Ideas for Feeding 11 Month Old

Hey T.,

My family and I live in Barbados and as such, there is not much jar food available for kids and our eating habits are probably very different from those on the States - we eat alot of ground foods, homemade soups and rice. My kids - who are now 17, 12, 9 and 2 and a 1/2 grew up with these kind of foods - and we started them at about 6 months on foods like mashed pumpkin and carrots gradually adding potatoes and then onto soups.

Hope this has been helpful and good luck - but remember, the fact that the baby spits out different types of foods does not mean that he doesn't like it just that it is not familiar to him. Persist and I'm sure you'll be successful!

All the best and good luck,

Jo

1 mom found this helpful

Have you looked at the website wholesomebabyfood.com? It is very helpful with healthy options (recipes) and lets you know what ages foods are safe. It focuses on making baby food, but it has options for older babies too.

1 mom found this helpful

You can ease him into junior foods and the junior hand held foods. The novelty of handling and selecting his own food will probably make the transition easier. Also give him mashed potatoes and a spoon, and hands-on 'grown-up' food like peas, carrots, meat bites, string beans, maybe fries. You can also give him things most children like, like spaghetti or a chicken leg, cheese cubes and the like.

Be careful you don't make it hard for him to eat because of your fear of choking. Children hardly ever choke. Just don't have anything the size of a grape that doesn't mush. If you give grapes or cherry tomatoes, cut them in half or quarters, and dice up hot dogs the size of the carrots in a peas and carrots mix.

1 mom found this helpful

According to my pediatrician, by the time they are a year old they can eat just about anything you eat, it just has to be cut up small enough for them to be able to mush and squish in their mouths. By the time my daughter was 12 months she was completely off baby food (she never really liked baby food anyway).

just let him eat off of your plate- he will not choke- he will spit out what he cannot handle-
gagging is normal- just keep offering
if you are giving yogurt like yobaby try crumbling a graham cracker and slooowly adding more and more of it to the yogurt- this is a good way to get him used to texture- so first start off with some crumbs and eventually it'll be a big thick mush w/ texture...

Hi, T.!

My daughter just turned 2, but I remember being terrified of choking. Big hits for my daughter at that age were regular oatmeal (like Quaker Oats, not the baby stuff), regular applesauce, avocado (if it's ripe enough it's very soft, not a choking issue), yogurt (YoBaby is especially nice), little turn up bits of deli turkey breast, and I would take a slice of whole grain bread, toast it slightly (my friend gave me this tip, that toasting it slightly actually makes it less chewy and easier to melt in your mouth), spread it with a little thick yogurt or cream cheese, and cut it in chunks. She also loved grapes and cherry tomatoes, but I would cut them up in quarters. Have you tried the Gerber Puffs, or cheerios? They melt in your mouth easily and fun for little ones to eat. I think I also gave her little bites of nutrigrain bars, which are very soft and fairly healthy, and she liked.I'm sure there are other things, but that's what I can think of for now.

Hope this is helpful!
S.
www.motivationforwellness.org

Hope this is helpful!

I agree with Peggy. Little bit early! At the time my now 15 yr old and 18 yr old were babies, there was a scare of ground glass in baby food, can you imagine? Anyway, rather than packaged baby food, I used the blender and did fun stuff like frank and beans, peanut butter jelly sandwich (add a little milk), veggies, fruit, all sorts of things! But I'm just saying, in my opinion, it's a little early. Take care!

11 MONTHS IS A LITTLE ON THE EARLY SIDE FOR ADULT FOODS.
tHE STOMACH HAS TO DEVELOPE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THE FOOD AND OBSORB IT IN THE INTESTINES wHEN YOU DO SWITCH FOODSTAKE SMALL PIECES OD YOUR DINNER AND PUT IT IN A BLENDER.

I'm not a lot of help because i didn't have any problems with my now 2yr old but am yet to see how my new 5m old is going to do with it but I did have a recipe that was good for him and he loved! I would make mashed potatoes in one pot and would use chicken broth for the liquid part and then put butter a little salt and milk in that and in another pot I would do some mixed vegetables such as a california mix which is broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and boil it until very tender. Then I would add it to the mashed potatoes and mash it all together until well blended and mashed up. For the last thing I would add shredded cheese and stir in well. It is actually very good to even me but my son then 10m when I started it absolutely loved it and the best thing was I could make it up in advance and freeze in individual dishes for nights that I needed something quick. Good luck! :)

Hi T.,
You received a lot of great ideas. My son just turned 11 months and eats a lot of applesauce, cheerios, puffs, mini sandwiches (slice of bread with slice of cheese and deli meat cut up into small squares -I use pizza slicer quick and easy), mashed steamed sweet potatoes/carrots, rice, black or baked beans, grilled cheese (again cut in small squares), chicken...you'll probably have luck giving him anything that is mild in taste and fairly soft/easy to mash with their gums or the couple teeth he may have. I always make sure to cut up small ie size of half a grape or smaller. I still cut up grapes in quarters though to be on the cautious side.
As for texture, I have that issue too, especially when it comes to fruits and veggies, he won't eat any fruits or veggies in their 'real' state, I have to cook and mash. BUT I just found a great solution a couple days ago I'm so excited about. I couldn't get him to eat bananas so I cut up small and coated in ground whole wheat ritz crackers and he loves them!! I think that will help him get used to the banana taste/texture and eventually he'll eat them without the coating. I'm going to now try it with more fruits and veggies! Have fun - it's fun introducing them to new foods and being able to feed them what you're eating, makes it much easier. Oh one other thing he loves are mini pancakes (frozen food section of publix) or mini muffins with apple butter spread...if you want any other ideas feel free to email...

Mashed bananas, mashed avocados, mashed cooked sweet potatoes (chop them and they steam quickly), silken tofu, apple sauce (you can chop and cook apples briefly in a pot with a little water then blenderize it yourself with cinnamon). Refried beans. Scrambled eggs. Organic O's Cascadian Farms is the organic version of General Mills and their O's melt in the mouth quickly like Cheerios. Steamed and mashed zucchini. I used to buy canned kidney beans and cannelini beans because they were soft easy healthy finger foods. I'd break them in half in the beginning. Blueberries (organic, because non-organic are very high in pesticides!) Hummus. Steamed carrots. Steamed squash. Ripe pears are softer than apples. Try bosc pears. Slice and cut off skin.

My son is almost completely on table food and just turned 10 months a few days ago. However, I began giving him what we were eating (pureed in the blender) around 7 months, and gradually increased the texture as he was comfortable. Now he can eat almost anything by himself as long as I cut it up.

I think choking is always in the back of all moms' minds, but just go slowly (as much for yourself as him!) and remember that sometimes it can take 10 times (or more) for a baby to accept a new food. Don't give up--keep offering it and eventually he will eat it! I also have daughters who are 3 and 2 (in 3 days), and they will eat just about anything!!!!!

Some things that I started with that seem to be really easy for them to eat are bananas, saltine crackers, torn-up bread, cheerios, peas, broccoli (cooked until it's really mushy), those little square carrots, etc.

What worked well for me was to put one of those on their tray while I prepared their baby food, and by the time I was ready, the baby had experimented a little bit with eating. Then, while I would feed them, they would continue to pick up pieces by themselves here and there. Before long, they love to feed themselves and begin to prefer it. All of mine didn't want me to feed them anymore by 10-11 months.

Just go for it, and he will probably get it quickly! He will be so proud of his self-feeding that he'll refuse the baby food, and then you'll miss feeding him! :)

Baby foods come in stages where you can get pieces of vegetables or he can eat veggies cooked at home. You can also give him soups with small pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes. My mother used to give my kids a chicken drumstick with a little meat left to chew on (more like a rehearsal) so they would get used to the taste. Oatmeal, corn, rice cereal. Cookies. Just remember he will probably reject some foods and then accept them later on. So keep trying.