My 9 1/2 year old appears to be a finnicky eater. She seems to only want cheerios and doesn't really like to eat, especially by spoon. I did have pretty good luck with this mixture: rice, broccoli, carrots, chicken and cauliflower all mushed up. But when I try other things like sweet potatoes, carrots, blueberries, pears, honeydew, avocado, pasta...she doesn't have much interest. She does like rice and pieces of bread. I'm trying to stay away from jar baby food and make her food myself since it's healthier that way....But I don't want her to be a picky eater later on, and I hear the more you introduce, the less likely this will happen, but so far, it looks to be going in the opposite direction...Any ideas? Other food options for this age?
give her lots of calories, don't worry about food groups right now that much. Mine is 2 and only eats sweet and salty food, no meats and no veggies, she ahs ahd all the tests and she is just little, she weighs 20 pounds
My pediatrician said that you have to introduce the food many times (a minimum of three). You have to be persistent, and stay positive. They are gettting used to different textures. My suggestion would be to slowly introduce a new flavor and texture with your mixture if you cannot get her to eat the blueberries etc on your own. Add a little carrots to the mixture and gradually add more til she is used to it. (that means start with the stage one or pure mush til flavor is accepted.)
My 11 month old is a picky eater but she loves a few things: mashed potatoes, shredded cheddar cheese right from the bag, cheerios and goldfish crackers, and avocado mixed with cream cheese. As others have said, she sometimes will eat what we are eating if I mash it up. She also insists on eating with her hands and trying to use the spoon herself, which is great (though messy). Good luck!
Don't know if this will make you feel better (or worse!) but my two girls ate EVERYTHING when they were babies and now (at ages 5 and 7) they are ridiculously picky. They have about 4 or 5 healthy foods and that it. I'm so worried that they'll get sick of these things and then what do I do? Anyway, my point is, I'm not sure if there is anything you can do now to make your kids less picky later. Keep offering her favorite foods, and introduce a new one once in awhile. Good luck!
Here are some of the things my 11 month old eats and loves:
cheerios
gold fish crackers (I get the baby fish)
steak
baked potato
Mashed potatoes
Gerber Cheese puffs ( he can't seem to get enough of these. He goes through a can a week)
Chicken
yogurt w/ rice cereal mixed in
pasta
Welcome to the club! ; ) As I'm sure you've heard, the little ones may or may not take to some foods immediately. And it seems terribly wasteful to keep giving them food that you 'know' they don't like. But in fact, it can take up to 10 - 15 tries (different meals) before you really know that they don't like something. At this age it really is more about trying new things vs. actual nutrition, so you've still got the leeway to let her play with the food, try and reject, etc. Keep trying, and good luck!
What worked for us was not introducing too many new things too fast. Once my son was eating a few things regularly, i would give something new at the start of the meal. Same food, at all meals for at least a week. Uusally by then he was eating it all! then I would try another new one, while still giving him all the stuff I know he'll eat. Veggies were the tough one for us, and were difficult for about 2 months Now at 15 months he'll eat most anything I give him.
You could just start giving her whatever you eat cut up in small pieces. My 8 mos old eats what we eat, as L. as its baby friendly, plus baby food.
He loves ground beef, venison, turkey, chicken, pork, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, fish sticks and various styles of potatoes. There is nothing this child won't eat!
I always made my sons food (unless we were traveling) and like others have said you do have to keep offering things, maybe try it a different way next time. Here are some web sites that have great recipes and ideas for helping with feeding:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
http://www.wholesometoddlerfood.com/
http://weelicious.com/
Hope this helps.
Not sure if it will help but I saw an article I think on parents magazine online that at around 8-9 months babies really like to do it themselves, as messy as it is I have found that my 8.5 month old sometimes will eat more if I let her do it ( I always make sure there is time and bibs and rolled up sleeves) but she likes to dip her fingers in and then eat it, I put a spoon near her also. Also my daughter dislikes applesauce (and I make 95% of her food from scratch) but will eat soft of hard apple chunks with supervision. Might want to try some small (non choking size) soft carrots or sweet potato pieces non purreed. Hope this helps
At this age my boys were both eating finger food. They always prefered to feed themselves and since - at 9 1/2 months - they weren't really ready to use spoons effeciently, I just cut out the frustration for them and made all of their food finger food which they ate right off of the high chair tray. Here's a list of some of the things I fed them:
Green grapes, peeled and quartered
Bananas, sliced and quartered
Fruit medley, a little at a time from the fruit cups you can buy at the store, the ones without cherries since these are too hard to mash up in the mouth, they come in sugar free
Cheerios (of course :)
Sesame Street Organic vanilla cookies (fantastic source of iron and soft enough to dissolve easily in saliva)
Buttered toast, quartered (I add peanut butter when they can have nut products for extra protein and good fats)
Ritz Crackers
Waffles, buttered and cut up
Same with pancakes
Scrambled eggs (fantastic for protein and fats, serve as often as she'll eat it)
Hot dogs, Hebrew Nationals sliced and quartered
String cheese, I would string it for them so they could bite small pieces off with the few teeth they had
Gerber yogurt bites (the mixed berry seem to be the most popular flavor)
Veggie medley, like Vegg*All or something similar
Broccoli, cooked soft but firm enough for them to pick up without falling apart
Canned green beans, you can get these with no salt added
Dark red kidney beans, I picked them out of the chili I cook and they're soft from cooking in the crock pot all day, but you can just get canned and heat them up
Tuna fish sandwiches, quartered and crust removed
Grilled cheese sandwiches, quartered and crust removed
M. and Cheese, any kind, this is always a hit with kids of all ages
The list goes on from there, but I hope this can give you a fresh perspective on feeding a finicky new self-feeder. As you can see, I've included all of the food groups except for much dairy (unless you count cheese as a dairy serving, I count cheese as more of a protein and count on whole milk once they're old enough for raw dairy products). These things are easy to prepare (almost no preparation needed), not too messy and easy enough for a 9 1/2 month old to pick up and eat. It'll take a little practice. Your daughter may just be feeling the need to feed herself.
Of course as she gets older, you can use your knowledge of her eating skills aquired and your own discretion to serve her the same food you eat as long as it's cut up small enough for her to handle, but I'd stick with a list like this until you are positive she's doing well at chewing (gummin) and swallowing and that she's really got the mechanics of eating solids down. Just don't give her anything chewy or crunchy until she has top and bottom molars (around 18 months usually), since she won't be able to chew them and trying could well send them flying down her throat unchewed.
Use your best judgement, and keep your eyes peeled in the supermarket for anything you could make suitable for her. You'll do fine.
She is still really young so don't get too frustrated. What worked for my son (and I had a lot of issues with my daughter) was when I was eating something I would make lots of mmmhhh noises and tell him how good it was. Basically if it was on my plate or near my mouth he considered it good. I did best introducing new foods when he was on my lap eating off my plate (okay when they are young, but can become a bad habit if you continue this method when they are 18 months). Also, introduce the food several times before you can expect her to try it and even like it.
