10 Month Old Hates to Eat Baby Food

When mine were at that stage, I just cut whatever tender foods we were eating (and we ate a lot of tender foods at that time because of the babies)into tiny pieces and fed them that. Supplement with vitamin drops. He wants to be a big boy like his brother. Give plenty of juice and formula and rely on the nutrition there.

My 8 month old does the same thing, but if I put some puffs or cheerios down on her tray so that she can help in feeding herself she doesn't get mad and wave her arms around.

Hi,
I would start introducing finger foods, like you said. You can steam mini carrots so they are soft enough to mush in his mouth but just firm enough to pick up. Same with apples, cauliflower, green beans, etc. There are some baby/toddler foods on the market that say they are certain servings of the fruit/veg/or fiber for the day. The dried gerber fruits are not bad either. He just wants to be a big boy. At least you don't have it the other way! And some kids love smoothies & you can blend in veggies too. Lots of kids are off baby food before a year, don't worry, you are great!

Put him on solids. My first was totally on table foods by 10 months. My second never ate baby food at all. We have a food grinder (http://tinyurl.com/5ojm5j) that we used to grind whatever we were having for dinner. Any steamed-soft fruits or veggies are great. My daughters both preferred to feed themselves, so I cut as much as I could into small chunks and let them self-feed. Soft-cooked meat is also wonderful for them at this age, and the iron is very important. It will meet their growing iron needs without constipating like an iron-fortified food can. For specific recipes, I have heard good things about the Super Baby Food Book (http://tinyurl.com/5l3prd). La Leche League also has a line of "Whole Foods" cookbooks out that are very good. (http://tinyurl.com/58dmnn). Truth be told, I rarely prepared anything special for my kids. For the most part, they ate what we ate. I never worried about preparing bland tasteless food, and now they eat whatever we eat without being picky and demanding. If you want more baby food recipes, just google "make your own baby food." You should get a lot of good sites that have free recipes.

Best of Luck,
S.

Heck, C., give him regular food cut up in bite-sized chunks. He sounds like an awfully smart kid. Who wants mushy textured food when he can bit into something he can actually feel and tastes good?
Get a baby grinder if you don't feel comfortable with his chewing abilities, but get him off the baby food. Kids know when it's time to stop, and now sounds like the time!
As for spicy foods, my youngest son (now 14) loved my spicy Korean noodles at 6 months. He couldn't get enough of them. Each child is different, so let you kiddo experiment with your choices, and you may be very surprised at what he will love. Give him a large variety so he won't be bored. Imagine yourself eating only smushy foods with no seasoning every day. Ughhhhhhhhhh! Kinda makes me gag thinking about it. If he has enough teeth, just cut things up safely. If not, grind things for him, letting him get the different textures and tastes. Have fun!

Hi C.--
I think for the first year their nutrition primarily comes from nursing/formula. Especially if you're nursing, I wouldn't worry too much, but have you looked at www.wholesomebabyfood.com? Lots of recipes and info about who can eat what when. :) I think you're right on with the finger foods idea. You might end up having to prepare his food, but at least it's less expensive. :)

When my son was little I made beef barley soup and gave it to him sans broth, and you could also do a sort of homemade chicken pot pie with the same theory--small pieces of everything that are still a real meal for the rest of the family. And maybe try steaming some zucchini, broccoli, etc. for your side dish and offering him little bites he can pick up.

Good luck!

My 11 month old has been the same way since he was about 8 months old. I was lucky because my little guy sprouted some early teeth. By 10 months, most babies are totally ready for finger foods. The vast majority of his nutritional needs are still being met by breastmilk or formula, so your job is really just to get him used to table foods. By 1 year, he's ready to have exclusively table foods. What I do is to give my baby a bottle or breastfeed him first. Then I sit him down in his highchair & I give him a bunch of cut up food. After 3 months of this, my little guy will eat anything he can chew. I've given him everything we eat (that he can chew) in bite sized pieces except eggs, honey, citrus fruit & nuts. Some things I do all the time are avocado, bananas, peas, green beans, bread, yogurt, cheese, turkey, ham, roast beef, black beans, soybeans, tomatoes, blueberries, pears, broccoli, etc. In the past month or so, I've even fed him lasagna, corn & bean salad, pasta salad, crock pot ribs & shredded pork, baked potatoes & chili. He digs it all. If it's soft enough, small enough & not an allergen, and nutritious, I give it to him. The only thing that is different about his food is that maybe I cook his veggies a little longer to make sure they're soft (like broccoli) and I don't put any added sugar or salt on anything. Other than that, I just give it all to him. I also give him a sippy of formula while he eats. He's totally gotten the hang of a sippy now so weaning him from a bottle will be easy. I would suggest starting with things like bananas and avocado & once he has the hang of that, give him something else. Good luck!

My son did this when he reached 7 months old. It was a very difficult time for us, but his pediatrician said that he was fine eating table foods. I also worried that my baby wasn't getting enough to eat, but at his 9 month check-up, he jumped from the 25th percentile to the 75th.

I just let my baby eat the same foods as the rest of the family and he loves it.

I also make a very nutritious snack for him that he just loves. I take raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds and organic raisins (you can find these at a health food store). Use equal parts of each and put in a blender or vitamix (I suggest blending the nuts together first to make an almost powder before adding the raisins). Once blended into a thick paste, kneed by hand to form a ball. Refrigerate for 2 hours to harden the ball, then form small blueberry like balls and give to baby.

Check these out...
http://www.tribalbaby.org/babyLedEating.html
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/
They might help you feel less nervous about giving your 10-month-old something other than purees.

My 6-month-old has started on small pieces of food... we skipped purees entirely. I haven't had the nerve to give him a whole piece of fruit yet, though! I'll probably try that once he can actually sit up on his own.

Best of luck!

Hi C.,
My 10 month-old son did the same thing, he rejected baby food by about 8 months. I have been feeding him finger foods for several months now and it has been going really well. You can start with steamed or boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots etc, cut into small cubes. My son eats almost everything that his dad and I eat. We just cut it into smaller pieces, and sometimes cook his a bit longer so it is soft. He loves beans and rice, scrambled eggs, lasagna, ravioli...
My advice is to have fun with it. If your son is nursing or taking formula, then he is getting adequate nutrition, so have fun experimenting with his solid foods!
Good luck!

At 10 months your son can eat just about anything he wants. At least that's how i've approched it. My 9mo old has been eating soft table foods for about a month now and is doing fine. She went through the same phase. They hit a point where they just want to be able to explore it themselves. I bet if you let him put his hands in the baby food he'd be more interested. Also I have found with my daughter that she will eat the baby food if i put finger foods on the tray for her to feed herself inbetween bites and then it's not so messy! I wish you the best of luck and enjoy it!!!

Get a hand food grinder that you can even take to restaurants with you -- spaghetti, mac-n-cheese,any pasta dish, soup, etc. Just hold it over bowl feeding out of so juice doesn't run all over, grind, mix, and feed. You can also make a seperate little pan with acini de pepe noodles that are well cooked and mix whatever pasta sauce you are making with it.

My son is 8 months old and loves cut up fruit -- cantelope, pears, strawberries, peaches, etc.; and cut up veges -- green beans, peas, squash, sweet potato, etc. I always keep potatoes and rice on hand because you can always mix and/or grind them with some vege for a great meal if he can't eat what I'm eating -- salad, hot and spicy, etc. I feed him regular oatmeal, yogurt (Nancy's brand), smash bananas or avocados with fork, etc. Most of this stuff is on-the-go convenient too.

Put cheerios in yogurt and let it sit for about 15 minutes for the cheerios to get soft and that's a fun snack. Just put your imagination to work and think of things that are soft and able to be mixed, ground, or cut up in small chunks. Have fun with it! My son loves "real" food!

I put apple slices in a net feeder (not sure what it's called exactly), but it keeps him occupied until I get his food made. He also loves and keeps occupied on his own with graham crackers, cheerios, and that keep him occupied too.

Breast feeding or formula is still important to get all the nutrients they need.

Best wishes, D.

I don't like baby food either! Have you ever tasted it? It's nasty. Even the best organic stuff is yucky.

I would smash up what everyone else is eating and give it to him. That's what I did with my son. He loved hunks of avacado, sweet potato, parsnip, peas, mango, banana, over cooked pasta noodles (so they're very soft). Use your imagination. Anything he can do himself, I'm betting he'll enjoy a lot more.

Blessings,

M.

hi, really you've got a great thing going there. I am totally blind and let's just say that getting the spoon full of sloppy baby food to an active moving mouth is not fun. As a result, I fed my kids everything we ate. I think my kids are great eaters as a result. They eat almost everything without promptin. Sure there are days when they've gotten into something like my secret chocolate supply, but I know that I can take them to anyone's house and that they wil eat what's served without a frustrating and embarrassing scene. I am sure that many doctors would disagree with me but I just fed them everything we ate cut up into small pieces. Also teaching independence with a fork and spoon at an early age helped my kids to eat. If you feed him alone for lunch or a snack, I used to feed mine, oat meal maybe a bit thicker than I'd make it for myself, soup with some of the broth draied to make it easier to eat, cheese, lunch meat, bananas, bread, crackers, cottage cheese, cooked vegies usually left overs from the night before, eggs, cereal or anything else I thought they'd like. If your baby wants it he can probably find a way to eat it. Don't worry if your little one doesn't have too many teeth, those gums are as hard as a rock.

I started my daughter on small table foods at about 10 months... we made sure to dice everything small and she loved it. We did tomoatoes, pear, peaches, apples, frozen peas (just warm them up real well so they're soft) and carrots (steam the about the death so they'll be soft enough). Pretty much we'd let her try anything that wasn't "off limits." Give it a try... table food probably tastes better anyway (and had less fillers, especially if you're into stage 2 and 3 baby foods... lots of fillers). The tip our pediatrican gave us was that we should evaluate what our daughter eats over the week, not necessarily daily, to make sure she's getting enough nutition. Besides, breastmilk/formula is still the major nutrition source for a little while yet. Good luck!

My little guy wouldn't eat baby food either. By 6 months formula wasn't enough for him, and he wouldn't touch any of the baby foods I could get my hands on.
We tried everything I could thing of, and then I just gave up and let him try what we were eating...a soft smashed up version of our meals.
Turns out that my little boy likes Cajun foods, he will steal your bacon right off your plate, and green salads with red peppers and cucumbers cut up into really small pieces are a favorite. I was worried about it at first, but he didn't have any problems digesting everything and he liked it. We went with the regular foods and just made sure that we were supplementing his meals with formula to make sure he was getting enough nutrition.
He is 14 months now and growing fine. He will eat just about anything except canned peaches...lol The doctor is stunned at what he will eat, but reminds us that each kid is unique and our is growing just fine.
Try what ever you are eating, just make sure he can gum the pieces and that they are small enough to swallow.

My son is the same age, and we have just been feeding him whatever we are eating since he was about 8 or 9 months old. We cut it up so it is bite size and he does just fine feeding himself. He eats chicken, steak, pork chops, roast, hamburger, potatos, cereal, oatmeal, sandwiches, yogurt, toaster studels, scrambles eggs, cooded carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, pretty much whatever you give him. I wouldn't waste the time and money on baby food anymore. But I guess it boils down to what is HE able to eat. Does he have enough teeth to chew? my son is working on teeth 9 and 10 right now, but my nephew that is 6 months older only has 6

You can absolutely give him real food! He'll probably eat it well especially if he sees it come off of your plate. Of course, make sure it is soft enough and small enough, but at 10 months babies are certainly able to start on table foods.

Small pastas like small shells and macaroni (cooked well), steamed carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, and even plain tofu pieces were favorites of my kids (at 2 and 4yrs my kids still love plain tofu!). Fruits are usually soft enough without any further prep (besides cutting, of course) for little ones.

My 10 month old eats mostly what we eat. If your diet is balanced and includes proper nutrition, you should be fine. If you're concerned, you could get the Gerber Graduates toddler meals (or equivalent). My son really likes them. They have a main dish type food (like pasta or chicken noodle stuff or mashed potatoes and chicken) and a veggie.

YES! With every child, I went through the exact same thing. It seems my kids only liked any kind of baby food (or any food that resembled baby food) for about a month. Then it was like they were saying "No way! I want REAL food!" I started giving them finger foods and things they could explore the taste and texture with as soon as they started refusing baby food. And most of them did it between 7-10 months old. They would eat the cheerios, crackers, bananas, beginning finger foods from gerber or other baby food makers... just the normal stuff. I always worried that they weren't getting enough nutrition, but every time, the doctors said it's perfectly normal and before a year, they are getting most of the nutritional value from breastmilk or formula. Anyway. Just give him small pieces of whatever (bananas, or other soft fruits, peas, steamed or boiled tiny carrot bites, whatever.) Also, in the baby section of most stores, they sell these little net things that you can put bigger pieces of fruits and vegetables in that the baby can hold and suck on through the net so they don't choke on big pieces. I think Munchkin makes them or something. My 12 month old (who just cut her first bottom tooth a few weeks ago!) loves those. It lets her taste things we normally wouldn't give a small baby like strawberries, grapes and oranges. anyway. Don't worry too much about the nutrition part as much as giving him new things to try when he's ready (which it sounds like he is!). Good luck, and have fun!

We would cut up veggies in small pieces and cook until soft. Carrots, summer squash, and potatoes were favorites. Also, lots of soft fruits--berries, melon, peaches, pears, etc... are all soft enough for little ones. It is a great time of year for this. Also, rice is a fun finger food for that age. Peas, corn and green beans also work pretty well--but you have to cook the beans until they are really soft.

Good luck!

M.

My son couldn't eat purees. He would gag and throw them up. He went to a feeding therapist from anout 8 months until almost a year. They had to "reset" his gag reflex, and in doing so, they had him eat a variety of things that I would not have otherwise given him--like Arrowroot cookies and Pringles! Anyway, what I learned was that a baby that age can eat just about anything you eat, as long as it is cut small enough so they won't choke. If your son is done with baby food, move on to the Gerber Graduates, or just feed him off your plate.

C.,

If you had to eat commercial baby food, you would probably hate it, too! That stuff is seriously nasty.

Give your baby some real, tasty, fresh, unadulterated food rather than that garbage. You can make it yourself. There are several good books on the market, but you don't really need them. Just get the good, fresh fruits and vegetables that you are (hopefully) feeding the rest of your family, peel, pit, and steam them, unless you can puree them raw, and puree them in your blender or food processor. You can do them in bulk, put them in empty baby food jars, and freeze them until you need to use them. Your baby will love them.

My son refused to eat commercial baby food, too. When my babysitter attempted to feed him strained peas, he spat them out, screamed for a half an hour, and then glared at her all afternoon. She never tried that again. He never refused real, fresh, homemade food, though.

Unless there are allergies a ten month old can eat anything really! Let him try your food, maybe cut in small pieces to make it easier for him the chew and digest. Good luck!

My son NEVER ate baby food. I tried homemade and repackaged. He hated them all. He started on table food at about 6 or 7 months. I couldn't believe it, but he would gobble it all up. Of course I cut it all very small.

I used the braun hand mixer that has a tiny food processor attachment. You can put the food YOU eat in it and blend it up as fine as you want, and so your baby will be eating REAL food! It is the best! It is really small so it is not a big deal to rinse it out afterwards, and it makes just the right amount for you to feed your baby at each meal. Good luck!

I have raised 9 kids on breastmilk directly to table food. I have never bought baby food. There comes a time when your baby sais this isn't good enough any more! It appears the time has come for your little one. The determination you have to make is how well does he handle solids? I began by grinding up our meals like spaghetti, potatoes and carrots, and any that can be ground or mashed up. Eventually he will be able to handle small bites of the whole food. He will actually get better nutrition from eating the food you eat, then the baby food at this age. The only thing to watch is how his body digests the food and how his stools come out. constipation is a sign that his body needs some transition time to adapt to this new food. You can help this along with apple juice and prune juice, seperate or combined. Good Luck

When I stopped breastfeeding my daughter at 8 months, she quit eating baby food. So I just started her on table food. She's still a picky eater at 2 and just doesn't eat very much. But at 10 months, your son should be able to eat most things that you eat. Make sure you give him plenty of fruits and veggies, cut into very small pieces, and protein like beans. Chick peas are another great finger food. So is cheese. He might like yogurt. There's a natural yogurt made with whole milk, Stoneybrook Farms. My son loved it when he was a baby. Chicken should be ok, too, just make sure everything is cut very small and keep a close eye on him until he gets the hang of it.

I don't know if you are nursing too, but if you are, then I know you have no worries. What I did is make my own baby food. I would cook down fruit or veggies in a saucepan with a litle water and puree it. Here's the best part. I poured them into ice cube trays and froze them. I'd pop one out at a time to use it and that wasw perfect. This way YOU control what goes into the food, organic, purified water, etc. and can explore what your baby likes together! Have fun!

at 6 months, i began playing with breads an d fruit. 7 months, i now let him eat what i eat, supplemented with cereal

my second son wanted so badly to eat whatever we ate before he had the teeth for it. i gave him whatever i could safely give him from the table and let him have his own spoon, then breastfed. occasionally i reminded him that he didn't have enough teeth yet for what we were eating, but gave him a finger food he could handle. i don't know how well he understood, but it helped my oldest understand not to feed him things i didn't approve first. i didn't really do any easing him into the foods, just picked out what was soft enough from our meal, with the exception of things like peanut butter and eggs until the recommended age. sure, he threw fits sometimes when i told him he couldn't have a certain food, but i'd just try to distract him with something else. then when he got more teeth i made a big deal about what new foods he could try.

Yup...he's ready for soft finger food. Gerber graduates are good - they're already cut up in little pieces he can manage. My kids also loved their meat sticks. They're like vienna sausages but without the additives and preservatives.
You can also start giving him bits of what your family is eating. Take out his portion before you add extra salt or spices, and make sure its in small pieces. Don't mash it up, it sound like he wants chunkier foods. Give him a spoon, even if he doesn't use it. And don't forget the big bib - I liked the plastic ones that go over the arms and have a pocket - he's bound to make plenty of messes!
Don't let him fill up to much on starches. A great habit for your whole family is to snack on fruit and veggies most of the time (rather than crackers and biscuits). If he sees you eating veggies, he will probably want them too.

C.,

The thing is this: until after the first complete year children do NOT absorb nutrition from "adult food" completely.

If you're nursing him at all, don't worry about it, and just allow him to move through his "tastes".

If you're not nursing him or giving him formula, well, he's getting something and he'll be ok. If you and your other child are eating something different from him, OF COURSE he's going to want to eat THAT. Try to eat the things. I have never purchased baby food so my children have always eaten the same things...I haven't experienced the "picky" eater because there's just no other option...we all eat the same thing at the same time. Maybe you could find success with that, too. I also, don't give my wee ones adult food for their main meals until well after their first birthday...allowing them to experiment with foods without risking any nutrition deficet...so, I don't think I can fully appreciate the worry you may have at this point. But, I think as a loving mommy, you have more ideas than you think--we tend to dismiss ourselves, don't we?!

Just think to yourself, if I wouldn't eat it, he probably won't either. That being said, if there's something other's like that you don't, let him try it without sending any messages that it's yucky. (My hubby likes humus--me, not so much, but I let the children try and turn around LOL)

No worries, you're little guy won't let himself starve.

My son NEVER took to baby food. His twin sister ate voraciously but he wouldn't touch the stuff, no matter how hard we tried and what we offered. When we went back east to visit my family and show off the new arrivals, my 1st generation Italian aunt - watching my daily struggle getting my son to eat, said "I've had enough" and promptly placed a plate of cut up homemade ravioli in front of him. I watched my fussy eater devour an entire plate. He's been eating well ever since. It turned out to be easier and cheaper to have him eat what we ate. It's what he wanted and meal time is MUCH more enjoyable. Just be careful to cut it up well and avoid any possible allergens and choking hazards while he's still small. Good luck!

You should totally take take the advice I see others have given. Let him eat what you eat. With a few exceptions like honey, cows milk, etc. (check with your Dr.), your baby can eat exactly what you eat provided you put it in a form he can chew and swallow with the teeth he has. We always cooked up extras of things I made, like whatever vegetable we had, and pasta dishes and casseroles and potatoes, and then mashed them down and served them to him. Have you tasted those bottled baby foods? They have no added spices at all. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but once a baby has had food with a little salt or butter or other flavorings, it's no wonder he doesn't want to go back. I wouldn't. So just serve him from your table, a nice variety of foods, especially veggies. Simply be careful to avoid the foods your Dr. says are off-limits, and avoid very spicy foods. Babies tummies can be upset by too much in the spice department. So maybe no indian curry just yet. And if he is still breast feeding, or even on formula, make sure you keep that as his main beverage. Best of luck!

My son did too. Try Gerber Graduates. If he has no food allergies then give him what you all eat as a family. My son was eating shredded roast beef, steamed green beans, scrambled eggs and anything we ate as a family (diced up and soft of course) when he was that age, hee hee.
Don't fill him up with crackers. That is setting him up for being picky. He should still be nursing or on formula and will get what he needs from that nutrition wise.
Try yogurt, eggs, or even chopped up cheese pizza.
My son was even able to eat cut up pieces of sandwiches, very tiny bite size pieces.