temperatures, sometimes it's not the taste at all. Good Luck!

I'd go along with what others were saying about putting it in the jar. My girl, now one year, has been obsessed with looking at the little baby on the Earth's Best jars for months. I have to hold the jar so she can see the baby (yes, we often feed directly from the jar but only when we know she's going to finish the whole thing). Often if she's fussy I can get her to eat a bit more by asking, "Where's the baby?" :D

She's also had trouble with home-made foods but it's usually a texture/consistency thing. She still has no teeth and doesn't do much of a chewing motion, so whenever we make homemade stuff for her (which is now rare because it's such a pain), we have to ultra-puree it. Otherwise she'll take it into her mouth, roll it around on her tongue, suck flavour out if she likes it at all, then spit the pulp back out. Very messy.

The jarred stuff is a better, smoother texture for her. It might be that your son needs that smooth texture too. Try an upright stick blender as they often do a finer job than a food processor. Make it a paste with no chunks at all. That might help.

There is nothing wrong. We could never get our daughter to eat anything else but baby food from the jar during the first 2 stages. Once we hit the Stage 3 baby food, she became more adventureous. The intoduction of the new textures seemed to prepare her for the homemade foods. Have you tried giving him the Yo-Baby yogurt from Stonefield Farms? This is a whole milk yogurt that is FULL of the good bacterial cultures. This also helped introduce her to new things.

My son is a month older then yours and my problem is that he won't eat his own food if I'm eating "big people food" So I've actually started setting some asside when I cook (so it's not as seasoned etc) I don't puree it, I just let him gum little pieces and he loves it - especially pasta! Hope that helps some! Good luck!

Have you tried mixing the homemade food in small, increasing amounts with the jarred food? Like 1/4 homemade to 3/4 jarred? Or even 1 tsp. mixed in and increase it every couple of days?

For the first year the major source of nutrition is supposed to be breastmilk and/or formula. Solids are for practice and for fun. So I say just keep offering him different things. I read somewhere that a baby may need to see a new food 20 times before they will accept it. Maybe the texture of the homemade foods is thicker than the baby food from the jars? I say just be patient! My son didn't really start eating any solids at all until he was close to 10 months old. He didn't want anything he couldn't stuff into his own mouth so he did really start "eating" until he had the coordination to do it himself.

T.

Hi J.,
A few tricks I used successfully with my son were to mix different foods together when you puree them. Such as pears and yams or green peas and apples. It sounds gross but it works well. Also With the more bitter foods my son wouldn't eat I would add either breast milk, or if your not nursing plain soy milk is a great alternative. Both of these add a hint of sweetness and help thin the food out further, plus they are chock full of healthy nutrients. Also I would sometimes add food coloring to a food i had adjusted beacause if he wouldn't eat peas, he knew what they looked like and wouldn't try them again untill I had changed the way they looked and he thought it was something new.
Good Luck!!

Hi J., Sorry to have to say this, These solid foods you are trying to put your 8 month old on are not going to be appealing to the taste buds of a child, the best solids would be baby cereal from the box,like oatmeal or rice maybe add just a touch of splenda. applesauce, maybe try yogurt if you are trying to stay to the healthy side, take it gradually and experiment with different things to find out what might taste good to the baby. Juices and just make sure he has plently of fluids. Keep feeding him baby food, there is no set date to take him off it, especially the vegtables, slowly wein him off. Good luck , don't get frustrated it will happen in time.

Hi! It sounds like he is having a problem with textures. I gave my son foods that he could pick-up and plenty of time in his highchair along with the jar foods that he liked.He finally got more adventurous the older he got. Just relax, you're not doing anything wrong, look at it this way...if your son is still eating out of those little jars by the time he is 13-he'll be able to get a job and buy them himself... paper routes are good.

Have you tried pouring the baby food from the jar into a bowl in front of him? Does he eat that? If so, try making what you want him to eat and put that into the jar. Then, pour that into the bowl...he'll never know the difference.

He's getting old enough that soon you can probably level with him and say, "oh it's time to say bye bye to the "Baby Food," you're a big boy now etc. But before that time, personally, I'd basically just give him what I want him to eat and if he doesn't like it then I'd say, matter of factly, okay then I guess you aren't hungry yet. Try again in 2 hours. Still not hungry? Try again in 2 hours. Eventually, he's going to be hungry enough that he's going to eat what you give him. You aren't starving him or abusing him by making him go without food for a half a day.

You should nip it in the bud though! Don't want to encourage picky eater syndrome! My daughter is 3 now and eats whatever I cook, including garlic, onions, cilantro, even some spicy food. My rule at the table is, "If you aren't eating at the table, you're leaving the table." Period! She's learned that what's on the table is what is for dinner and if she doesn't eat it, then she'll be really hungry at breakfast. I don't accomodate for picky eaters (unless she's sick) and she's grown to love foods I've never seen a toddler even try!

Good luck!

(Note: I may be forgetting how old 8 months is! I like the suggestions by other moms to add rice cereal to smashed foods. Also, can he use his thumb and forefinger in a pincer motion? Like picking up small foods yet? If so, try the "big kid" baby foods with chuncks he can pick up - that's usually fun for them. Lastly, be watchful that the baby food you're using isn't loaded with sugar! He may not like the food you're cooking if it doesn't have the same sweet flavor!! (Sugar is BAD!)

Hello there J.,

I wonder if you could try putting your homemade food into one of the old jars. Maybe he's just used to where it's coming from? Just a thought. Good luck!

Both of my kids (now 14 and 6) hated baby food in general. Too bland. With your pediatrician's okay (mine said it was okay) feed foods seasoned like you eat.

Maybe it's a texture issue too so you have to strain the baby foods you make.

Good luck.

Hi, I have two older children and now I baby-sit my 10 month old nephew during the week. What my sister and I did with the baby at 8 months is give him Gerber Finger Foods Fruit Puffs. It gets the babies used to eating solids but it disolves very easily in there mouth as they learn to gum chew. We also would have him gnawing on little bits and peices of our food as we were eating. Now at 10 months months he even eats whatever we give him. Of course you have to cut it up REALLY small and be there with him. I don't mean steak or anything...lol. He even loves beans. If you want him to eat yams, you might try to cook them and then cut them up small, it sounds like he wants to get out of the pureed foods.

Let me know if you try any of this and it works...:)

Char

No worries. I have the same problems and I was freaking out that my son (now 15 months) only eats baby food from a jar. Not to mention he will not eat anything with beef or tomatoes. My son now is still picky with veggies only eats baby food veggies. I have got him to eat fruits whole or in fruit cups, and he loves chicken nuggets (what kid doesn't). I agree though my next one we are only going to do home made baby food :) I would not worry though he is only 8 months. Some things that might help is:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=240476...

Good luck!

Hi J., I know that when putting food in the blender it does not come close to what they do with the jared foods. They have a process where they break it down a multiple of times. I had this problem too so I started giving my son the #2 and then #3 jar foods until he got used to each of the textures (even the #2 and #3 fruits are thicker than the #1 fruits). Maybe try one week on #2 foods and one week on #3 foods, then try your own again. Hope this helps! J.

Others have said this, but definitely mix your stuff with the stuff he will eat, and gradually increase yours and decrease the jarred, and eventually you'll wean him off the jarred completely.

J.,

It sounds as if you are on a path to solving your situation. Another avenue I took with my boys was to have two separate foods (jar and fresh) and alternate bites. This confused them a bit, but it seemed to work for me in getting them to accept solid fresh foods.