My daughter is 10 1/2 months old and has been eating baby food/cereals since she was about 5 months. However, she's not really taking much of an interest in eating chunkier solids (she only eats one container (2nd foods size) at every meal and that's if we're lucky). It scares me a little to feed her finger foods because I'm afraid she'll choke. Sometimes I'll give her a cracker when we go out to eat, and she always seems to end up gagging. She tolerates the Graduates Puffs okay, but she still seems to gag on those occasionally too. She does have four teeth and makes a chewing motion when she's eating, and she can pick up finger foods with her thumb and finger. It concerns me a little, because I was looking at another mom's message board and other 10 month olds seem to be eating cubes of cheese, beans, pasta, etc., and I haven't even tried my daughter on these foods because I'm afraid she can't handle them. Anyone else have this problem? She is also still nursing several times a day, but I don't think it's enough to fill her up completely all the time. Any thoughts/suggestions?
Hi!
Just wanted to remind you that you can't do something you don't get practice doing. Start her on more solids, and don't worry so much about the gagging, that's kind of what's supposed to happen. As long as she's breathing, she's fine! :) She just needs to get used to the foods. Any time she's trying to eat something new, she's learning.
Good luck!
B.
She is obviously just not ready, and there is nothing wrong with a baby who nurses several times a day! If you think she's still hungry, let her nurse more! Most of her nutrition should come from breast milk. Right now, the other foods are "extras" as a trial. Don't force it. :)
My son gagged and then actually vomited on solid foods until he was 18 months old! His ped diagnosed him with low muscle tone and said that I just had to keep trying solids with him until his muscles got stronger. (he also had reflux as a baby and was on zantac) But the low muscle tone affected when he crawled, walked, etc. Now he's just turned two and is just starting to imitate sounds. Your baby may just not be ready for chunkier foods yet. By the way, there's a yogurt called yobaby yogurt with fruit and cereal in it that my kids love still and have been eating it since they were about 7 months old! Good luck! :)
H., have no worries. My son did the samething. He wouldn't even eat his cake on his first birthday! He just had to go at his own pace. He wasn't ready to handle the heavy textures of these new foods. It sounds like your daughter is the same way. But, give her time. She will come around. Just keep offering the smoothe texture foods like yogurt and stage 2 foods and slip in smaller chunks of food with it. Thats how I got my son use to it. He would still gag but I think mixing it with the smooth texture foods helped ease him into the feel and idea of it. And don't let what other peoples babies the same age are doing worry you. She wants to take her time thats wonderful, you get to enjoy her as a baby that much longer. :)
My son was funny about texture for a while. She may not be ready for the chunkier foods. I tried with him and he just didn't like it. So I went back to the first baby food and waited a couple weeks and tried him again. He slowly started taking the more textured food. With her having only 4 teeth right now may also be part of it too. It seemed once he my son got more teeth he gave the chunky a try. I don't think you have to worry nutritionally if she is nursing and taking baby food and cereal. I think the hardest part is to not look at what other babies are doing because they all do it at their own pace. If it still bothers you after about a month, ask your peditrician if they have any suggestions.
This is perfectly normal and please don't get too discouraged or let anyone make you think your child is behind, ALL children develop at different ages. And remember, she is learning HOW to eat for the first time so just try to be as patient as you can, she will get there, I promise. Whatever her system can handle whether it's creamy and smooth like baby food for example applesauce or fruit on bottom yogurt. The creamyness of the yogurt actually helps them to swallow the friut chunks. I went through this too, my son is two now and will eat steak, but still doesn't have all of his teeth. My understanding is that feeding is just like potty training, all babies start at different times and finish at different times and all we as mothers can do is be patient and work with them. oh, and PLEASE don't let a doctor or pediatrician make you feel bad about her motor skills when you go in and they hear that she may not be developing as quickly in some areas and they get that disappointed frumpy look on their face, Ignore the look! You know what, most of them don't even have children. J.
Hi H.,
My son is pretty much on table food now, however, he did have some aversion at first to some chunkier textures. He would also gag if he didn't like the store-bought baby food I was trying to give him. So, I made his baby food for a while. This way you can grind it to the consistency that your daughter likes, and gradually make it more chunky over time. I would boil chicken until it fell to pieces then cook up some carrots, squash, peas, pasta, etc in the broth. I would puree all of it in this Black and Decker grinder I had that I used for making salsa. If he didn't like the texture, I added a little more water and ground it finer. The only thing about this was after making his food for him, he didn't want to eat jar food anymore. I can't say as I really blame him. Some of those foods taste horrible!
I would also say that just because she gags on the food, don't be afraid to still occasionally give them to her. You can safely put some O-shaped cereal on a tray and let her have at it. The gagging will subside more and more as she learns to push the food around in her mouth with her tongue (and not swallowing everything whole immediately- like my son always tried to do!).
My son is 15 months old now and I can remember having your same concerns. I had to look back in his baby book to see when he started eating mostly table food, and it looks like by the end of 10 months he was able to eat a lot of table food cut up into small pieces. He had a hard time because he really didn't get any teeth until after his 1st birthday. I also nursed my son until he was a little over a year old, and had a hard time introducing table food because I was afraid he'd choke.
My advise would be to sit right next to her while you give her small pieces off of your plate. We found, for example, that my son loves chicken especially if it's smothered in something - we discovered that at a restaurant. Make sure the pieces aren't too big and I'd pick food that is soft to start with. If you cut it small enough, they can pretty much swallow it even if they don't chew it properly.
All of a sudden, you'll realize that your baby is eating "big people" food and you'll be stuck with left over baby food. haha. My son wouldn't even eat it after a while! Also try yogurt if you haven't already!
Hope this helps!
