I'am having a hard time trying to find table foods to feed my 12 month old. She only has her two front bottom teeth. I'm scared to feed her any kind of meat or real vegtables or friuts becuase she has no teeth to chew with. Is there anything she can eat beside baby food?
First of all I would just like to thank everyone who gave their advise to was very help full. I have since given her every thing I have eaten (with in reason) and she absolutely loves it. So far she likes everything I've given her except Spaghetti and meat sauce made by Gerber. Other than that she eats it all.
A.,
My daughter loves Cheerios. Also Gerber puffs, they dissolve almost instantly in her mouth. Also peas straight from a can. Also grapes. These are chokeables, but I cut them into 1/4ths. too small to choke on, or cantaloupe/watermelon. There is so much liquid, one small chomp and it's nothing. Just some things the other moms didn't list.
Good luck
Don't worry! Kids this age don't really use their teeth for chewing things anyway (read What to Expect the Toddler Years), so you're fine as long as you cook things well (soft) and cut them into small enough pieces. My daughter was also rather late getting teeth, with only 3 just before her 1st birthday and she's done very well with table food for months now! She eats everything... meat, cheese, crackers, sandwiches, shrimp, you name it! It's all about the size of the piece and the consistency. For steak or a chicken breast, some sort of gravy or sauce also makes it easier for them.
Good luck!
A.,
My daughter only had 2 or 3 teeth by the time she was 12 months old. I found that she could eat a lot more than I thought she could!!! She could actually eat Cheerios because they dissolve pretty easily. There was also a Gerber Graduates toddler cereal that she could eat too. Once you add some milk to it, it becomes very soft and easy to eat. I also found that many of the Gerber Graduates veggies were easy for her to eat. The green beans are very soft and the carrots are too, although you might have to cut them into smaller pieces for your daughter at first. You can also give her small pieces of banana. Kiwi is also pretty soft as long as you do small pieces. For meat, I would boil chicken and then cut it into very small pieces. My daughter did well with it. I actually realized that she was much more capable of eating table food than I thought. Good luck, and if I think of any other foods I'll post another response.
A....Yes you can feed her everything you eat...Just go as you normally would fixing food for yourself and family and pick her food out and put it in the Blender or like i have it is a MunchKin Grinder especially for little ones...I Love It!
~M.
A.,
you would be surprised what they can eat without teeth. At 6mths all of my kids were eating table food with us. Just be sure it is cooked good so that it is nice and soft or cut up super small so she wont choke. None of mine had teeth either so just try different stuff. Just stay close at hand in case she does get something caught. Good luck!
A.
At 12 months my daughter only had her top 2 and bottom 2 teeth (she looked like a hippo!) We gave her everything we ate, either well cooked or cut up small. We gave her steak, ham, chicken - everything you could imagine! Before all their teeth come in, they "gum" the food to "chew" - they don't need teeth. I would encourage you to give your child bigger pieces of food - 2 friends of mine waited too long and both their children had to be taught how to chew and swallow. It was a long and tedious therapy - both their kids were still eating pureed food at 3 years old!
~J.
Hi A.,
My daughter is 9 months old, and she has her two bottom teeth as well. I felt the same way you do, but in all honesty I've gotten over it for the most part. She shows way too much interest in my food and everyone else's that I finally gave in and started with tiny pieces so that if she wasn't able to chew it up, she could swallow it whole and not choke. I gradually made them bigger so she would get the hang of chewing, which she has done. I strated her out with mushy foods, like mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, etc. You know soft stuff she could use her tongue to help her eat rather than teeth. As she got used to those, I started giving her bits of crackers, she would kind of suck on them until they were soft, and pieces of bread. And recently I've given her tiny pieces of ground beef, a little egg. She has strarted chewing, even with just the two teeth. She's doing great, I just have to make sure she doesn't stick her hand in my plateand grab her own, because she of course doesn't understand taking small bites on her own. To help ease yourself into feeding her table food, just give her things that are mushy, like potatoes, cooked carrot wheels cut into small pieces, and things like that. And just keep her right next to you so that if something a piece is too big, you can take action right away. I'm still afraid my daughter will choke so when she's eating I don't do anything but sit with her and watch her.
I remember feeling that way with my oldest daughter. Im a little more relaxed this time around. You'd be surprised at what they CAN eat! I LOVE the Gerber Graduates. The diced fruits and veggies. Cheese. Boars Heads sandwhich meats, waffles...My 14 month old eats everything now lol.
you'd be AMAZED at what those little gums of hers can do!! cut everything you eat into smaller bit sized bits and pop a piece in her mouth....she'll surprise you...i guarantee it! her gums are strong, and as long as things are in small enough pieces, she'll be able to grind it up enough to swallow it just fine. i wouldn't go giving her any steak....but she can probably handle anything you eat. a few really easy toddler foods:
chunky soups-drain the broth, give it to her right out of the can...the veggies, and usually even the chicken is soft enough that she'll have no problem with it. noodles are also soft enough, though you may want to cut them in half for her.
vienna sausages-for whatever reason, most kitds loves these things....and they have lower sodium ones now too...just slice them up and throw them on her tray...once she gets her top teeth...she may enjoy just taking a bite out of one.
cheerios-always a favorite....they are hard...but they dissolve very very easily.
bread/crackers-broken into bite sized pieces these are a good filler...
like i said...she really can probably handle whatever you eat if you have it cut into the right sizes....and its a much better idea to get her eating these kind of things now...so she is used to it when she does finally have a mouthful of teeth.
We offered soft-cooked bits, often of whatever we were having but other times of foods that were just for her. I just mashed or minced up whatever it was, mostly looking to see if she seemed to have the ability to move it around in her mouth and work at chewing on it. My understanding was that she was ready to have those foods if she could sit independently and work at "chewing". It's also a good time to work at her finger feeding little bits of soft foods. Just know that you might see recognizable pieces of food in the diaper (since they aren't getting a thorough chewing).
Hi! I have a daughter, she is 4 years old, and I remember going through that situation. I am from Venezuela, and our culture is a little different, We like to cook and use natural food. I used to make like a soup, putting in a pot all this healthy vegetables and meat, and then I used to blend it. You can separate the soup in little conteiners for 2 or three days.
I hope this help you a little bit. It is fun, trying new flavor and ingredients.
