I have a 10 month old that is very shy of table foods. He is not afraid to try it but gags and sometimes throws up. He basically successfully eats stage 2 foods and his bottles. He is getting better with the puffs and wagon wheels. I feel like he is behind. They want to move him up to the next class at school but he's not doing finger foods or walking. I guess I need suggestions of what you are feeding your 10 mo old at meals so I can work with him at home. Stage 3 foods are out. The chunks make him vomit every time. Meal and food suggestions would be great :)
My daughter was the exact same way.....don't worry it will change overnight!! At least that's how it worked for her! Let him eat the level he is comfortable with and he will be fine!! As for the walking..they do things in their own time... my daughter has a friend that crawled a couple months before her but she walked a couple months before him.
Your son is telling you what he needs and what he doesn't. You'll do well to follow his lead and cues. My daughter wouldn't have anything to do with solids till she was 9 months old. Nothing. No biggie. She nursed well, weighed an appropriate amount. By 12 months she had learned to enjoy solids. Solids are only for practice at this stage in the game. Breastmilk or formula should continue to be his primary nutrition. There is absolutely no reason to rush into solids before baby is ready. Just continue to offer solids that he can play with like the puffs or cheerios.
And my kids have never been to daycare but they expect a 10 month old to be walking and eating finger foods at 10 months old!? That's crazy!
OK, so neither finger food, nor walking, are benchmarks to expect at 10 months. IIR, 12 months is the "normal" for walking (so 1/2 of babies don't really walk till after that). And many babies are still on soft foods/purees at 10 months. So you can relax, he's doing ok.
As far as the food, I fed my first the stage 2 and 3 foods until she was well over a year (I started offering some finger foods at the same time, but mostly did the baby food bottles). And, for the whole first year, breast milk/formula is considered the #1 source of nutrition for babies. Everything else is just practice. I would stick with stage 2 foods for now, and give him time to get ready - some babies just aren't into chunks for a while. (Have you tried the meat sticks? They're like vienna sausages but without all the salt and nitrates and stuff. They're very soft and can be smashed up by you or him, it may be one thing to experiment with. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with the stage 2 meats for a while still.)
You can also put small amounts of what you are eating (assuming there isn't a lot of salt or preservatives in it) in a blender to get it to the consistency he likes, adding a bit of water or formula/milk if necessary.
You've gotten some good advice on the feeding, he sounds like he's doing just fine for his age. And the walking is NOT a worry yet, if he isn't walking by 18 months (yes, even 16/17 months is still on the "normal" range of the scale!) that's when it's time to see a developmental specialist. As for the daycare situation, do NOT let them move him up a class - I worked at KinderCare for a year in the 12-24 month room. If he isn't walking or eating solids yet, he will be totally overwhelmed with everything. We had a little guy who was moved up the day he took his first steps because they were tired of dealing with his busy-ness in the infant room, and he spent the first three months being knocked over by the almost two year olds and crying. He pretty much lived on my hip, just as a protection/calming tactic. He would fall out of the chair at lunch time, and still needed two naps/day even though in our room we only did one - it was so very sad watching his difficult transition and being the only one who seemed to want to preserve his baby-ness instead of pushing him to be the toddler he wasn't yet. :(
My almost 10 month does not care for the chunkier baby foods as he gagged whenever he has tried them. So far he is only eating stage 2 foods and his bottles. I asked my pediatrician about this bc I knew my older son was eating stage 3 foods by this time. Our pediatrician told me not to push him and that he will eat chunkier foods when he is ready. So we will stick with what we're doing. Please don't worry about it...he will eventually get there. Stick with puffs and wheels, but try some mashed bananas or cut up green beans. Those were the first two real foods my other son ate. We also do the yogurt melts. And no he is not behind on walking!
I'd say he's fine. Like others said, he has his own pace and he'll let you know what it is. The puffs and Cheerios are not terribly healthy (be warned, a lot of the puffs have sugar in them - we use one that's sweetened with juice) but are *great* starter finger foods. You may find that as he keeps getting better with them, he'll be more interested in trying other foods.
Do you eat any meals with him as a family? My son didn't really get going with table foods until he saw us eating them. Now he won't eat baby food if there's "real" food at the table.
He's not "behind." He's just not ready for Stage 3. Don't rush him with more textured foods yet because that will cause more problems than it resolves. His body is telling you that it's not ready by gagging and vomiting. The daycare is just going to have to deal with his pace and suck it up. He's perfectly fine, he's just having some issues and needs time learning to cope with tactile (texture) differences and his body isn't ready.
As for "not walking yet at 10 months," I couldn't help but read tone as if you felt he was behind with walking as well. He's not. He's absolutely not. The average age to BEGIN walking is 12 months old. It's normal to begin earlier or later, as late as 18 months even, and still be completely normal. There's no need to rush him, especially if he's mobile by crawling or scooting on his fanny or cruising furniture.
He's ONLY ten months. Remember that. ONLY.
Hi H.,
I ditto the fact that you have gotten good advice. As long as he is progressing steadily he is absolutely fine!
God bless,
M.
It sounds like he is going at his pace. This is not bad. It just means slow moving for mama and school. If he is starting to do the wagon wheel and what not that is a good sign. He may just have a very sensitive gag reflex, which is common with kids under one. try mashed bananas. Mash them in sliced piece size. That gives him something slimmy that is thicker and very easily removed if you need to flip him over to get it out of his throat. You will see soon he wont be gagging as much.
AS for walking. My older two didnt walk until one. It is pretty normal for them not to be walking at ten months. As long as he is sitting up and or crawling you should be good. I nannied for a little boy that was a month younger then my oldest. He didnt walk until he was almost 16 months old...that was late.
