Trying to Get My 13Month Old to Eat Solids

K.,

There is a Mom and Tots group of New Branfells if you are interested in meeting other Moms.
www.Meetups.com

Hi, I have a 12 month old who has also been kind of hesitant to try "big people" food. What I am doing is mixing the more textured foods with more of a puree base. For example, I gave him rice and beans tonight mixed in with plain, whole-milk yogurt. You could also try this with baby cereal as the puree base, so the texture is not so shocking to her. I don't think she is too young, you probably just have to take it slower with her.

K., I am going through the same thing! And have been for a while now. I'm glad i'm not the only one! My son is 18months old now and did the same thing at that age. He only has 6 teeth (working on the 7th) now and is VERY picky about textures. He has always been a great eater and ate any kind of baby food i made him, but he all of the sudden stopped. The only way i can get him to eat his veggies, meats, fruits, is to puree them in my food processor. He loves the taste, just not the texture. I just try to give him pieces of food at every meal and if he won't eat, i'll just blend it up. So maybe your little one is the same way. It's just a texture thing. Hopefully it won't last as long for you! Just be patient with her and don't make feeding time a fight. If she won't eat what you give her, try blending it a little more and see if that helps. Good luck! If you find anything else that works, LET ME KNOW!!!

I would guess that your daughter is just not ready for the chunks. Get a baby food grinder if you really want her to eat the chunky stuff and grind it smoother for her. Or you can grind table food... saves a fortune.

serve her the same stuff your eating. graduates are convience foods and not necessarily the 'best' nutrition for your daughter. also, no one wants to feel like their missing out on something someone else gets. give her real fruits and veggies cut up well, real pieces of meat, etc. (stay away from fish, nuts, some berries, etc - ask your pedi).

It may be the texture. Gerber graduates tend to be kind of mushy, and I couldn't get my son to eat mushy stuff. He's 2 now and I still can't get him to eat bananas or mac & cheese. Gerber foods are also bland. She may be bored. Does she eat the stuff on your plate well? If it were my child, I would let her start eating "big people" food (very small bites of course). If she isn't choking/gagging on it, I think it'd be OK. She dosen't have problems chewing does she? Of course, she could be going through a "I don't wanna eat" stage. That happens. If you give her a varitey of new stuff, she may eat better.

If you don't want to do big people food (or she has trouble with it), you could do soups like Campbell's and Progressive veggie soups or whatever you think she'll eat. Drain most of the juice and let her eat it like a finger food. The veggies are mushy enough for her yet it has more flavor and taste. You can gradually thicken it with crakers. We did this with my son.

Hope this helps!

M.

She should definately be eating solid foods. Is she off formula? My youngest didn't like the gerber foods, he went straight to "real" food. i don't blame him, that stuff tastes nasty. Don't mash her foods, let her mash them with her teeth. She's old enough to be eating all her meals as real food. 12 months is off formula, off the bottle. She probably won't eat much at all until she gets used to it. As long as she's eating some, and drinking her milk, she should be fine.

Hi K.,
i am not surprised, that the child doesn't eat that food, did you ever try it. it's not even fresh. Don't believe the commercials, they are just trying to sell.
The best thing you can do for your child is, put whatever you eat, i hope you eat healthy, into a blender, and feed it to the child. Its cheaper, too. Just don't spice it up to much.
Welcome to the healthy lifestile!!!!

Hello! I have an almost 13 month old little girl too. Although my daughter has been a pretty good eater, she is very picky when it comes to Gerber Graduate Foods. She LOVES regular spaghetti, but HATES anything with tomato sauce and pasta graduate foods. She will try the stews (Turkey & Rice, etc.) but prefers regular food. Maybe because she has a 7 year old big sister at the table and wants to eat whatever she is eating? I don't think your baby is being lazy...she must have refined taste buds! I also mix white rice with whatever we are eating. For example, if we are having grilled salmon & veggies, I chopped them up and mix them with rice. Also, any finger food she can get a hold of at dinner table, like asparagus, she will happily chew on them. I do try to limit her salt intake, so when I cook soup or stew, I take some out and put it aside before adding spices.

All kids are different. I found with my son that one day he would eat something and the next day he wouldn't. I stopped listening to other people and listened to my intuition. He's a healthy boy. He played with food because it was new and he was learning. It's all about the texture. I just started leaving him in his diaper as we tried new things because he would smear some stuff all over himself. I started having fun with it and now 3 years later he is a very healthy eater. He will ask for fruits, vegetables and water before he asks for candy. I just had to lighten up and have fun with it too. Most kids will not let themselves starve. During this stage we did not go out to eat though. Except once and the server got a REALLY bit tip!

Have you let her try to feed herself with finger foods?
My daughter gave up babyfood long time ago because she wanted to feed herself she just turned 1 in March.
Diced potatoes, cooked froxed veggies (green beans are to stringy for herstill) but brocilly carrots and peas are her favorite. Rice. Diced chicken chopped with a chopper. She's not big on Hamburger yet. Spegetti. Yeah its a mess but she eats it.
I give her frozed fruit in one of those chewy nets and she will chew and stuck on that until its all gone with out the worry of chocking and it feels good to her gums.
hope this helps, Its time for her to feed herself. And it gives you time to empty the dishwasher with out her trying to help you..

Sounds like what I am going through with my baby girl she is 9 1/2 months she has no teeth. She did very good with her 1st food and I moved up to stage 2 and 3 and she quit eating. She only wants to eat what I eat little bits and pieces. She was was waisting her jars of food and a friend suggested I freeze her food into little cubes in an ice tray and thaw one at a time. It's working well. As long as she is drinking formula she is getting all the nutrition she needs.

My son did the same thing, but at 10 or 11 mos. It's fine for her to just eat regular grown up food, granted the bites are small enough, or mushy enough. I'd say just feed her whatever you're eating.

Maybe she doesn't like what you are feeding her. Have you ever tried those Gerber graduates? Yuck. Plus, they're loaded with sodium, so I'd try to avoid those all together. Give her small bites of soft table foods. If she likes what is on your plate and can eat it okay, why not give her what you're eating for dinner?

If she is still breastfeeding, I wouldn't worry about her nutrition at this point.

Also, toddlers eat more than we realize. Their stomachs are very small, so only a few bites of food can fill them up. Just be prepared to feed her again 20 minutes later. :)

Hi, I am a mother of two youngsters. With my oldest we tried the Gerber Graduate Dinners also and she would try them but wouldnt eat more than a few bites. Until I tried them and found out they taste terrible!! I would recommend starting your child on real table food thats cut to small pea size pieces. She will get used to the texture of the foods you give her, and Im sure it tastes alot better than those toddler tv dinners! ;)

Maybe she has a texture adversion. My youngest had this for quite awhile (due to chemotherapy). She would chew up stuff and spit it out. She still won't eat the mashed up stuff. It took awhile for her to get used to eating. Maybe let your daughter eat your food. I remember my son wouldn't eat the baby graduate speghetti but would eat the speghetti that I made. Will she eat plate food?

I tried the gerber grads too...morgan hated them ( try tasting them yourself and you will see why yuck in most cases). he was a pickie eater, at that age maybe staying to soft foods eggs, oatmeal,peas, apple sauce.....

She could also be a pickie eater, maybe try diffrent foods and see if there are any she likes better than others....

If nothing works at all, would take to Ped doc,think about that age due a doc visit anyways.

Not to scare you but, some autistic children often have texture issues....for example mashed tatters or rice...