Feeding Infants Table Food Before 1 Year

I started feeding my DD (now almost 2) table food around 5 months old. I started her on rice and oatmeal cereal and then started on the jarred baby food. After that (around 7 months) I started giving her table food...soft and really broken up. By the time she was about 10 months old she was eating dinner with us. The only things i did not feed her eggs and peanut butter...everything else she ate, including dairy. Every doc is different. I personally think my kid would have starved and not slept through the night had I not fed her real food

I feed my son table foods all the time. He is 8 months old as well. My husband and I eat at the table and just pull up his high chair, and he eats with us. Its a good way to get them to learn table manners, and how to eat. They learn what they see. I feed him mashed potatoes, some meats, finely chopped in small peices. Also mash up veggies, or applesauce. Pretty much whatever we are eating, he loves it.

I wonder if your pediatrician has a reason that is specific to your daughter's situation.

let me just say that with my first i did what the doc said to a t and he is sooooo picky it drives me nuts sometimes trying to get him to eat and my now 1yo was eating a little bit of table food before age one and so far he loves everything.

Both my kids refused pureed baby foods sometime between 9 and 12 months and just ate whatever cut up table food they could manage. I held off on choking hazards (hot dogs, uncut grapes, carrots), things that were too hard to chew and possibly allergic foods (honey, nuts, shellfish, etc). I have read to use formula not cow's milk before age one but I gave my kids yogurt and cheese before a year. I would only worry if you have dairy allergies in the family or you know your baby is sensitive to dairy.

My daughter ate soft veggies, yogurt, shredded cheese, avocado, egg yolk at about 8 months. I also gave her the baby food since she had favorites. My sitter would cook chicken and veggies and then blend it roughly. My daughter loved that.

All four of my children were on table food before 1 yr of age. My youngest is 11 months and he refused to eat baby food at 8 months and has been on table food since. (must have wanted to be like his sisters and eat what they were eating) I would not give bottles of milk until closer to 1, but some dairy in her food, unless there are allergies should be fine.

I wonder why. My daughter never ate baby food--we started her right off with table food and now she's a little foodie :D She has no aversions to texture or flavor and will try any kind of food you offer her--THEN she will tell you exactly why she likes or does not like the food.

IF there are allergies in your family history, your ped. might be trying to suggest avoiding introducing allergens into your child's diet.

Since my kids we very small we have them table food. All types, and as they got older, they got different types. My Pediatrician was asking me and makign sure they were eating different foods....

This goes against all that I have done with my six children and that has gone on with our 11 grandchildren! In fact, I have told many mothers to get a baby Food Grinder so that they can just serve babies such as yours right from the food at the table, whether at home or in a restaurant! Of course I would not include anything spicy or particularly unhealthy, but that should not be on your plate in the first place.....I do not know where in the world your ped. is coming from!

My 9 month old eats mostly baby foods. 2nd (mixed with cereal) and 3rd foods. But she also likes to feed herself. I buy her the gerber graduates Puffs, the arrowroot cookies and the biter bisquits. I also giver her mac n cheese whenever I make it for the rest of the family. She makes a huge mess but loves it. She eats homemade lasagna (I just take the top layer of cheese off since its so stringy), she eats french fries, small bites on meat like turkey or chicken. I say go with your gut. Dairy is a weird thing with babies. I would advise to limit it to very very little every once in awhile. Like once in awhile I will give my daughter a bite of my ice cream. If you want your daughter to get more dairy stuff buy her the Gerber yogurts. My daughter and my friends 10 month old daughter love them!
Good luck!

With our first daughter I never did baby food. I went straight to table food. We followed something called "baby led weaning".
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels...

I will say, in addition to this I also gave baby oatmeal with homemade applesauce for "dinner", just before bed. But basically you start with vegetables and progress from there.

This is the "schedule" that is recommended which takes into account potential allergens most common with kids etc...
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/schema/eng...

The thing with dairy is that it is a potentially high allergen. But there are some dairy things which can be given earlier.

I plan to follow this same schedule with my now 5 month old twins. The thing I found with my first daughter is 1) I didn't have to purchase any separate food for her. What she was eating was what we were eating as well = $$ savings!!! 2) We never had to transition from baby food to table food. Consequently we NEVER went through any period where she wouldn't eat food. She's always been a good eater. She eats veggies, meats, grains.... everything. Even things she doesn't like right now, if she's never had it before she will at least TRY it a few times before deciding she doesn't like it. I attribute this to baby led weaning and the fact she has had REAL food right from the start.

She experienced the real taste and texture of food instead of going from mama milk to baby food. (ever taste jarred baby food?... it's NOT nice)

Talk with your pediatrician about why you were told no table food before 1 year. It is true considerations need to be taken regarding different foods that have potentially high rates of allergies. Eggs are one, peanut butter is another... the above links talk about that and introduce foods as their little systems are ready to handle the foods.

Our pediatrician always said that food before 1 year was "practice", and the main nutrition should come from mama milk or formula. This is where baby led weaning is great... baby eats what baby is capable of. No forcing purees in their mouth.

Good luck!

Both of my kids ate food-food before a year old. With my first baby, I tried "baby" food and all she did was scream. She cried every single night when I cooked dinner which was tough because I only had two hands and one night, I just gave her some bites from my plate. She loved it. No more crying. No more baby food. From then on, she ate with us and the food tasted like it smelled. Have you tried baby food? It's gross. Bland.
My second baby....I did the same thing as far as giving him food as soon as he showed interest. Both of my kids were very healthy and happy babies and to this day are wonderful eaters.
I think letting kids taste and explore what we are having is a good thing.
I can promise you, I couldn't have waited a whole year. My kids wanted to try what everyone else was making such a fuss over.

You have a great opportunity coming up to let your little one try some tasting. You might be surprised how she reacts.

Best wishes.

Our dd was reaching for what we ate at 6 months so I followed her que I would mush up the meat and veggie and she would feed herself she loved it. for bfast she had oatmeal mixed with a gerber fruit puree lunch would be a veggie mixed with the oatmeal and a yogurt she liked food thicker she hated the thin food. and dinner would be what we ate mushed up. now at 16 months she eats like a champ her favs are veggies and chicken. she is not a picky eater at all. also if you are nursing or bottle feeding I started at 9 months the 9-24 months formula for dd and had her milk ready buy 12 months also on a sippy no more bottles. just follow your baby's ques and she will let you know. gl

I always feed my kids table foods within their ability to eat them and how many teeth they have. My second barely ate baby food at all and went straight to finger foods, my third I think ate baby food for the shortest time of all of them.
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ I love this website! Tons of information and ideas of what you can feed your little one :)

Sounds like you might need to ask Ped to support her reasoning or look around for one that has a better comprehension of what babies are capable of doing/eating. Unless you have food allergies that run in your family you really should not have any concerns about this. We have a God given motherly instincts for a reason. Seeing that your little one is past 6mo, introducing table foods 1 at at time is completely reasonable.

You may want to look into Baby Led Weaning. It is a great option for baby & you, it is what generations before us did before Gerber decided what was best for babies (mush). We watched friends with their daughter and it really opened our eyes to how simple feeding baby should be. We have had great success with it, our daughter has yet to refuse a food (loves everything & has NEVER choked/gagged), now uses a fork & spoon at 12mo, has amazing eye hand coordination & the best part is she eats what we eat so no extra fuss, stress or mess. It is a dream!
Happy to answer any questions you might have about this, as it can seem daunting at first because it is against what is familiar and considered the norm. Here are some great resources:
http://www.rapleyweaning.com/index.php
http://www.baby-led.com/
http://www.babyledweaning.com/forum/
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/

I am a big supporter of kids having formula or breast milk at that age. They are complete nutrition. Nothing else is needed to have a healthy baby. Feeding table food or baby food is just to teach our children how to chew and swallow so when they transition to eating regular food after a year old then they can chew and swallow very well. It does introduce them to different textures but they really don't have the taste buds yet to really like or dislike foods.

If you are giving her dairy then you are giving her food that she cannot digest well. She should transition to regular milk around 1 year. Start when she is about 11 1/2months old. Give her her 2 oz. regular whole milk in 6 oz. formula. After she has had that about a week and is doing well start going with half milk and half formula for another week, then go to 6 oz. regular whole milk to 2 oz. formula. If she does well then you can switch to regular whole mild the next week. During this time she should be eating more table food too.

There are a lot of foods good for babies and there are foods they should stay away from too.

Get the books I found the most useful. I nearly used the books so much they were worn out.

Idiots Guide to Feeding Your Baby and Toddler
Baby and Toddler Meals for Dummies

it's fine to let your baby eat table food before one years old but it shouldn't be the main source of nutrition. That should still be breast milk or formula. But it's fine to give them some food and see what your daughter likes. Just start with soft foods.

You need to switch doctors because he/she is an idiot. I have 3 kids, the youngest is 7 months and I have never fed them jar baby food. I just put regular fruits and vegetables into my food processor. They eat everything!

Lisa

Both my daughter and the daycare infant I care for around 9-10 months of age completely rejected almost all baby food--I think alot of kids are like this and they pretty much ate what we ate with the exception of highly allergenic things like egg white, fish, peanut butter etc. Veggies boiled until soft and in small pieces, cut up fruit, ground meat, shredded and chopped tender chicken /beef etc. , whatever carbs--just tried to stay away from sugar filled stuff and aimed for whole wheat whenever possible.

Some table food is fine. I'm not a fan of "baby" food. Most, like the hot cereals, are just fillers. Most, like rice cereal, are simple sugar. I would avoid all simple sugars. Avocado is a perfect food nutritionally and has a good texture. I have never seen a baby turn it down. Sweet potato is good too. Don't buy the jarred kind. Just back it in the oven.

Four to five months is fine. Breast fed babies can wait longer. Some moms avoid meat until age one. It's a little harder to digest and we, as a society, eat more meat than we should. You can find protein in veggies.

Only introduce one food at a time and watch her reactions to it.

Regards,

M.
www.squidoo.com/ifyourbabycouldtalk

Table food should not be her source of nutrition. I always let my
babies have some table food for just the reasons you stated. It is
good for them to experience different textures.